2.0 FSI oil usage

1L per 1000 miles is within spec according to Audi. How many miles has the car got on it? Did you break the engine in gently or break it in hard? If is is still low mileage and you drove it gently in it's early days then you can expect the oil consumption you are seeing.

I've noticed high oil consumption in my AUdi A3 turbo too. It has 8000 miles on it currently. At 4000 miles I had to top off the oil I got the 5000 maintenance service and I assume Audi left a full complement of oil Yet 3000 miles later I had to top it off again. Both times the oil level was low enough to trigger the "low oil pressure" warning.

I've had many cars before, including an Audi A4. Until my new A3, I've seldom had to add oil between regular maintenance service and certainly not at 3000 miles. My driving habits have not changed in the past decade.

Bill T

It's done 12.5K, give or take a bit, of which I've done around

4200 (I got it in Dec '05 but it's a March '04 model). I haven't driven any differently to what I would normally and nothing was brought to my attention by the dealer when I picked it up.

More research (mainly 'net based) seems to show that this is not an isolated problem and definitely seems to be more common than I thought it would be. I guess that's why Audi put an oil carrier in the boot as standard.

Exactly, hence my original query.

Ok so it's still fairly low mileage. I have an A4 which I have had from new and it has always used oil - it used to use around 1L per 1000 miles like yours but it is getting better with more miles and I now seem to use around 1L every 3000 miles.

I have read many posts on this subject and it seems to be that the modern synthetic oils used these days coupled with the very hard piston rings used by Audi mean that proper seating of the piston rings can take a very long time - especially if the car is not driven very hard in it's early miles. This seems to be the cause of the high oil consumption.

Yes I thought this was very generous of them - little did I know that I would use it in only the first month and then have to buy gallons more of the stuff!

Mine did that - now got 43k on it and it's a lot better - can't give quantities, but I no longer "notice" it and just throw some oil in when the light comes on.

Mike

I love the discipline of the underbonnet checks that you obviously do. Have you ever considered what would happen if the alarm malfunctions and your oil level disappears to a critical level or below. Alarms are there to warn you in the case of an unexpected occurrence i.e. sudden heavy loss of fluids, not as an alternative to lifting the bonnet every now and again! Most remiss, chances are it will cost you heavily at some point.

Don't count on it getting better. My 2000 A4 uses 1litre/1600 miles and has done since I got it. It now has 105,000 miles and it hasn't changed.

'Thicker oils' tend to use less but the oil I use is 0W 30 spec and live with the consumption. I have to check it weekly though.

Richard

Well, until this car, I've checked the oil every 5000 miles or so and have never found the oil to be low. Obviously, my new car requires more frequent checks, and I guess I should plan on every 1500 miles from now on.

Bill T