2016 A6 MASSIVE Oil Leak after oil change

[MattyMarkey]

The one time I don't do my own oil change! (not saying it wouldn't have happened this time if I did it)

Inspection was due, so decided to have my local Indy shop also change my oil. A couple days later, I get the dreaded "low oil, add a quart" message - I have never had an issue with oil consumption, for the 69k miles on the clock. I knew this wasn't good... took it back to the shop immediately and they took a look. The amount of oil that was on the belly pan, leaking on the ground, and actually in places towards the front of my engine, was not a small amount. Accidents happen, so I wasn't too worried about it and knew the shop would take care of me. They diagnosed it as a faulty drain plug crush washer, which can certainly happen. So they replaced it. Car was driven 3 miles and sat overnight. Drove it the next morning and noticed a lot of oil under the car after I pulled away - I initially thought it was residual, still cleaning itself up (they did clean the engine bay and belly pan as good as possible) - then I took a look under the hood! It was insane to see how much oil was in the engine bay! Started the car up again and got the "Oil at the min. level, add immediately"... Rut Ro... we are talking probably close to 5-7 quarts of oil GONE in less than 10miles driving

It's back at the shop, and they are diagnosing the problem. Now unsure if a bad crush washer or maybe a cross-threaded drain plug, would be leaking this much oil???? Quite a bit worried at this point, but they will get to the bottom of it.

My question is - has anyone experienced a leak from a bad crush washer and/or cross-threaded drain plug? If so, how much oil tends to leak? Is it possible to leak so much (maybe under pressure somehow?) that is gets on the belly pan AND the front of the engine bay?

Anyone else experience a massive oil leak before with this engine?? I have never heard of or seen anything like this with these engines!

[Vinng86]

How bad is the engine bay? The oil drain plug is underneath the car, there shouldn't much oil all over the engine bay!

Do you have any pics of the engine bay?

[jrp916]

Sorry to hear this, must be frustrating. Only thing I can help with- my brother in law had a similar experience with his Jetta years ago. He actually overfilled it, apparently the dealer told him vw designed his motor for some seal to blow to save the motor if it gets over filled. Sounds like you may have a different situation but just throwing it out there in case.


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[gk1]

Wow. Sorry to hear. Any pics?
FWIW even if a crush washer was split or drain plug cross-threaded it should still not leak that much.
Missing the O-ring on the filter or cross-threading the filter cap maybe...
Not good news, but back in the day my friend had an indy do his oil change on an old C5 3.0 (NA) and they did not tighten the filter on properly causing catastrophic engine failure when all the oil leaked out. Unfortunately it made my friend very averse to Audi as a brand since the mechanic was his friend and blamed Audi for the issue.

[MattyMarkey]

How bad is the engine bay? The oil drain plug is underneath the car, there shouldn't much oil all over the engine bay!

Do you have any pics of the engine bay?

I wish I took pics! I was a little heated and didn't think about it at the time. It did seem very odd that the drain plug (being underneath) would cause it... the majority of the oil is on the belly pan, and lower on the engine though. Oil is also getting onto the belts and the cooling fan, which I think is causing it to get over other areas of the engine bay - which is also why I thought with the amount of oil leaking, and the belts/fans being able to spread the oil around, it still may be the drain plug.

The top of the engine is clean, same with around the sides where the valve covers are, so I dont think its the oil filter.

[MattyMarkey]

Sorry to hear this, must be frustrating. Only thing I can help with- my brother in law had a similar experience with his Jetta years ago. He actually overfilled it, apparently the dealer told him vw designed his motor for some seal to blow to save the motor if it gets over filled. Sounds like you may have a different situation but just throwing it out there in case.


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Did his also have a massive leak? When being overfilled, it made all the oil come out?

[Qwery718]

Why didn’t they suck out and fill the oil from the top? Isn’t that the way to do it for these cars?

[ELaw]

I wish I took pics! I was a little heated and didn't think about it at the time. It did seem very odd that the drain plug (being underneath) would cause it... the majority of the oil is on the belly pan, and lower on the engine though. Oil is also getting onto the belts and the cooling fan, which I think is causing it to get over other areas of the engine bay - which is also why I thought with the amount of oil leaking, and the belts/fans being able to spread the oil around, it still may be the drain plug.

The top of the engine is clean, same with around the sides where the valve covers are, so I dont think its the oil filter.

Oil on belts & fan *could* be a drain plug but it seems unlikely.

One thing about the drain plug, it will leak when the engine is not running. That's not the case with many other leakage points.

You say "valve covers" so I assume it's the 6-cylinder engine? The potential leakage spots are different between that and the 4-cylinder.

[15 Phantom S6]

Right after an oil change and swapping out the drain plug gasket didn't do the trick, it's gotta be an incorrectly installed oil filter or a crack in the oil filter housing from over-tightening... That's my guess..

[Eurotuned_A4]

Right after an oil change and swapping out the drain plug gasket didn't do the trick, it's gotta be an incorrectly installed oil filter or a crack in the oil filter housing from over-tightening... That's my guess..

I agree with this. Should be pretty easy for them to figure out. When I bought my used A6 the dealer did an oil change on it. They didn't install the filter properly and oil got everywhere. Added a new OEM filter and everything was good minus the mess the lost oil made.

[daytona rs7]

also agree to cracked filter housing or bad o ring seal.

oil shouldn't be visible near the top of the engine with a drain plug seal issue. not to mention, its too fast of a leak.

[jrp916]

Did his also have a massive leak? When being overfilled, it made all the oil come out?

He had a massive leak yes. Some seal around the heads blew out I think. Cost $2k at the dealer to fix the oil seal on a vw 5cyl.

