Engine Oil Min.

[James3810]

2008 R8
17k miles

Service was done to the car last week and while i was driving on the highway and the engine oil min. light came up. i dont understand why it came up so soon when the car was serviced (oil change included) less then a week ago.

btw this light came on after i drove it hard for 3-4mins on the highway.

[M3R8]

Could just have been under filled.

Check oil level (using the correct procedure, look it up on the forum), fill up to the mark, drive and retest oil levels a day or two after.

Of course look for leaks where the car is parked, just in case.

[vinr8]

same happened to me in may, added 1 liter of oil and has been fine ever since (3000km's)

[SteveR]

I think it's common practice for some Audi techs to fill cars with the Audi spec fill volume and call it a day. Mine was over filled by over a quart and had to go back to have it drained. Filling without checking the level afterward is inexcusable in my book but it is probably reliable enough for standard engines. With dry sump engines I suspect the amount drained is variable so they should always be double checked after filling.

Just be glad yours was slightly underfilled rather than overfilled like mine. Going forward I will be asking them to double check the level after changes and I will check their work for good measure.

[willyjp]

IIRC, from memory w/o checking the manuals: the v8 I believe is stated to have a 14 qt. capacity with 11.5 "recoverable"; I vaguely recall the v10 has the same max capacity with less revocerable (as you'd expect);

obviously, how much you can "recover" on a drain depends on how long you spend and how hot (thin) the oil is at changing time; I suspect service stds. are set for both those parameters but it's easy to see how a little variation might creep in, IRL.

so maybe you had your oil changed on a really hot day, or they set it to drain and left to take their lunch break, etc., and so they "recovered", let's say, 12.4 qts. instead of 11.5, but put in the manual std. 11.5 qts.; presto! you're a qt. low (or close) when you drive out after your dealer oil change.

a 2-3 qt. difference between capacity and "recoverable" is at the high end of the range I've seen or heard of, but I can't reacall another car I was familiar with that had a dry sump system, or an oiling system as complex as the R8's; I have had cars with an oil cooler, and that, I seem to recall, could account for an easy quart or so that you can't easily get out.