A3 8V 1.8 TFSI - Large oil consumption

[hmb001]

Hello,

First post here, I've had this A3 8V 2014 for around 2 months and had a few issues since (my bad really for not doing detailed enough checks since buying). I'm wondering if anyone can point me in the right direction here.

After topping up the oil and using the car on the motorway over 200 miles, the oil will pretty consistently run out. I've done this about 5 times since I've had the car (I don't do a massive amount of motorway journeys). I have checked the obvious - no leaks, no black smoke from exhaust, etc.

The car also has an fault which triggers the EPC light about 50% of the time I start up the car - VCDS shows this as "14846 - Turbocharger Boost Control Position Sensor Circuit - Implausible Signal" and oddly usually only happens on startup, or after driving for a long time, but only triggers on idle. The engine does not go into limp mode, though does disable auto stop start. The turbocharger itself definitely works fine, there's lots of boost.

I've taken the car to Audi VW Specialist Centre in London who basically just read the code and said replace the whole turbocharger unit but couldn't give any assurances or reasoning apart from 'if you don't change, you'll never know' - so I didn't replace the turbo.

The dealer that sold the car was equally as clueless, and believed both issues were caused by the crankcase breather valve. He replaced it, and obviously didn't fix the EPC issue, and didn't fix the oil consumption issue either.

My question is, are both issues related? If yes, would be nice to have some guesses as to why it could be.

 

[NHN]

Without checking the engine design briefly, breather system, is the oil leaking through the turbo into the intake system dramatically, inspect the intake system, clean out, drive so oil lowers again as mentioned then recheck intake system, if its full of oil, this maybe the issue.

 

[Damo S]

I've had this A3 8V 2014 for around 2 months

You should be taking it back to the garage who sold it to you and getting them to sort it out under the warranty.

 

[hmb001]

You should be taking it back to the garage who sold it to you and getting them to sort it out under the warranty.

Yep, that's what I'm currently doing. Just they're a bit clueless, they had an attempt getting their guys to fix it by replacing the breather valve which they were adamant was the issue. Unfortunately it was just a high street trader, not particularly trustworthy. They have said they need to refer to an independent specialist but their contacts are only available after mid January to start taking a look.. I get the feeling this will drag on.

Without checking the engine design briefly, breather system, is the oil leaking through the turbo into the intake system dramatically, inspect the intake system, clean out, drive so oil lowers again as mentioned then recheck intake system, if its full of oil, this maybe the issue.

Surely if oil is leaking into the intake system via the turbo I would see black smoke from oil ending up in the cylinders? Maybe I've misunderstood - I've uploaded a pic of the engine layout. Would appreciate any pointers on where on the intake system I would be checking.

 

[Audicfc]

I have a 1.8 and i have just had the oil warning light come on after 4000 miles and 7 months after having an oil change so it does use a lot of oil so maybe the last owner has let the oil get too low and damaged something, my last a3 8p 1.4 would go a full year and 10,000 miles without even needing topped up

 

[hmb001]

Does anyone have any garage recommendations around the Greater London area that could look into this issue?

 

[JohnM100]

My 1.8 didn’t lose more than a token amount between services when I sold at 65k miles.

Losing a litre of oil in 200 miles for whatever reason is definitely not right, aside from the spiky tool sitting on top of the engine.

As others have said, get the selling garage to sort it. The more poking around you do on the car risks weakening your case.

Good luck and do let us know the outcome.

 

[BarryMcGuire]

I've a 2013 8v 1.8tfsi, full Audi service history with 89k in with Liverpool Audi at the minute. Completed their oil consumption test in 400 miles. They've taken 8 days to do there testing and basically come back and said to look into it further the engine will need dismantling at further cost to me.

 

[hmb001]

I ended up needing an engine rebuild on this one, it did end up being perished piston rings despite being one of the newer engines that supposedly didn't have the problem. Also ended up needing a turbo replacement to get rid of the EPC light issue, not 100% sure that was necessary though and if it could have gone away with adjusting the turbo actuator.

I've now gone and got an S3 instead.

 

[BarryMcGuire]

I ended up needing an engine rebuild on this one, it did end up being perished piston rings despite being one of the newer engines that supposedly didn't have the problem. Also ended up needing a turbo replacement to get rid of the EPC light issue, not 100% sure that was necessary though and if it could have gone away with adjusting the turbo actuator.

I've now gone and got an S3 instead.

 

[BarryMcGuire]

Did Audi foot the bill or did they kindly allow you to pick it up?

They told me on Wednesday it won't be the piston rings as my chassis number isn't affected. They've had it for 8 days and basically tested the oil and there computer says no! So without me willing to let them strip the engine they won't be able to diagnose what's up. If I did of coarse allow them to continue, I bet it wouldn't be the piston rings at fault and would be my style of driving or the fact I was born on a Sunday at fault!

 

[hmb001]

Did Audi foot the bill or did they kindly allow you to pick it up?

They told me on Wednesday it won't be the piston rings as my chassis number isn't affected. They've had it for 8 days and basically tested the oil and there computer says no! So without me willing to let them strip the engine they won't be able to diagnose what's up. If I did of coarse allow them to continue, I bet it wouldn't be the piston rings at fault and would be my style of driving or the fact I was born on a Sunday at fault!

I bought it off a street dealer and had an on-going dispute with them because it was bought broken. I've ended up paying £2000 for the repair, using a third party engine rebuilder that the dealer organised. My chassis number was also 'unaffected' - if the computer has no errors then that's a slightly better situation than I was in because the oil issue hasn't affected anything else like the turbo.

I would guess that a lot of the used cars on the market have this issue, so one of your options would just be to sell the car. Otherwise you probably do need an engine teardown if no other obvious issues are found, there's only a limited number of things that can cause oil consumption.

You also need to judge what is worth your effort, I ended up spending a good 6 months trying to fix this issue and am down many £1000s.