Audi A6 1.8T red oil ight

[Mave]

I'm posting this here as well as the VAG section just because it has more footfall.

My wife has just rung from a motorway service station to say that the red oil light came on when she was driving. She carried on to the next services (she didn't tell me how far, she's low on phone battery!) but she did say it was making strange noises when she pressed the acelerator.

The car is an Audi A6, with the 1.8T engine, notorious for blocking up the oil strainer in the sump at about 100k miles. Ours has done just over 100k miles. I'm expecting that the turbo has been muntered - does anyone know how quickly these engines get damaged after the red light comes on? She's getting the AA to take her and the car onto her destination, but I'm basically trying to work out if I should spend any money getting the sump pulled (maybe £100-£200) or if in all likelihood it's going to need £££ spent in which case I'll scrap it and start looking for something else this weekend!

Thanks,
Mave

[Faxo]

I've chatted with someone this aft who's had the exact same thing happen this morning, only on an A4 Cab

Top end get starved, turbo and vac pump (if oil fed) are 1st to go

Then shells top and bottom, then in his case, seized engine

[mwstewart]

Second-hand engine I would have thought. Given the ubiquity of the engine I wouldn't have thought it was worth rebuilding yours.

[Mave]

OK, thanks. Found someone where the AA can drop it off and have a quick look in the morning.

[Toaster Pilot]

My A6 1.8T has oil pump and turbo replacement in it's history - it cost a pretty penny but 30k miles later it runs very well (195k miles now)

[Mave]

Can you remember approx how much it cost? It's going to end up 200 miles away from me, it needs a new exhaust and 4 new tyres in the near future, and it only cost me £1300 back in 2012!

[Toaster Pilot]

I didn't pay for it (the previous owner did) - but I will dig out the paperwork and let you know unless MuffDaddy sees this thread.

Pretty sure it was more than £1300 all in though.

[Mave]

Ouch! Don't bother digging it out, I'm just working out my likely way forward ahead of any news from the tame mechanic. We were looking at getting an extra car into the fleet anyway so I think I'll just start looking for the extra car tomorrow in the expectation that the Audi will either be scrapped, or not coming home for a little while!

Thanks for the feedback, Mave.

[Toaster Pilot]

Don't want to sound like a vulture but... erm... does it have leather and or cruise control?

[Gandahar]

Mave said:

I'm posting this here as well as the VAG section just because it has more footfall.

My wife has just rung from a motorway service station to say that the red oil light came on when she was driving. She carried on to the next services (she didn't tell me how far, she's low on phone battery!) but she did say it was making strange noises when she pressed the acelerator.

The car is an Audi A6, with the 1.8T engine, notorious for blocking up the oil strainer in the sump at about 100k miles. Ours has done just over 100k miles. I'm expecting that the turbo has been muntered - does anyone know how quickly these engines get damaged after the red light comes on? She's getting the AA to take her and the car onto her destination, but I'm basically trying to work out if I should spend any money getting the sump pulled (maybe £100-£200) or if in all likelihood it's going to need £££ spent in which case I'll scrap it and start looking for something else this weekend!

Thanks,
Mave

It's a bit old fashioned but have you considered asking a qualified mechanic to look at it first rather than an internet forum?

[jamiebae]

Red light means little or no oil pressure, so I'd say it's more than 50% likely that the cheapest way to fix it will be a replacement 2nd hand engine. That's not the end of the world as there are no shortage of them around but I'd agree with the prognosis that the car isn't coming home for a while.

[Chalk]

Just how common are these oil pick up blocks on the VAG 1.8t, iv got a Leon on 95k, always had 6k oil changes tho. Is it more common on Audi's than Seat's and Skoda 's?

[Toaster Pilot]

I think regular oil changes with good oil are key, not sure how common it is though.

[Mave]

Gandahar said:

Mave said:

I'm posting this here as well as the VAG section just because it has more footfall.

My wife has just rung from a motorway service station to say that the red oil light came on when she was driving. She carried on to the next services (she didn't tell me how far, she's low on phone battery!) but she did say it was making strange noises when she pressed the acelerator.

