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[pauls]

Audi 1.8 turbo petrol. I bought this back in april and the guy said it drinks a bit of oil. Since may i have been in somerset and my daily commute is 48 miles round trip  over 2 a roads. Over the summer i think i topped the oil up once but over the last several weeks the warning light has come on saying min oil. The first time i put about 3/4 of a litre in which had it half way up the dipstick. Today the light came on again so i topped it up to max on the dipstick.

question 1. How far could i safely travel when the light comes on.
question 2. It is standard for a petrol turbo to burn this much oil.

I couldnt see any oil leaks also isnt smokey when you hit the loud peddle.

[zirk]

Audi 1.8 turbo petrol. I bought this back in april and the guy said it drinks a bit of oil. Since may i have been in somerset and my daily commute is 48 miles round trip  over 2 a roads. Over the summer i think i topped the oil up once but over the last several weeks the warning light has come on saying min oil. The first time i put about 3/4 of a litre in which had it half way up the dipstick. Today the light came on again so i topped it up to max on the dipstick.

question 1. How far could i safely travel when the light comes on.
question 2. It is standard for a petrol turbo to burn this much oil.

I couldnt see any oil leaks also isnt smokey when you hit the loud peddle.

Not very far, assuming you not carrying oil in the car then only to the next Pit Stop.

Some will probably say otherwise, but I always work on the principle if the oil light has come on it maybe too late any way.

[Bigron]

The oil light is there for a reason - don't ignore it, don't risk it.
If you are not burning the oil, could you possibly be painting the road surface with it?
If there's no evidence of that on your driveway, maybe it only leaks when under power?

Ron.

[Viral_Jim]

Some of these Audi engines do drink a fair bit and can still be considered "within tolerance" Vag say upto 1L/1000miles.

Whether you believe VAG or not is another matter 

[johnnydog]

Audi 1.8 turbo petrol. I bought this back in april and the guy said it drinks a bit of oil.

You don't say how old your car is.
Sorry to sound patronising, but if the seller said it drinks a bit of oil, why did you buy it? I would have been put off straight away. Surely there must have been other Audi A3/4 or even 6's with this engine for sale at the time?
There has been a more recent issue with the 2.0T engine using excessive oil, and Audi have replaced the pistons under goodwill, even if the car is out of warranty, but unfortunately this won't be applicable to your car (I presume your car is 'older' anyway).
Some Audi's display an orange oil warning light which advises to top up as soon as possible, but if the oil light displayed is red, then the engine should be switched off immediately.
The handbook should explain the relevant action with your particular oil light.

[LC0112G]

Dunno about Audi turbos, but I know a bit about a certain Vauxhall Petrol turbo.

If the dash lamp is amber/yellow then it's probably an oil level sensor whinging. If this comes on then stop at the next garage/supermarket and buy a 5L can and tip around 1L in. That should shut the lamp up. Then next morning take a look at the dipstick and make sure it's filled to the top.

If the dash lamp is red, then it's probably an oil pressure sensor/switch. If this comes on you may as well carry on to your destination as carefully as possible because the engine will be toast by the time you've stopped and found some more oil to put in anyway. If the sensor has failed then you won't be fixing it at the side of the road anyway and therefore if you get to your destination without the engine sounding like a bag of spanners then that suggests the pressure sensor/switch is faulty so replace it ASAP.

The owners manual for my car says 1L/1000miles, although they don't use anything like that amount unless the engine is on it's last legs or the turbo is using oil.

[Doctor Gollum]

How far are you travelling between top ups? If around a thousand miles, then I wouldn't worry too much, but if it's notably less, then it could be a sign of impending turbo issues...

How many miles has the car done?

[tunnie]

My VW CC never used a drop in oil in 15k, it had although it two oil changes in that time. Fairly sure 1,000 miles is basically arse covering by VW.

[Pmacca2000]

I had a VXR and that weaped a small amount through the top breather pipe but I never needed to top that up between services.

[Mr Gav]

My VW CC never used a drop in oil in 15k, it had although it two oil changes in that time. Fairly sure 1,000 miles is basically arse covering by VW.

The V8 RS4 was known for using oil, EVO magazine had one on long term test and that did use 1l every 1k, so much for German engineering.

[Sir Tigger KC]

Rather than waiting for the oil light to come on, a better practice  would be to check the dipstick regularly and top up before it goes below halfway. 

[Viral_Jim]

My VW CC never used a drop in oil in 15k, it had although it two oil changes in that time. Fairly sure 1,000 miles is basically arse covering by VW.

The V8 RS4 was known for using oil, EVO magazine had one on long term test and that did use 1l every 1k, so much for German engineering.

A friend of mine hat the 3.0 S5 and that used about 750ml / 1k miles when driven enthusiastically. He knew something was up when he looked in the owners manual and the previous owner had highlighted the relevant line in the Oil specs table. 

My M140i was the same, it even came with 1L of BMW branded oil in the boot. Didn't use any in the 5k or so I drove it though. 

[aaronjb]

My VW CC never used a drop in oil in 15k, it had although it two oil changes in that time. Fairly sure 1,000 miles is basically arse covering by VW.

The V8 RS4 was known for using oil, EVO magazine had one on long term test and that did use 1l every 1k, so much for German engineering.

It's not just ze Germans, the Japanese are at it too - Toyota quoted 1l/1k for the 1ZZ-FE in the MR2/Celica/Corolla etc; it's an arse-covering exercise to make sure they don't need to warranty anything but the most terminal of terminal cases, not a "expect this", really.

Of course the 1ZZ-FE is prone to gumming up the oil return holes (and then rings) on the pistons, as well as ingesting bits of ceramic from the pre-cats in MR2 guise, leading to oval scored bores and .. catastrophic oil consumption. Of course they usually last past the warranty period so Toyota never had to pay up (but did revise the piston & oil control system from 2005, I think)

[hoody]

Oil level sensor is a very common issue on these as well,very easy to change

[Doctor Gollum]

In the case of VW, the 2.0 tdi lump is definitely capable of using at least a litre every 1,000 KM as per the handbook. A point that they had to reiterate when the then new Passat was released as they were routinely failing within warranty.

Beware the old end of lease cars and there maximium mileage intervals between services.

The CC wouldn't have shown any oil loss as it was changed so often, but you may have dodged a bullet there