B8.5 SQ5 oil leak - where do these go?

[Norskie]

Did my first oil change on my 2015 SQ5 and found an oil leak. Guess I shouldn't be surprised, despite the low mileage (60K), it is German. At least it isn't a big leak.

Looking up under the engine, where do these lines go in the back? This is looking up at the engine from the bottom, they're on the passenger side. The host fittings go towards the front.

[asiwa]

Did my first oil change on my 2015 SQ5 and found an oil leak. Guess I shouldn't be surprised, despite the low mileage (60K), it is German. At least it isn't a big leak.

Looking up under the engine, where do these lines go in the back? This is looking up at the engine from the bottom, they're on the passenger side. The host fittings go towards the front.

You shouldn't have oil leaks at 60k. I'm at 59,500 and my motor is dry as a bone. The 3.0T is not known to leak oil with the exception of the valve cover gaskets at higher mileages, the vacuum pump and potentially the timing chain covers.

I also may be crazy but I don't see any oil residue at all in that area. Where exactly is the leak coming from?

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[Norskie]

You shouldn't have oil leaks at 60k. I'm at 59,500 and my motor is dry as a bone. The 3.0T is not known to leak oil with the exception of the valve cover gaskets at higher mileages, the vacuum pump and potentially the timing chain covers.

I also may be crazy but I don't see any oil residue at all in that area. Where exactly is the leak coming from?

It wasn't much oil, what was there was clean and hard to see. I had already removed it from the lower section of those two lines in the picture. I could find any other evidence of leaks in the area therefore surmised that the leak migrated along those lines until it dripped onto the undertray.

It wasn't much so it's either not leaking much or it just started.

Now that I think about it, I wonder if it's transmission fluid, and those are lines to the cooler?

At least I used Molygen for the oil change, hopefully that will help chase it down.

[choppstixxx]

Honestly I don't think those two lines carry oil at all, it might be oil dripping from higher up and then just carrying down. Monitor your oil levels with an actual dipstick and see if you are losing a lot of oil quickly. Also obv. check for drips on your driveway/garage. Liqui Moly actually makes a green oil that you can use a UV light to track down leaks exactly for situations like this.

[djn876]

Those are probably either fuel or AC lines, I'm guessing AC. I'll go under the car and look a little later when I get home if you haven't figured it out yet.

[Norskie]

You shouldn't have oil leaks at 60k. I'm at 59,500 and my motor is dry as a bone. The 3.0T is not known to leak oil with the exception of the valve cover gaskets at higher mileages

I think you're right, there is a tiny bit of seepage from the passenger side valve cover gasket which could be following those oil line (they go over the transmission so don't think it's the lines).

I also agree that a car with 60k shouldn't have oil leaks but my BMW had many more before the same mileage and my other two Audi's started to leak around 80k (and then a LOT more at 100k). My subaru's and honda's didn't start this crap until about 120k. On the plus side, I don't have to pull the motor to replace valve cover gaskets.

[Dshipskind]

I think you're right, there is a tiny bit of seepage from the passenger side valve cover gasket which could be following those oil line (they go over the transmission so don't think it's the lines).

I also agree that a car with 60k shouldn't have oil leaks but my BMW had many more before the same mileage and my other two Audi's started to leak around 80k (and then a LOT more at 100k). My subaru's and honda's didn't start this crap until about 120k. On the plus side, I don't have to pull the motor to replace valve cover gaskets.

Hey, Norskie. Did you ever solve where the oil was coming from? I recently purchased a 2014 Q5 3.0t and noticed the exact same thing during my first oil change. I’m also at 60k miles. It’s definitely motor oil and seems to come from nowhere.

[Norskie]

Hey, Norskie. Did you ever solve where the oil was coming from? I recently purchased a 2014 Q5 3.0t and noticed the exact same thing during my first oil change. I’m also at 60k miles. It’s definitely motor oil and seems to come from nowhere.

No. I looked around and saw some seepage from the valve cover gasket, not much at all. I cleaned everything up and switched to liquimoly w/molygen (flourescent) and 10k miles later there's no leak.

[asiwa]

No. I looked around and saw some seepage from the valve cover gasket, not much at all. I cleaned everything up and switched to liquimoly w/molygen (flourescent) and 10k miles later there's no leak.

After rereading your original post, I am going to take a wild guess that you may have just been seeing some spillage of fresh oil after your oil change. This tends to happen to me no matter how careful I am when filling.

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[Norskie]

After rereading your original post, I am going to take a wild guess that you may have just been seeing some spillage of fresh oil after your oil change. This tends to happen to me no matter how careful I am when filling.

I noticed the leak before I did the oil change, and those lines are on the passenger side of the engine; the oil filler is on the right. Far as I can tell, there are no fluids on that side of the engine.

No matter, no leaks now.

[JT_S5blkopt]

IMG_0445.jpg
IMG_0444.jpg
Hey boss, I have that same leak on my S5. I tried asking on the S5 topic section but no answer. Sorry for Hijacking your thread but it just seems more people are willing to help here


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[Norskie]

Hey boss, I have that same leak on my S5. I tried asking on the S5 topic section but no answer. Sorry for Hijacking your thread but it just seems more people are willing to help here

Based on the color it looks like an engine oil leak which is following the lines from a higher point. Try adding a UV dye to your oil and then get a UV light to see where it's coming from.

[T_SQ5]

Based on the color it looks like an engine oil leak which is following the lines from a higher point. Try adding a UV dye to your oil and then get a UV light to see where it's coming from.

Did anyone solve this problem? I'm having the same leak. It originates up higher on the engine and runs down those lines. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[Norskie]

Did anyone solve this problem? I'm having the same leak. It originates up higher on the engine and runs down those lines. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

In my case the leak didn't come back. Maybe from a prior oil change? Who knows.

You may want to reply to JT_S5blkopt directly if they resolved their leak.

[Jimmyjamjar]

I know this thread is old but I have a leak from the top of those lines originating from the bracket where they're behind the engine at the top of the transmission. The whole pipe ended up being cracked right through from rattling around after the brackets lower snapped completely off. Boy let me tell you they're impossible to get out without removing huge parts of the engine even though they move freely their shape makes it impossible to get them out, removing the transmission or the catalytic converter is really the only option from what I can tell. The parts themselves weren't hard to get and were $400 for both pipes from Audi. Unless you're prepared to pull apart the engine or remove the transmission it's definitely probably better to pay a mechanic to do it

[jcsandoval777]

I had oil in the same spot and they found my passenger side valve cover was leaking. $300 later and it's all fixed! I'm at 72k miles keep in mind. They also said driver side is starting to leak but didn't recommend fixing that side just yet.

[arjun90]

Valve Cover Gaskets are notorious to leak irrespective of mileage on these 3.0T motors. Also, check your timing chain covers

[JayCar]

FYI, those 2 aluminum hard lines are from the transmission. It runs through the radiator in a separate loop used to cool it. It's essentially a transmission cooler.

[blkmz3]

These are the trans cooler lines that have transmission fluid. Mine had a small leak as well which I thought was engine oil at first. The audi shop I go to indicated these commonly leak and to always check them whenever you are under the car. Mechanic tightened the fittings up.