Oil level sensor ridiculousness

[schaefo]

I have a 2016 S4, 26000 miles. Several weeks and several hundred miles following my 25000 mile service was done by a local dealership, the oil level warning comes on telling me to add 1 quart and proceed to my dealer. Right. Having no dipstick, I figure it’s reasonable that I’ve consumed some oil and add a bit less than one quart. Then I order a dipstick from ECS. A few days later the warning light is back. I do not add any more oil and decide to wait for my dipstick to arrive. When it does, I check the oil level and wouldn’t you know it, I have plenty of oil, perhaps a bit too much. But the warning light returns (it resets each time I open the hood but seems to return about 50 miles later). I take it to another dealership and report all symptoms and history and suggest that i have a faulty oil level sensor. They have a look and tell me that the sensor is fine. “Whoever filled the oil last added too much oil and this is why you are seeing the oil level warning.” Of course this makes no sense at all, that Audi has designed this sensor to tell us to ADD oil when the oil is OVER full and it makes no sense that the light came on weeks after the other dealer serviced the car...but I play along. He tells me they need to remove oil and for that they will charge me about 70 bucks. “No. I can remove oil on my own just fine. Thank you. I would like the car back.”

So friends, the questions are: 1. What the hell is going on here? 2. Has anyone ever encountered this? 3. Should I simply change out the oil or should I somehow pump out just enough, through the dip stick tube perhaps?

[onlyaudis]

If you have a topsider oil sucking unit or something similar, i'd drain it out the dipstick and see if that helps first. if not, maybe find another dealer.

[Dr GP]

You have a bad sensor that is related to the hood opening. This problem has been reported many times. Same scenario. At least you now have a dipstick which will allow you to get an accurate oil level reading. Remove the excess oil.

[schaefo]

I’ve read about bad/stuck sensors that tell the oil level warning light to reset when the hood is opened. Is that what you mean? The light does reset when I open the hood. It just comes back on after approx 50 miles of driving. I think I must have a faulty oil level sensor in the oil pan (or wherever it is) and the dealer did not want to deal with the warranty repair claim.

[Dr GP]

I’ve read about bad/stuck sensors that tell the oil level warning light to reset when the hood is opened. Is that what you mean? The light does reset when I open the hood. It just comes back on after approx 50 miles of driving. I think I must have a faulty oil level sensor in the oil pan (or wherever it is) and the dealer did not want to deal with the warranty repair claim.

Yes, that is what I am referring to. I believe you actually need to replace the sensor but it is not in the oil pan. Not 100% sure. You might want to try searching the forum.

[TLB]

It looks like a faulty sensor. The car should tell you that it is overfilled if they added too much oil. ( it happened to me). At least we can use an oil dipstick for S4. Some cars do not have this option.

[schaefo]

SOLVED

I bought a $10 manual oil pump off Amazon and removed about 1 quart of oil. I fully expected the indicator light to remain on and to need a faulty sensor replaced. Not the case. Lo and behold, the low oil warning light went off and many weeks/miles later it has not returned.

There you have it, Audi has designed this car to give you a "low oil, add oil and proceed to dealer" indicator when you have OVERFILLED your oil.

[whoanelly223]

sensor tells me that I'm down 1/8 - 1/2qt at random intervals and when I check the dipstick it's always full.

[grovlet]

Yeah the level in the MMI is always a bit flaky..... Once you have a dipstick simply go by that and don't worry about the MMI......

CLIFF NOTES - Buy a Dipstick and use it often!!

[USAF_Danny]

Side note, IF you do need a new sensor, I have one for ya.

[schaefo]

Thanks all! And yes, I purchased a dipstick and I use it often!

[samq45]

On my 2011 S4, if I overfill it tells me to remove oil. I have not overfilled yet on the 2015 S5, so perhaps there was a change in the message in the later years - but that really does not make sense. Why would it tell you to add more oil when its already over. Too much oil is sometimes worse for the engine than being a quart or 2 short.

Before I had a dipstick I got the add oil message once on the 2011. I added about 3/4 of a quart. 300 Miles later the light came on telling me to remove oil as it was overfilled, 2 different messages. I got dipsticks for both cars and dont look at the MMI.

[ElectroMike]

SOLVED
There you have it, Audi has designed this car to give you a "low oil, add oil and proceed to dealer" indicator when you have OVERFILLED your oil.

This happened to a friend of mine, 2015 S4, he had a local (none Audi) indy shop change his oil, about 20 miles later he had an Oil indicator come on, he added 1/4q, drove another day, light came back on, added another 1/2q, drove a bit more, it came back on, finally took it to an Audi dealer, they found out that in addition to him overfilling it, it was already overfilled, so they charged him for a full oil change.

[Silver Streakin]

That’s odd. My ‘07 S4 had an overfilled oil message. Why would Audi drop that from B7 to B8??

[JACKAL]

Bumping an older thread here as I also seem to be experiencing some ridiculousness. I don't have a physical dipstick (though after this I will be getting one) so I use the MMI. Yesterday it showed the level as 'OK' but at about 50% on the graph so I decided to top it off. I added half a quart, shut the hood and re-checked. No change on the dipstick. I figured I may need to drive for a little while so when I got home from work I checked again. No change. I added the remainder of the quart and let the car sit overnight. Checked again this morning. Still no change.

Any thoughts??

[hilmar2k]

Bumping an older thread here as I also seem to be experiencing some ridiculousness. I don't have a physical dipstick (though after this I will be getting one) so I use the MMI. Yesterday it showed the level as 'OK' but at about 50% on the graph so I decided to top it off. I added half a quart, shut the hood and re-checked. No change on the dipstick. I figured I may need to drive for a little while so when I got home from work I checked again. No change. I added the remainder of the quart and let the car sit overnight. Checked again this morning. Still no change.

Any thoughts??

Just get a dipstick. The MMI oil level is notoriously unreliable. I would not be adding any more oil until you get a real reading from a dipstick.

[wjhpilot]

I had this happen and took my 2010 S4 to my tuner. They bypassed the hood latch sensor while troubleshooting and the light went out. Replaced the sensor and problem immediately solved.