Somewhat annoyed

[Amosu]

Hi folks,

Been pretty happy with my B6 S4 avant since I bought it, but have have a couple of niggles which are now causing me some concern.

Firstly, my water light came on a couple times and I topped it up. Took it in to have it checked and it appears there were 'stone holes' in both the secondary radiators. As the car is under 3 years old they said they would replace both of these, along with labour charges, under warranty. Couldn’t complain about that, so in it went. Got it back the following day (took a while as I had to have the discs and pads changed too) and took it on a round trip from my house (sussex) to Staines (middlesex), in to central London and then back home again.
Left work around 5 and it started getting dark on the way home, so not sure if I might have noticed anything had it been light, but the oil light came on a few miles from home and when I got out of the car, I was rather miffed to notice steam coming out from under the bonnet. Not much, but certainly not something you would expect to see. Was way too dark for me to investigate it last night and I didn't have time to check it this morning as I got up late, but when I got to the station (only a few miles from my house), the steam was coming out from under the bonnet again.

I rang up the stealers and they said to bring it in on Saturday. Before I go in though, I thought I would check and see if anybody else has had any similar experiences?

Ta

[Pete.S]

I'd hazzard an optimistic guess that the oil light illuminating is not related to the radiator problem (mine's come on a couple of times in between services, see other posts). Simply sounds like the technicians neglected to tighten one of the hoses correctly.

[Amosu]

OK I have an update on this.

After having a lengthy discussion with one of the technicians, basically all engines now 'burn' oil to a greater or lesser extent to prevent the valves freezing up. This is to do with there being less lead in the petrol these days (so I'm told) so the tolerances have been increased a little so there is more room for the oil to lubricate the valves - effectively giving you a very minor leak. Anything up to 500ml per 1000 miles is apparently 'normal', so just need to top up occasionally.

With regards to the water leak apparently they only replaced one of the side rads when it went in last and only the hose the other side. Turns out the rad they didn't replace is weeping, so they are replacing that under warranty too, but it's a special order part, so have yet another trip to the stealer to look forward too :sigh:

Oh well. Could have been worse I guess

[JonnyX]

OK I have an update on this.

After having a lengthy discussion with one of the technicians, basically all engines now 'burn' oil to a greater or lesser extent to prevent the valves freezing up. This is to do with there being less lead in the petrol these days (so I'm told) so the tolerances have been increased a little so there is more room for the oil to lubricate the valves - effectively giving you a very minor leak. Anything up to 500ml per 1000 miles is apparently 'normal', so just need to top up occasionally.

Oh well. Could have been worse I guess

Well, I am no expert but that sounds like a load of bollocks to me.

Any real experts care to enlighten us?

[tartan_rob]

The oil bit is correct but not for fuel not containing lead IMO. The valves seats on unleaded cars have been hardened to take this into account and timing retarded compared to 4 or 5 star cars.

Any two moving surfaces that get in close proximity will have to let a tiny amount of oil through in order to keep them lubed. The primary reason for lubrication is to remove heat from friction surfaces, therefore stopping friction weld. As such a slight amount of oil will get burnt. I'd say that is normal. Any two engeins off the production line will burn oil to a varying degree. But none will be the same.

[Amosu]

So, in other words, always wise to carry a spare litre bottle around in your car just in case

[tartan_rob]

Weekly check advised....in the manual it recommends checking before every run..>!

I think a litre between recommended oil changes would be the max. Any more than that would concern me slightly..

[Amosu]

Well I've done just over 5k miles in mine since buying it in January and had to top up myself with a 'small' bottle (think was a litre) and the dealer just topped it up again at the weekend.

Admittedly I do drive my car pretty hard though, so could account for some additional use of the old lubricant

[Mike_K]

mine's a 2003 bought a year ago with 50000 km (30000 miles) on the clock. I've done 13000 km (8000 miles) since, and have put in about 2.5 litres so far.

The car had a long-life service, so to keep it valid I use the recommended oil, which is very thin. I think thin oil (0W/30) could also partly explain the oil usage (I dont think it's that excessive anyway).

8 cylinders and 4200 cubics also helps I'm sure

[Dakota]

If the car is losing coolant, ask them to check the seals between the sump and the block.

I had a secondary rad changed in mine as it was said to have leaks in it. also the water pump was replaced. After this it still leaked In the end an audi technician looked at it and diagnosed a 50p seal that was clipped when they bolted it together. The problem is it requires the enginer and gearbox to come out. If this is the problem, get the garage to check BEFORE they take it apart that they have the parts in when they screw it back in. For some reason audi nor any of the dealers keep the gaskets for this engines in stock and they have to be airfreighted in from germany.

Mine was at least the 2nd instance of this problem.

Unfortunately, the process did not end well