Oil pressure with no clear fault
- Thread starter shifty_uk
- Start date
Soldato
- Joined
- 10 Oct 2006
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- 3,687
That doesn't sound good, I would get that towed to the garage. If you are getting temperature bursts that would be a good indication parts of the engine are still not getting lubricated properly.
An Audi dealer are also going to want to strip the engine at the cost of a couple of K just to find the fault, if that was my car I would be very tempted to source another engine for it as they are fairly cheap as the engine is available in so many models.
An Audi dealer are also going to want to strip the engine at the cost of a couple of K just to find the fault, if that was my car I would be very tempted to source another engine for it as they are fairly cheap as the engine is available in so many models.
It was fully tested when it was recovered initially, they wouldn't have turned the engine on and they wouldn't have let me drive the car away if it was in a bad condition, its a highly reputable garage, i doubt they'd want any claims opened up against them.
Look at it this way.
You've had the oil pressure light come on.
Now that is either no oil pressure or a faulty pressure switch.
Judging by the fact it now has a rattle, one can fairly safely deduce that it was a real oil pressure loss.
Oil pressure doesn't just disappear for no reason.
The very first port of call for me would be to strip and inspect the oil pump, relief valve, sump, strainer, pick up pipe, o'rings in between and I'd also change the oil filter for an OE one (is it OE already?)
The rattle it has currently got is of no current concern, as to me that is the effect of the recent lack of oil pressure or current low oil pressure and not the actual cause.
You (or the garage) need to be looking for the CAUSE of the issue not the EFFECT..
It's totally pointless fixing whatever has started rattling before fixing the original fault or it will just re occur at some point (in all likelyhood)
You've had the oil pressure light come on.
Now that is either no oil pressure or a faulty pressure switch.
Judging by the fact it now has a rattle, one can fairly safely deduce that it was a real oil pressure loss.
Oil pressure doesn't just disappear for no reason.
The very first port of call for me would be to strip and inspect the oil pump, relief valve, sump, strainer, pick up pipe, o'rings in between and I'd also change the oil filter for an OE one (is it OE already?)
The rattle it has currently got is of no current concern, as to me that is the effect of the recent lack of oil pressure or current low oil pressure and not the actual cause.
You (or the garage) need to be looking for the CAUSE of the issue not the EFFECT..
It's totally pointless fixing whatever has started rattling before fixing the original fault or it will just re occur at some point (in all likelyhood)
Cheers for the advice Fuzz, i do appreciate all words given, wouldn't have picked everyones brains otherwise. I'm just trying not to freak out about the car and hearing constant 'the engine is gubbed' isn't helping.
From the garage and testing myself, the engine is running fine(obviously im still not satisfied and its getting picked up this week) it just has this intermitted ticking noise remaining which happens when im off the accelerator and coming to a stop(car has DSG) which is why i (perhaps stupidly) test drove it myself.
Ill get to the bottom of the oil pressure issue some how.
From the garage and testing myself, the engine is running fine(obviously im still not satisfied and its getting picked up this week) it just has this intermitted ticking noise remaining which happens when im off the accelerator and coming to a stop(car has DSG) which is why i (perhaps stupidly) test drove it myself.
Ill get to the bottom of the oil pressure issue some how.
Audi can't find the source of the problem either.
I've been quoted £540 to strip the engine and try to find the issue - obviously this could go up.
Possibly looking at a new engine circa £5-6k.
Totally stuck, no idea what to do. Do I take the hit on the diagnosis and hope for the best or spend that money on a used engine? Checking ebay, I'm looking at £1.5k upwards for a used 2.0TFSI.
I've been quoted £540 to strip the engine and try to find the issue - obviously this could go up.
Possibly looking at a new engine circa £5-6k.
Totally stuck, no idea what to do. Do I take the hit on the diagnosis and hope for the best or spend that money on a used engine? Checking ebay, I'm looking at £1.5k upwards for a used 2.0TFSI.
Bearings generally get progressively louder over a relatively short period of time. From what you have said they only looked at the top end, hence they wouldn't have discovered an issue with the bottom end. However, I would expect an experienced garage to have identified bottom end failure, as there are some simple tests you can normally do with the engine unloaded from what I remember.
Rattling could be just about anything however.. you really need to get it properly diagnosed. (it could be a loose pulley for example... or an screwed oil pump).
Lastly, when you say a sudden drop in power... did you get the check engine light at all? Did it feel 'weak' or like the engine power had halved suddenly?
As mentioned, noisy lifters are in themselves not something to worry about.
Not sure on Audi's... does it have a variable valve timing system in place? These are known to cause nasty noises on other engines (Nissan SR20DET for example).
Rattling could be just about anything however.. you really need to get it properly diagnosed. (it could be a loose pulley for example... or an screwed oil pump).
Lastly, when you say a sudden drop in power... did you get the check engine light at all? Did it feel 'weak' or like the engine power had halved suddenly?
As mentioned, noisy lifters are in themselves not something to worry about.
Not sure on Audi's... does it have a variable valve timing system in place? These are known to cause nasty noises on other engines (Nissan SR20DET for example).
Yep. Will need to do it after running the engine for a bit - thats when the noise occurs. I drove the car 20+ miles today to get to the main dealer, car ran without issue and the noise only started happening when I got to the traffic lights outside the dealership.
I'll bet on it being the pump. It's what killed (financially) my 2.0TFSI A6.
Don't run it at all, you might be lucky and it be a blocked pickup, but tbh if it's making mechanical noises (mine wasnt!) it's more likely to be the pump itself.
Has it ever thrown up the oil light (for either pressure or level) before? Mine threw up the level a few times over the preceding few months before the pump itself failed.
Don't run it at all, you might be lucky and it be a blocked pickup, but tbh if it's making mechanical noises (mine wasnt!) it's more likely to be the pump itself.
Has it ever thrown up the oil light (for either pressure or level) before? Mine threw up the level a few times over the preceding few months before the pump itself failed.
They tested top and bottom today - They said the sump had a non-standard seal on it - presumably from the Audi specialist who I bought the car from and took it back to get the initial oil pressure issue corrected under warranty.
It threw up the oil level after a lengthy drive but the oil was genuinely low at that point.
Wont be driving it over the weekend and I'll get it in on Monday.
Getting another quote for the engine strip now.
Do you think it would be worth while getting the engine stripped or start preparing myself for the worst and get the engine replaced?
Getting another quote for the engine strip now.
Do you think it would be worth while getting the engine stripped or start preparing myself for the worst and get the engine replaced?