Audi A5 S Line Special Ed - 2.0 Petrol - Oil usage?

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Tue 18 Mar 2014 16:15
Audi A5 S Line Special Ed - 2.0 Petrol - Oil usage? - Marklew

Hello Everyone

I have had several cars, but nothign like the oil usage on the A5. I have done 3000 miles in a couple of months and had to put 2 litres of oil in. Is this normal?

I had a diesel C Class before this, which I did about 14/15k in and didn't have to fill the oil once, so seems quite a lot

Thanks

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Tue 18 Mar 2014 16:59
Audi A5 S Line Special Ed - 2.0 Petrol - Oil usage? - craig-pd130

It seems to be a common issue with the 2.0 TFSI engine, there's a thread a few weeks back in the technical section about it from another A5 owner. Someone I know has a TT with the same motor, and it likes oil too. It used to be quite common for cars to need regular oil top-ups, much less so these days but some cars do need it.

Your car's using a pint every 850 miles or so, which is within Audi's 'normal' oil consumption range as defined in the owner's manual, so I very much doubt you'll get Audi or the dealer to do anything about it -- just make sure you keep the oil topped up.

My contact who owns the TT is clueless about cars (as is her boyfriend) and has had the oil warning light come on several times, and indeed continued to drive it with the light on. I feel sorry for the unsuspecting next owner of the car.

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Tue 18 Mar 2014 17:13
Audi A5 S Line Special Ed - 2.0 Petrol - Oil usage? - Marklew

Thanks Craig.

It is the TFSI engine. Yes I checked the book which states about 0.5 ltr per 1000km, which as you say is about right. Just I've never had a car drink oil like this and as I do about 2-3000 miles a month its a pain in the a$$ to keep filling and its adding about £3/4 pound per tank in oil.

Problem I have is I do 250 mile trips at a time, oil light came on just after starting off, so it did 200 miles with the light on. The dash stated it was still ok to drive, but filled up at the first oipportunity. Looks like I'm going to have to keep a stock of oil from now on.

Should have got the E Class 350 Sport!

Cheers

Mark

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Tue 18 Mar 2014 17:48
Audi A5 S Line Special Ed - 2.0 Petrol - Oil usage? - craig-pd130

Looks like I'm going to have to keep a stock of oil from now on.

Unfortunately, yes - I'd just look online for the cheapest oil you can find that meets the required specification, and use that. The engine is burning it fast enough, so don't worry about the brand, as long as it meets the spec :-)

According to Halfords' website, they're doing a 2 litre pack of the correct spec oil for £22, compared with £19 for a 1-litre bottle of Castol Edge or Mobil-1.

Alternatively a 4-litre bottle of Castrol or Mobil is about £45.

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Tue 18 Mar 2014 19:13
Audi A5 S Line Special Ed - 2.0 Petrol - Oil usage? - quizman

>>>Alternatively a 4-litre bottle of Castrol or Mobil is about £45.

You can get it cheaper at Costco or Opie oils, about £25-£30 for 4 litres Castrol Edge 5W-30 or Mobil 1.

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Wed 19 Mar 2014 15:53
Audi A5 S Line Special Ed - 2.0 Petrol - Oil usage? - Marklew

The approved Castrol oil is about a tenner a litre in my local Tesco, so will stick with that. Just have one spare at all times and replace it after refil

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Tue 18 Mar 2014 18:08
Audi A5 S Line Special Ed - 2.0 Petrol - Oil usage? - csgmart

Presumably the oil is being burnt? Does this not affect emmissions and might it cause problems when it comes to MOT time? How about the catalyst - surely that can't like being exposed to burnt oil fumes too much?

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Tue 18 Mar 2014 19:42
Audi A5 S Line Special Ed - 2.0 Petrol - Oil usage? - craig-pd130

Burning some oil is acceptable, which is why a maximum consumption is often mentioned in owners' manuals (usually half a litre per 1000km, or roughly a pint every 650 - 700 miles). Presumably at this level the emissions equipment is able to cope.

