Audi 2.0 TFSI oil consumption

Which Audis burn oil?

A4, A5 and Q5 petrols with the 2.0 TFSI engine built from 2008 to 2011, and some with the 1.8 TFSI.

The reports centre on one engine, the chain-driven 2.0 TFSI from Volkswagen Group’s EA888 family. Audi’s own American bulletin on the problem covers the A4, A5 and Q5, and Honest John’s reader files for the UK cover the same three cars, with a handful of 1.8 TFSI cases beside them. Those files also hold a couple of Mk6 Golf GTI reports. We did not find enough on Volkswagen, SEAT or Skoda models to list them here.

Your V5C shows the fuel type and engine size. If it says petrol and 1984 cc on a 2008 to 2011 A4, A5 or Q5, this guide is about your engine. The 1.8 TFSI shows as 1798 cc. Audi’s American bulletin records a production change from the 2012 model year. We did not find a published cut-off date for UK cars.

What are the symptoms of high oil consumption?

The oil warning comes on long before a service is due, and the gap between top-ups keeps getting shorter.

The first you hear of it is usually the dashboard asking for a litre. One Q5 owner, who found his car had no dipstick to check, wrote of the warning returning after 700 miles. Other owners have reported a litre every 400 miles, and one every 250.

Why does the engine use so much oil?

Oil gets past the piston rings and is burned. The lasting cure has been new pistons and rings.

Piston rings are meant to scrape oil off the cylinder walls and send it back to the sump. In these engines they let too much through, and it burns with the fuel. Honest John’s files describe it as a piston ring problem on the A4 and A5 alike, and Audi dealers diagnosed the need for new pistons and rings in case after case.

Audi’s bulletin for American dealers puts it differently. It says pressure inside the engine can raise oil consumption in stop-and-go driving, and it starts with a new crankcase pressure valve, a crankshaft seal and a software update. That is why many UK owners were given a breather valve and an update first. Where the car still drank oil afterwards, the pistons came out.

How much does it cost to fix?

Audi dealers have quoted about £5,000 to £6,000 for pistons and rings before any help from Audi.

Readers told Honest John of quotes of around £5,000 for the job at Audi dealers. An A5 owner told The Sunday Times he was quoted £6,000. In one Ombudsman case an Audi garage put the repair of an oil-burning Audi at £7,000.

What owners finally paid varied a great deal. With Audi contributing, reported bills came down to £500, to just under £700, and to £1,780 for labour with the parts supplied free. Owners have also paid for the test itself, £300 in one account. We did not find a reliable published price for the same work at an independent garage, so we have not given one.

What has Audi said?

That it assesses each car individually, and repairs properly serviced cars at no cost. There has been no UK recall.

In October 2015 Audi UK told The Sunday Times it was “offering a comprehensive resolution for cases emerging outside our UK-specific three-year warranty period”. Every case would be assessed individually, and where the car had been serviced in line with the handbook “the necessary remedial work will be carried out at no cost to the customer”.

That followed months of coverage. BBC Radio 4’s You and Yours had asked in February 2015 why some owners were getting the repair free while others were charged hundreds of pounds. Owners’ accounts bear that out, and some of them speak well of how their Audi dealer handled it once the test was done.

America went differently. A class action there ended in a 2015 settlement covering 2009 to 2011 cars, with a free repair and an extended warranty. Audi said those terms did not apply here, because there were “some technical differences” between the engines, and UK cars had to be tested first. The DVSA’s recall records for these models show no recall for oil consumption.

Who pays for an oil-burning 2.0 TFSI?

Audi has paid in some cases, by its own choice. The dealer who sold you the car, or the finance company, is the one with a responsibility in law.

Audi

No UK recall. In October 2015 Audi UK said each car outside its three-year warranty is assessed individually, and that a car serviced in line with the handbook gets the work at no cost. Owners have reported anything from the full bill covered to a share of the labour left with them.

The dealer who sold it

Responsible in law for the car being of satisfactory quality on the day you bought it. An engine already burning oil beyond Audi’s limit at that point is the dealer’s to answer for, whatever Audi decides.

The finance company

On hire purchase or PCP the lender supplied the car, so it carries the same responsibility as the dealer. Published Ombudsman decisions on oil-burning engines have gone both ways.

Your warranty

Used-car warranties often turn this down as wear and tear or a gradual fault. The Ombudsman has overruled an insurer that did so. Either way, it does not change what the dealer owes.

Goodwill from the manufacturer and your rights against the seller are separate. Asking for one does not give up the other.

Is it covered under warranty?

The three-year Audi warranty ended years ago on these cars. A used-car warranty may refuse, and that refusal can be challenged.

Anything Audi does now is goodwill, and it has leaned heavily on service history. The warranty that came with a used car is a different matter. One reader told Honest John his warranty company turned the repair down as wear and tear.

The Ombudsman has looked at exactly that argument. In decision DRN-2218496 an insurer refused to pay for an engine with gummed oil control rings at 57,000 miles, calling it gradual deterioration. The ombudsman disagreed, said piston rings do not normally fail at that mileage, and told the insurer to pay. The make of car is not named in the decision.

None of this settles what the dealer owes you. A warranty is a separate contract, and the dealer’s responsibility under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 does not depend on it.

Can you hand the car back?

Possibly, depending on how long ago you bought it and what a test shows about the engine on that day.

What should you do now?

Measure the oil use properly, get Audi’s test result in writing, then put it to whoever supplied the car.

1. Keep a log from today. Note the date, mileage and amount every time you add oil, and keep the receipts.
2. Book Audi’s oil consumption test at an Audi dealer and ask for the result in writing, with the figure per 1,000 km. If the warning comes on during the test, take the car straight back rather than topping it up.
3. Gather the service history. Audi’s goodwill has depended on it, and a dealer will ask for it too.
4. Tell the dealer who sold the car in writing, and the finance company if there is one. If you agree to a repair, say so in writing, because DRN1842719 shows what happens when no repair is allowed.
5. If the car has been yours for more than six months, an independent inspection that says whether the engine was already burning oil at sale carries the most weight.