The car is an Audi A6, with the 1.8T engine, notorious for blocking up the oil strainer in the sump at about 100k miles. Ours has done just over 100k miles. I'm expecting that the turbo has been muntered - does anyone know how quickly these engines get damaged after the red light comes on? She's getting the AA to take her and the car onto her destination, but I'm basically trying to work out if I should spend any money getting the sump pulled (maybe £100-£200) or if in all likelihood it's going to need £££ spent in which case I'll scrap it and start looking for something else this weekend!

Thanks,
Mave

It's a bit old fashioned but have you considered asking a qualified mechanic to look at it first rather than an internet forum?

As I said earlier, I've got someone looking at it in the morning. Surprisingly, I couldn't get a qualified mechanic to look at it at 8pm at night (unless you count mr AA who said "it's got oil in the sump but the top is very dry, I'm not going to start it up, you need to get a mechanic to look at it), whereas within 2 hours of asking on the internet I had feedback from a few people who this had happened to.

Having a car, wife and a pair of 4 year olds stranded 200 miles from home, I thought it was worth scouting out the likely outcomes and costs so I can work out what I'm going to do when I get the answer from the mechanic, especially one who's not a VAG specialist. If red light for a few minutes means clean sump, new oil and filter then it's realistic that it can be fixed for them to get home on Sunday. If red light for a few minutes is likely to be new turbo, maybe big ends etc then its highly unlikely they'll be driving home so I need to sort out alternative travel to get them home.

It may be old fashioned, but I prefer to be informed and proactive rather than reactive

[Mave]

Toaster Pilot said:

Don't want to sound like a vulture but... erm... does it have leather and or cruise control?

Nope, it's got "child tainted" cloth seats and mk1 foot cruise control The headlamps are nice and clear though!

[Toaster Pilot]

Let me know if you're going to scrap it, I might be interested in helping you raise a bit more cash for it before it goes to the breakers. If it's black then even more so.

[Mave]

Chalk said:

Just how common are these oil pick up blocks on the VAG 1.8t, iv got a Leon on 95k, always had 6k oil changes tho. Is it more common on Audi's than Seat's and Skoda 's?

Its pretty common - take a google. Internet wisdom says you need to drop and clean out the sump and strainer to prevent it, even if you've got a full service history. It might be a cheap / quick job to drop the sump on the Leon, unfortunately on the A6 you need to drop the subframe first

[Mave]

Toaster Pilot said:

Let me know if you're going to scrap it, I might be interested in helping you raise a bit more cash for it before it goes to the breakers. If it's black then even more so.

It's a silver 2001 1.8T quattro avant. Currently fitted with Bridgestone A001 all seasons with about 6-7mm tread left. Cloth interior. All the electrics work. It's going to end up near Newark, I won't be in a position to break anything off it myself as it's 200ish miles away, but if you're interested in buying it off me and then scrapping it yourself PM me, and I'll keep you up to speed with what's going on.

Cheers, Mave.

[Andyjc86]

Quiet common and an easy DIY fix. The last one I did, the light came on and the customer coasted the car about 5 miles home with no knocks coming from engine. Cleaned the pickup, put fresh oil, filter & flush in. Ran it, drained it, new oil & filter, ran sweet as a nut. Cost less than £200

[Mave]

Andyjc86 said:

Quiet common and an easy DIY fix. The last one I did, the light came on and the customer coasted the car about 5 miles home with no knocks coming from engine. Cleaned the pickup, put fresh oil, filter & flush in. Ran it, drained it, new oil & filter, ran sweet as a nut. Cost less than £200

OK, thanks. I think she ran it for about 3-4 miles on the motorway before pulling over. It was making a strange "whirring" and "squeaking" noise which I thought might be the turbo bearings giving up. Was that £200 for a longitudinal (like the A6) or transverse engine? Were you confident beforehand that there wasn't any additional damage (eg turbo / big ends), or was that essentially £200 to see if it was OK, then potentially find out there's more £££ to be spent?