Thanks for this great thread !!

I have come across a similar problem here. The oil pressure lamp went red and beeped. It stopped when engine was at idle.
I drove around a few blocks back home and stopped. Oil level was within boundaries.

I suspect oil sludge or bad sensor being the problem.
This is a Audi A4 Avant 1.8T Quattro 2004, and it has 15.300 (metric) miles running.

I have had it serviced at Audi in the Long Life program. But have had lots of other problems, most of them after the 2-year warranty.
Including fuel pump, front and rear wiper electric motor, cooling water pump and leakage, wheel bearings, ignition spools (right english word?), airbag sensors, and cam chain when the cooling was fixed.

Last Long Life Service was at approximatly 12.100 (metric miles) and next service at 15.100. However, due to travelling alot and
also having it serviced on two occations at 14.800 for interiar heater stopped working (related to cooling pump), I didn't have time
to get to the service workshop until 15.300 (metric) miles. Which is 2000 kilometers over the regular service interval.

The workshop indicates that I am out of the interval and that is the cause, however, if it is indeed sludge I guess it would happen anyways?
Are they right, or just trying to get away with me paying for all of these costs?

Some people here in Sweden state that Audi has a 50% goodwill on this issue, but not all deliver.
From this thread I read that it is indeed a warranty 100% from Audis point of view.

Any hints on this are highly appreciated.

I was about trading for the new A4 Avant 2008 due out now, but I've had so many both costly and time consuming problems, and now this, that I am having 2nd and 3rd thoughts. Love the car otherwise though.

Best Regards,
- Sune

Ps.
1 metric mile = 10 kilometers = 10 000 meters.

 

^^^^Well audi states that if you have at least 1 oil change reciept per 10,000 miles audi will cover the repair. Its a world wide TSB, so no dealer can make you pay for it as long as you have receipts.

 

Thanks,
would that be "english miles" ? i.e the international mile of 5,280feet, 1,760yards, or exactly 1,609.344meters.
you refer to?

Do you by any chance know of any audi web page or document where I can read about this?

Also, what stand the TSB abbreviation for?

Regards,
- Sune

 

Ohh... what a day. What a day..[&o]

I have a question.. so does having a turbo timer or properly allowing your car to cool down affect oil sludge in any.. way, shape or form?


And thanks for all the info auditech, appreciate it man. Im at 7k miles on the brand new engine with brand new tubes and turbo.. done 3 oil changes all at Audi Dealer. First one at 1k miles, then at 4k, then at 7k... so right now I'm fresh

Should I seafoam it at 20k? On the new engine?

 

I'm new to this forum, but I wanted to see if there was anything new I could learn about my 2001 A4 1.8T which seized up at 108K. I have a few things which may be useful to some people. UCLA86, regarding the light, my light came on prior to the seizure and due to a little bit of hasty concluding, we decided that the light was for quantity when it was actually for pressure. The way I'm reading it, the owner's manual specifies three separate oil indications. Oil lamp with the word "sensor" is a bad sensor, lamp with the word "LOW" means QUANTITY. And just the oil lamp by itself means LOW OIL PRESSURE. We assumed that we just couldn't see the word "LOW" due to the fabulous problem that Audi has with their LCD warning screens - we were wrong.

So the Audi dealer here is quoting me $12K to replace the whole thing.

Something to add to their extended warranty. This warranty is for Audi A4 and VW Passat 1.8T engines from 1997 or 1998-2004. It is for 8 years and unlimited mileage. You must provide service receipts for every 10K miles or 1 year (whichever is first). So that's not too bad a deal...

if you didn't get it used. In which case it might be criminal. And that is what a court is going to be deciding. There is a class action which is in the legal process. You can find more info at http://www.chimicles.com/audi/. We purchased ours 1 year ago with 93K miles and have failed to track down the previous receipts from the previous owner between 50K and 93K. We submitted this to Audi and they offered to pay 25% of the cost of repair. We are still trying hard to search for more receipts.

So here's the deal, we may jump on board with the class action, but that may take years to resolve. What kind of engine would you recommend dropping in there to have years of trouble free driving and not go bankrupt? Should I parts it out? The dealer would give me about $1,000 as a trade-in.

 

Well Teamhuge, i think your out of luck. Some people have reported that they have taken their car to the dealer for an oil sludge concern and they only had to provide oil change reciepts since they owned the car. In other words if they bought the car at 75k, they only had to show reciepts after that mileage, im not sure if this is fact, but some dealers might be hurting for money so you might wanna call around about this and see what they say.

 

Any recommendations for engines?

 

most sludge is caused by not changing oil enough. but another big issue with it that people forget about is if your car is running too cool i.e. stuck open thermostat or wrong temp rating on themostate. the oil doesnt heat up enough and starts to sluge. so people who only drive down the street or for sort periods of time. they dont get their engine to proper operating tempiture. and reqire oil changes much sooner than the regular 3000 miles.

matasci

 

Has anyone here ever heard of flushing the crankcase?

I found a guy suggesting to fill the crankcase with diesel fuel overnight to flushout all the sludge. Just fill, let it sit overnight, then change the oil. Seems a little odd. I can't find the link right now.

Any info on this?

 

i will be honest and say i did not read every page of this, but did skim through them all, here is what i have to say......first, i totally, 100% disagree with 98% of AUDITECH79's first post. first, the sludge issue is with all VAG longitudinal 1.8T engines....not just audi~ the passat has the same issue~ second, 99% of the problem is a smaller oil pan than the rest of the 1.8T line up and the fact that the under hood temps are way hotter than a transverse set up. furthermore, the oil feed line runs right on top of the exhaust manifold, add to that audis super high reccomended oil change interval, and the general public's inability to understand the workings of a turbo charged engine = a recipe for disaster. Sally Soccer mom blasting to the mall and killing the engine without a proper cool down and the fact that Sally was always 800 miles overdue on an already rediculous oil change interval was most of the hate and discontent of these engines. VAG realized the problem early on, and suggested using the oil filter from the earlier diesel cars to help up the oil capacity by a spit. i bought my 01 A4 TQ from hoffman audi at 49K. the first think i did before i got it was check under the oil cap (it was dam near mint) and at the time of the sale, i got her good and hot, went back to my shop, dumped the oil and took my borescope and had a peek inside the oil pan. other than everything being 'honey colored' zero sludge. at 95K my chain tensioner half moon was pissing out a bit, so off with the valve cover and guess what? more honey colored components. so to say that every 1.8T will have an oil sludge problem is a pretty broad statement, and if it happens to me, i will shi+ in my hat and ship you a 30 pack. allof the sludge issues is due to a poor design, a misinformed consumer, low grade oil and poor maint. habbits. i do agree with some of the stuff you have said, but look at the big picture, is a little of all of the above