Oil Usage

[syrus69]

Hey guys,
My R8 V8 has around 30k on the clock and every 600-800 miles requires a top up, Audi dealer had a look at her and says everything is normal, and they reckon that the oil usage is quite normal aswell
any one care comment ??

thanks in advance

[gazza1]

Hey guys,
My R8 V8 has around 30k on the clock and every 600-800 miles requires a top up, Audi dealer had a look at her and says everything is normal, and they reckon that the oil usage is quite normal aswell
any one care comment ??

thanks in advance

Lots and lots of threads in the forum around oil usage on the V8 engine.

Do a Google search on 'Audi R8 Oil Usage"and you will find numerous links to this topic from this forum.

As a general comment after reading 3 years of comments on this forum, oil usage seems to be predisposed to how the engine is run in from new.

There is nothing WRONG with your V8 but I suspect possibly that it was run in by the book and or quite gently for the first couple of thousand K's.

These type of run ins seem to result in a higher oil usage.

For my own personal experience..I ran my first V8 by the book(gently and no red lining)and it consumed oil similar to yours.

Unfortunately I had to have a new engine replaced at 18,000k and I run that in hard from the very start.

The second engine did not use a drop between service which was a total contrast from the first.

As for my 2 V10 R8's..I have them run hard from the start and they have not consumed a drop of oil..AT ALL!!

In summary..I think your engine has no "PROBLEM"..it is just what it is.

Learn from mine and other members experience that if you purchase another R8 one day..drive it like you stole it from the start.

[zondar]

Compared with a standard car, lets say a Honda Accord, that is high oil consumption.

An R8 is not a standard car. Its engine was designed for other goals than being maintenance-free. It was designed with performance in mind over almost all other factors. Heck, it even has sodium-filled valve-stems, which was a technology used in WW-II fighter planes.

But let's look at oil consumption. Assume that it uses 1 quart per 1000 miles. That's 0.001 quarts per mile, which is 0.032 ounces per mile and about 0.0002 ounces per gallon used if you get 15 miles to the gallon.

Drive into your local gas station and ask yourself if the gasoline (which is made from oil) contains that little "oil", or if you think that's too high a price to pay for driving an R8.

Your car is fine.

[KfabR8]

Break it in like you're scared of it (Audi's suggestion) = oil consumption.

Break it in like you've stolen it (my suggestion - warm to operating temps, then drive it hard) and you'll not use any oil at all.

I'm right at 9.5K miles on mine (have had it 4 months) and it's not used a drop of oil.

Sure seems like those of us that have been not so nice to our engines from the start have the better running, less oil drinking power plants.

But, that said, you're already past break in periods of any sort, so oil consumption of that magnitude means something's not quite right. It would be very interesting to see if the spark plugs are tan like they're supposed to be of if they're on the darker side.

Generally oil consumption is due to rings not sealing quite as well as they should. Breaking them in hard tends to seat the rings against the cylinder walls with better results than being nice. W/o the rings being seated properly, there can be a tiny amount of seep by and that's where you're oils going.

Valve guide seals are also quite often a culprit of oil usage, but that's generally only seen in older, tired and worn engines. You tend to see blue smoke when the valve guide seals are going south.

My money would be on poorly seated rings.

[syrus69]

hey guys thanks for the replies,
my only concern is the health of my engine,
regarding the blue smoke i have noticed bluey/white puffs of smoke on occasions
could this suggest valve guides or rings ??
Audi says that my car is fine
will have a read through here and see what i can dig up

[desperado]

puffs of white smoke on startup might indicate a need for intake manifold passage cleaning; but this should not contribute directly to high oil consumption.

[Jeff]

I've got about 12K miles and have added three quarts during normal driving. I didn't completely follow the recommendations for break in, but I was more gentle than I would be with a new one, especially after seeing the engine run to red-hot-glow in the National Geographic show on making the R8.

It seems to me that the proper recommendation should be "get the engine up to temp, and then go have fun."

[syrus69]

thanks for all the replies.
i forgot to mention that i have a tubi system., i know it will not effect the oil usage or smoke but audi might
#

[phlabrasca]

I've had to top up twice within 2100 miles and my odometer is at 9900 miles at the moment. Did a lot of research, seems to be common. I have the Tubi exhaust as well, but I don't think there is any correlation.