1.8T Oil Warning Light

[conor page]

Please Help...
I have been looking through the many posts about oil sensor/pressure issues but i haven't been able to find one with the same problem as i'm having.

I have a 2003 A4 Cabrio with 1.8T engine. It has approx 130k miles on it. I have only had it 6 months. It has always run great with plenty of power. When driving it a while ago the oil warning came on (oil can with 'min' beside it). I stopped the car checked the oil level which was a bit low but not at the minimum on the dipstick. I left the car for a few minutes and turned the ignition on and the warning had gone. I decided to stop and get oil anyway. Problem solved....or so i thought. After a few hundred km the same oil light came on again and went off after i had checked the oil level. I read up on the various websites about the oil sensor issues so did an oil change and replaced the sensor.

All was well until approx 1000km later when the oil warning came on again. I stopped the car and checked the dipstick and this showed the the oil level was approx 3/4 full. Warning went off after i had taken out and replaced the dipstick. Given that the oil level was ok i continued to drive and approx 100km later the light came on again. This happened a couple of times but oil level was fine and after replacing the dipstick each time the warning went off. I then filled the oil to the max on dipstick (only approx 300ml was required). After this the car was fine for approx 900km but the other day the light came on again but went off after i checked the oil level.

The car runs and sounds great. From reading through i know people have recommended cleaning the sump but when i changed the oil i didn't notice any gunk coming out and i flushed through some clean oil just to try and clear anything that was there.

I would really appreciate any advice....

 

[QuattroCalum]

The warning is for oil level not oil pressure. I don't know what's causing the problem but you should be glad it isn't the oil pressure, it will tell you to STOP ENGINE! LOW OIL PRESSURE if you had that. Can you check if it's the correct dipstick for the car, that has me wondering?

 

[Darran]

Drain the oil ,remove lvl sensor on the bottom of the sump ,throw it!, replace with new lvl sensor!

Whilst you have the sensor out look inside at oil pump pick up and make sure its clear, i use a small fibreoptic job from snap on.

 

[QuattroCalum]

Drain the oil ,remove lvl sensor on the bottom of the sump ,throw it!, replace with new lvl sensor!

Whilst you have the sensor out look inside at oil pump pick up and make sure its clear, i use a small fibreoptic job from snap on.

Oil level sensor has already been replaced as stated by the original poster.

 

[conor page]

The warning is for oil level not oil pressure. I don't know what's causing the problem but you should be glad it isn't the oil pressure, it will tell you to STOP ENGINE! LOW OIL PRESSURE if you had that. Can you check if it's the correct dipstick for the car, that has me wondering?

Just checked the dipstick against photos of it online and you may be right. It does look different. The dipstick handle was broken when i got the car but i assumed (as most people would i'm sure!!!) that the dipstick was correct. But even if that's the wrong one why would the warning go off after i had checked removed and replaced the dipstick? I did try and just switch the engine off for a few minutes to see if the warning would go and it didn't but as soon as i checked the level using the dipstick it went off?????

 

[Darran]

Replaced with genuine or ebay part?

 

[conor page]

The Sensor was a genuine part from a reputable seller so i would hope that the problem isn't with that.

 

[Darran]

When the engine is running can you remove the oil filler cap easily or does there seen like there is auction trying to hold it?

 

[conor page]

When the engine is running can you remove the oil filler cap easily or does there seen like there is auction trying to hold it?

Was able to remove the filler cap no problem. I could feel some air blowing out when i removed it. Is that normal?

 

[Darran]

Yep thats normal.

 

[conor page]

Yep thats normal.

Phew! Thanks

 

[conor page]

The warning is for oil level not oil pressure. I don't know what's causing the problem but you should be glad it isn't the oil pressure, it will tell you to STOP ENGINE! LOW OIL PRESSURE if you had that. Can you check if it's the correct dipstick for the car, that has me wondering?

Got a new dipstick today. It was different! I had not been filling the oil to the top level so should be ok now. Glad i was keeping it topped up though! Thanks for the advice

 

[QuattroCalum]

Got a new dipstick today. It was different! I had not been filling the oil to the top level so should be ok now. Glad i was keeping it topped up though! Thanks for the advice

Good to to hear, you're welcome.

 

[QuattroCalum]

Can you post a photo of the difference in length of the dipsticks out of curiousity?

 

[conor page]

See attached photos. The one on the left is the one that was in the car. The top is broken off but even apart from that you can see they will give different readings.

 

[QuattroCalum]

See attached photos. The one on the left is the one that was in the car. The top is broken off but even apart from that you can see they will give different readings.

Thanks for that, no more oil level warning light for you