This does seem like it could be something with the oil filter housing, there is an upper (cap oring) and lower seal. They could have just forgot the cap o-ring :fingerscrossed:




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[MattyMarkey]

I agree with this. Should be pretty easy for them to figure out. When I bought my used A6 the dealer did an oil change on it. They didn't install the filter properly and oil got everywhere. Added a new OEM filter and everything was good minus the mess the lost oil made.

When you say "oil was everywhere", was it in similar areas as I mention (Belly Pan, lower engine, fan shroud, belts)? With the filter being on the top of the engine, I would think oil would be all over the valve covers, coilpacks, and maybe even underside of the hood, which those are clean for me.

Appreciate all the support and ideas, folks!!

[MattyMarkey]

He had a massive leak yes. Some seal around the heads blew out I think. Cost $2k at the dealer to fix the oil seal on a vw 5cyl.

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Oof

[MattyMarkey]

Extremely curious and anxious to see what they find! Waiting for the call...

[ELaw]

When you say "oil was everywhere", was it in similar areas as I mention (Belly Pan, lower engine, fan shroud, belts)? With the filter being on the top of the engine, I would think oil would be all over the valve covers, coilpacks, and maybe even underside of the hood, which those are clean for me.

Appreciate all the support and ideas, folks!!

If oil was spraying out, yes. If it was seeping, it could easily run straight downward and bypass those things. Oil is very clever, and will actively try to prevent you from finding out where it is leaking.

Again, knowing which engine would help. If the 4-cylinder is the same as in my A4, the oil filter is in the front and oil leaking from it could easily end up on the belts etc. on the front of the engine. That would be much less likely with the 6-cylinder engine which has the oil filter in the rear.

[robd88]

I would check the oil filter housing and related gaskets/o-rings. It's possible it cracked from overtightenting, missing/improperly installed o-rings, or cross threaded.

My guess is the crush washer was not replaced either, just reused.

Keep us posted.

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[wwhan]

I would check the oil filter housing and related gaskets/o-rings. It's possible it cracked from overtightenting, missing/improperly installed o-rings, or cross threaded....

+1,

I carefully use a torque wrench on the oil filter sealing cap.

Torque value is 25 NM (18.6 Ft-Lbs) for 4.0 TFSI, 3.0 TFSI & 2.0T TDI.

Torque value is 22 NM for 2.0 TFSI.

Oddly, Torque value is 35 NM for 3.0 TDI

[MattyMarkey]

If oil was spraying out, yes. If it was seeping, it could easily run straight downward and bypass those things. Oil is very clever, and will actively try to prevent you from finding out where it is leaking.

Again, knowing which engine would help. If the 4-cylinder is the same as in my A4, the oil filter is in the front and oil leaking from it could easily end up on the belts etc. on the front of the engine. That would be much less likely with the 6-cylinder engine which has the oil filter in the rear.

My bad. With the oil filter being on the top, rear of the engine, it is in fact the 3.0T. The majority of the oil is in the belly pan and lower part of the engine - to me, it looked like the oil on the front of the engine, belts, fan shroud was due to it "spraying" or being carried to those points somehow.

[ELaw]

Well that's weird... on the 3.0 you'd think the oil would just run down the back of the engine if there were a leak at the filter.

If I can toss out one more data point, re the drain plug washer... when I change the oil on my cars, 90% of the time I reuse the washer. I've had a few leaks from doing that, but the worst amounted to maybe a drop a week... hardly an Exxon Valdez-level loss. If your engine is leaking at the plug, I'd say more likely the washer was omitted, or the plug was cross-threaded so it didn't seat squarely.

I think the 3.0t also has an oil cooler at the front of the engine (low down on the driver's side), it's possible you've got a leak there.

Edit: I found a photo of the cooler, it's the light-colored thing at the top center of this photo:
Dscf2685sm.jpg
In the car, it's just forward of the oil drain plug.

[Dirt]

The shop may not admit it, but I’d put my money on a crush washer / oil filter/ oil filter gasket issue.

I’ve seen cases where the rubber gasket on the old oil filter comes off and gets stuck to the engine block. It’s not something you typically look for and easy to install the new oil filter on top of.

[MattyMarkey]

For those of you who called an oil filter housing/gasket issue; well done!

Spoke to the shop late yesterday - they found that the filter housing gasket, that is replaced with each filter change, had a tare/failure. The oil was traveling down the valley pan (under the SC), which was the culprit of oil on the belts/front of the engine. The shop is taking full responsibility and handling the situation by treating me (and my car) well. Because of the "min oil level - fill immediately" warning message, they did measure the amount of remaining oil in the engine - turned out 5qts came out. Does seem odd, knowing the warning message, and the amount of oil on the ground, belly pan and in the engine bay... but my perception of amounts of liquid could be off. The car never overheated, and with the amount of oil left in the engine, hopefully no damage was done (fingers crossed)

The shop is being extra diligent this time. Still amazed a tare/failure in the o-ring could cause that size of an oil leak!! Though it is under pressure at the filter housing...

[ELaw]

Glad to hear they figured it out!

[robd88]

Gotta lube those o-rings prior to installing the filter cap or they might roll or tear.

Glad it was nothing major.

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[Suburban41]

Took my 2015 Audi A3 to the Dealership where I always go in September for an oil change.. I noticed last Friday on Dec 3rd a bunch of oil in the garage.. I took my car back up the the Audi Dealership and of course they're not responsible.. They said I need a Oil Pan Replacement and a Timing Chain Cover.. Thats where the leaks are coming from..

I'm sitting on only 58000 miles and this is NOT a daily driver..
Pissed