Oil Consumption - is this normal?

[Dave.B]

Hi,

Oil check level came on at the weekend after a 300 mile round trip to Edinburgh.

Oil was replaced with 5w30 Catsrol edge - 10l in Sept - done approximately 3500 motorway miles mainly since

Seems an awful lot.... - anything I need to be aware of/check

Thanks

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Oil cooler pipes known to corrode.
Does look like fresh oil so unlikely to be that unless you drive with your hair on fire.
But 1 litre in 3500 miles isn't awful.

[Dave.B]

at what level does the oil light come on?

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Depends - some are more sensitive than others but I'd guess about 1.5 litres from max ish.
How much did you put in?

[P_G]

IIRC the volume between min. and max. is 1 litre which ties in nicely with the 1l top up you get in the boot.

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Yup but the light is a fussy thing - some come on early but most come after the oil has dropped off the dipstick

[P_G]

True, it took up to 1.25 litres last time for the light to go off and then there is the time it takes the bubble to settle again in the oil sensor so that is goes out. I tend to check regularly but caught out last time around.

[Ian_C]

But 1 litre in 3500 miles isn't awful.

I'd be well happy if mine only used 1 litre in 3500 miles! I think I've got through about 6 litres in 7k (4163cc S4)

[Dave.B]

Ah I see - I thought when the light came on it was more than 1.5 litres used up!!

Agree - 1l aint bad over 3500 miles - was filled up when filter done too so was full

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be interesting to see what oil was used - I tend to find with top notch modern fully synths that there isn't any oil useage until about 7k miles then it starts to breakdown and by 10k miles it's quite high but still nothing to worry about.

[ArthurPE]

mine uses ~1/2 liter per 5000 miles

[PetrolDave]

I've noticed the same as adsgreen.

In the few months after a service mine using 1 litre per 5k miles, but as it gets closer to a year or 10k the oil usage increases noticeably to about 1 litre per 2k miles.

Audi have always said that 1 litre per 1k miles is normal.

[BlingBling]

be interesting to see what oil was used - I tend to find with top notch modern fully synths that there isn't any oil useage until about 7k miles then it starts to breakdown and by 10k miles it's quite high but still nothing to worry about.

And to think Audi put these engines on 20k service intervals

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To be fair, 20k intervals are fine with modern oils if you don't mind the consumption increasing near the end. However it needs to be mainly motorway miles without lots of thrashing/revs and thats just isn't in keeping with the car. No one really is going to buy an rs4 and keep the revs under 4k which does make it an interesting question. So for the RS4 no, I don't think they should have offered 20k intervals but perhaps 7.5k/1year or 15k/2 year variable.

[BlingBling]

TBH I do not think 2yr/20k services are suitable for most modern day performance cars. Even though oil technology has improved it still breaks down. Some more than others even if they meet the manufacturers spec. I service my car annually even though I do about 5k.