# New A3 2.0 TDi - Increasing Noise and Vibration



## Craigos (May 3, 2004)

Hello Everyone!!!

Well, I've had my A3 2.0 Tdi Sport for 6 Months now and covered around 8,000 miles of mixed town, motorway and mountain driving.

This post consists of a few comments on the engine but also some questions.

I unfortunatly negelected to check my oil over the last few thousand miles and noticed the engine starting to sound increasingly more diesal like than normal. After a few hundred miles more the low oil warning light came on telling me the oil was at it's minimum level. Unfortunatly it took me another 100 miles or so before I could find the required VW506.01 oil (15 quid a litre. Ouch!) after some very extensive searching.

Anyway, after topping up the engine still sounds much noisier and rougher than it did only a few hundred miles earlier. Is it possible I could have done some damage to the engine? I would have thought the low oil level warning would be set to light up well before the possiblity of damage occuring but I fear this may not have been the case.

There is a much more pronounced mettalic diesal clatter, especialy when under even small amounds of throttle than there used to be and the engine can be felt more through the pedals and chassis than before.

Any ideas of what kind of damage I may or may not have done (is this just the engine wearing in and becoming more noisy maybe?) in the delay in feeding the motor with oil would be greatly appreciated and if or how this could be fixed under warrenty or otherwise.

It's very annoying that an engine I was very happy with seems to have quite suddenly changed it's character in a not so impressive way.

Apart from the banging of the boot floor panel when driving over bumps and the door panels vibrating distractingly when the BOSE hits certain bass frequencies the car is fantastic. I just hope I can get to the bottom of the engine noise and vibration problem.

I perhaps should mention that the car has been back to the dealership due to it refusing to start until the 6th attempt one afternoon (after being left parked in a car park with an indicated temperature of minus 15 degrees C. I live in a cold part of Europe by the way) and the connected computer could not find any problems. I guess the AUDI computers don't have microphones fitted so cannot detect excessive noise! Maybe the should be upgraded.

Any feedback or opinions would be greatly appreciated.


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## treblesykes1 (Nov 28, 2004)

try asking on www.audi-sport.net

http://www.audi-sport.net/ubbthreads/po ... w=&sb=5&o= instead much busier


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## Karcsi (Mar 6, 2003)

The fact that you let the oil level hit the minimum will not make any difference to the engine - I'm sure the engine can tolerate 100 miles at the min level and Audi have built in quite a large tolerance. On the other hand, over filling is more detrimental to the engine, so be careful of that.

I think it could be just the cold weather that is making your engine sound rough/loud. Mine is similar, but perhaps not as bad. It sorts itself out ones properly warmed up.


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## rtv (Sep 13, 2003)

The oil light isn't really a level checking sensor, it's an oil pressure sensor. It should not be used as a tool for topping up your oil. That's what the dipstick is for. It's really not a good idea to run your engine on minimum, it can cause engine damage due to lack of oil pressure. This is especiialy true when going round corners when there won't be enough oil to cover the whole engine. One of our previous Audis started to run rough at idle which was due to lack of oil. When the light comes one in a BMW they reccomend that you stop driving immediatley.


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## maersk (Feb 1, 2004)

DIS has a built in low level warning too.


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## delarge (Nov 3, 2003)

Craigos said:


> Hello Everyone!!!
> 
> Unfortunatly it took me another 100 miles or so before I could find the required VW506.01 oil (15 quid a litre. Ouch!) after some very extensive searching.


special oil ? does everybody else use this too ? Will it knacker your motor if you use anything else but this ?


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## Craigos (May 3, 2004)

Not so much special as specific 

There are two types of oil that the manual states should be used. The first is VW506.01. This oil is the most expensive and difficult to get hold of but allows for variable service intervals. The VW506.01 oil type is what the car is delivered from the factory with and cannot be mixed with the any other type of oil. The brand of oil I am currently topping up with is Castrol SLX LongLife II. SAE 0W-30.

The second type of oil is VW505.01 which is cheaper and more widely available. This type of oil cannot be mixed wit the VW506.01. If you want to use this type of oil then the original oil needs to be drained first.

One suprising thing I noticed in the manual was that the VW506.01 oil is not recommended for use in cold climates. Now, since the temperature where is live is below zero 90% of the time and during the night can often drop into double figures I find it a little odd that both AUDI and the dealer deliver a car to me that contains oil that is patently unsuited to the environment where it is to be used.

I am now thinking that it may be the type of oil that could be causing the rough and noisy running I've been experiencing since around Christmas.

BTW. It was the DIS that alerted me to the oil issue mentioned in my original post, though not sure if the message related to the oil level or the pressure :?


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## johnnyc (Aug 10, 2005)

I was reading this forum and thought i'd contribute the following which I posted on the BRISKODA forum a few weeks ago. Hope it helps.

That smug git next to me got a low oil level warning on Friday on his golf. He had it a few days before and put about 3/4 of the 1 litre container he got with the car in. When the warning came up this time we pulled over and added the remaining 250ml or so but i also noticed an oil leak. The low oil level light went out anyway and we got it to the dealer who took the car in. He said you should add the whole litre when the light comes on. Less than a litre will not extinguish the light but simply opening and closing the bonnet will reset the light for 100 miles. I pointed out that if the oil level has fallen by 1 litre by the time the light has come on and the engine only holds just over 4 litres, then you've already been doing damage. He agreed and pointed out that the 1.9 will use up to about 1.25 litres in the 1st 5000 miles. The 2.0 will use about a litre too.
'How often should you check the oil level after the 1st 5000 miles then ?' I asked the service guy. 'Everytime you refuel' he exclaimed. 'It's not a friggin' RX8' I retorted. 'That's our advice' he said.

The Golf was in for 4 days. The oil filter housing seal had failed.

I was asking all the questions for my non-techie mate but in reality I was concerned about the 18 grand worth of Octavia Elegance 2.0 TDi I had ordered a couple of days before.


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