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Tue 18 Mar 2014 20:05
Audi A5 S Line Special Ed - 2.0 Petrol - Oil usage? - bazza

Pretty poor though isn't it, even if it is within the manufacturer tolerance.That's the sort of oil consumption that went out with the A series engine and Mk 1 Astras with dodgy valve seals. It adds around £100 to annual fuel bill!

If it were my car, I would be tempted to experiment with oils having a higher viscosity at high temps, something like a 5/40 or 5/50 synthetic. It's been known to work on some engines with an appetite for oil. Read up first though and experiment carefully, plenty of info on forums like "Bobistheoilguy"

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Tue 18 Mar 2014 22:08
Audi A5 S Line Special Ed - 2.0 Petrol - Oil usage? - craig-pd130

I remember Car magazine had a Merc E-Class 300E-24 on long term test in the mid-90s, that drank a pint of oil every 300 miles. M-B told the magazine that the consumption was 'within normal range' :-\

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Wed 19 Mar 2014 16:00
Audi A5 S Line Special Ed - 2.0 Petrol - Oil usage? - Marklew

Agree its pretty poor. Should have researched more, but to be honest even if I knew that the car when through oil like petrol I would have still bought it.

I thought all new(ish) (apart from the supercars) engines require small top ups, if any dependant on milage, between changes.

A question (not debating the merit of oil changes as I know that has been covered to death and I believe you do need to), if I am putting a new litre of oil in my car every 4-6 weeks then does that mean that all of the oil in my car is faily new and a change not neccessary? As it means that I will be binning oil that is well under 12 months old at the time of the change?

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Wed 19 Mar 2014 16:14
Audi A5 S Line Special Ed - 2.0 Petrol - Oil usage? - mss1tw

A question (not debating the merit of oil changes as I know that has been covered to death and I believe you do need to), if I am putting a new litre of oil in my car every 4-6 weeks then does that mean that all of the oil in my car is faily new and a change not neccessary? As it means that I will be binning oil that is well under 12 months old at the time of the change?

Some of the oil being lost will be the new stuff too.

I wouldn't want to rely on incremental oil changes...but then an engine as bad as this I would just service by the book (I change at half intervals usually as do many others on here) as it's not worth prolonging it's life.

What's it gonna do, burn MORE oil?

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Wed 19 Mar 2014 09:00
Audi A5 S Line Special Ed - 2.0 Petrol - Oil usage? - mss1tw

Is it new? Personally I don't care what wiggle room they give themselves in the manual, that's not right! My ratty old 126000 mile diesel doesn't need a fill between changes.

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Wed 19 Mar 2014 12:27
Audi A5 S Line Special Ed - 2.0 Petrol - Oil usage? - Snakey

My 2.0tdi VW Passat could quite easily drink a litre of oil every month (about 1200 miles for me) which was acceptable according to VW, but when a decent quality oil can be £8-10 for a litre it knocked the economy down a bit.

Having said that, I've owned many cars, diesel and petrol and that is the only one that has used oil in a noticeable way (give or take a few ml between services) - I thought modern engines barely use oil these days.

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Wed 19 Mar 2014 20:45
Audi A5 S Line Special Ed - 2.0 Petrol - Oil usage? - coopshere
Over the past 20 years, and possibly longer, I have been running petrol engined cars from various manufacturers varying between 8 and 15k per year. I have never had to top up engine oil between annual services. For a manufacturer to claim this is normal is ludicrous and underlines the lack of quality engineering in the product. I even ran a car with the VW 2 litre engine on 90k miles, which was supposed to be an oil burner, without any oil needed between services. This post and a few similar ones outline where not to put your money in the future.
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Tue 25 Mar 2014 19:47
Audi A5 S Line Special Ed - 2.0 Petrol - Oil usage? - drd63

Wow, I'm sure I've owned 2 stroke motorbikes which use less oil!

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