198 Checking and filling
Using the proper engine oil is important for
the functionality and service life of the en
gine. Your engine was factory-filled with a
high-quality oil which can usually be used
throughout the entire year.
0 Note
Your Limited New Vehicle Warranty does
not cover damage or malfunctions due to
failure to follow recommended mainte
nance and use requirements as set forth in
the Audi Owner's Manual and Warranty
&
Maintenance booklet.
- Use only a high quality engine oil that ex
pressly complies with the Audi oil quality
standard specified for your vehicle's en
gine . Using any other oil can cause seri
ous engine damage.
- Do not mix any lubricants or other addi
tives into the engine oil. Doing so can
cause engine damage.
If you need to add oil and there is none
available that meets the Audi oil quality
standard your engine requires, you may
add a total of no more than 0.5 quart/liter
of a high-quality "synthetic"oil that meets
the following specifications.
- Vehicles with gasoline engine: ACEA A3
or API SM with a viscosity grade of
SAE 0W-30, SAE SW-30 or SAE SW-40.
- For more information about engine oil
that has been approved for your vehicle, please contact either your authorized
Audi dealer or Audi Customer Relations
at 1 (800) 822-2834 or visit our web site
at www.audiusa .com or
www .audicanada .ca .
Engine oil consumption
The engine in your vehicle depends on an ade
quate amount of oil to lubricate and cool all
of its moving parts.
In order to provide effective lubrication and
cooling of internal engine components, all in
ternal combustion engines consume a certain amount of oil. Oil consumption varies from
engine to engine and may change significantly
over the life of the engine. Typically, engines
with a specified break-in period (see
¢ page 179) consume more oil during the
break -in period than they consume after oil
consumption has stabilized.
Under normal conditions, the rate of oil con
sumption depends on the quality and viscosity
of the oil, the RPM (revolutions per minute) at
which the engine is operated, the ambient
temperature and road conditions . Further fac
tors are the amount of oil dilution from water
condensation or fuel residue and the oxida
tion level of the oil. As any engine is subject to
wear as mileage builds up, the oil consump
tion may increase over time until replacement of worn components may become necessary.
With all these variables coming into play, no
standard rate of oil consumption can be es
tablished or specified. There is no alternative
to regular and frequent checking of the oil lev el, see
Note.
If
the yellow engine oil level warning symbol
El in the instrument cluster lights up, you
should check the oil level as soon as possible
¢ page 199. Top off the oil at your earliest
convenience
¢ page 199.
A WARNING
--
Before you check anything in the engine
compartment, always read and heed all
WARNINGS¢
& in Working in the engine
compartment on page 195.
{(D Note
Driving with an insufficient oil level is like
ly to cause severe damage to the engine .
(D Tips
- The oil pressure warning display. is
not an indicator of the oil level. Do not
rely on it. Instead, check the oil level in
your engine at regular intervals, pref erably each time you refuel, and always
before going on a long trip. .,.
200 Check ing and filling
le vel appears, contact your authorized
Audi dealer or qualified workshop to have excess oil extracted if necessary.
- Aud i d oes not recomme nd th e use of o il
add it iv es. T he y ma y dam ag e the e ngine
and ad ve rsel y a ffect you r New Vehicle
Wa rrant y.
@ For the sake of the environment
- Under no circumstances can the oil come
in contact with the sewage network or
the soil.
- Observe and follow lega l regu lations
when disposing of empty oil containers.
Changing the engine oil
We recommend that hove your oil changed by
on authori zed Audi dealer or a qualified serv
ice station.
Before you check anything in the engine com
partment,
a lways r ea d and h eed all W ARN ·
ING S
q & in Working in the engine comport
ment on page 195.
The engine oil must be changed according to
the intervals specified in your Warranty
&
Maintenance book let. This is very important
because the lubricating properties of oil di
minish gradually dur ing normal veh icle use .
Under some circumstances the engine oi l
should be changed more frequently . Change
oil more often if you drive mostly short dis
tances, operate the vehicle in dusty areas or
under predominantly stop-and-go traffic con·
d itions, or have your veh icle where tempera·
tures remain below freez ing fo r extended pe
riods.
Detergent addit ives in the o il w ill make fresh
oil look dark after the eng ine has been run
n ing for a short time. This is no rma l and is not
a reason to change the oil more often than recommended.
Because of the prob lem of proper disposal ,
a long w ith the special tools and necessary ex
pertise required, we strong ly recommend that you have your oil changed by an authorized
A
udi de ale r or a qualified service station.
If yo u choo se t o c hange y our oi l yourse lf ,
please note the follow ing important informa
t ion:
_& WARNING
To reduce the risk of personal injury if you
must change the eng ine oil in your vehicle
yourself:
- Wear eye protection .
- To reduce the risk of burns from hot en -
gine oi l, let the engine cool down to the
touch .
- When removing the o il dra in p lug with
your fingers, stay as far away as possible.
Always keep your forearm parallel to the ground to help prevent hot oil from run· n ing down your arm.
- Dra in the oil into a container designed
for this purpose, one large enough to hold at least the tota l amount of oil in
your engine .
- Engine oil is poisonous. Keep it we ll out
of the reach of children.
- Continuous contact with used eng ine o il
is harmful to your sk in . Always protect
your skin by washing oil off thoroughly
wit h soap and water.
(D Note
Never mix oil additives with your engine
oil. These additives can damage your en
g ine and adversely affect your Aud i Limit
ed New Veh icle Warranty.
@ For the sake of the environment
- Before changing your oil, first make sure
you know where you can properly dispose of the used oil.
- Always dispose of used eng ine oil proper
ly. Do not dump it on garden soil, wood
ed areas, into open streams or down
sewage drains.
- Recycle used engine oil by taking it to a
used engine oil collect ion faci lity in you r
area, or contact a service station.
M N
er
u..
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Engine cooling system
Coolant
The engine coolant performs two functions: it
keeps the engine from overheating and it pro
tects the engine from freezing in the winter .
The cooling system is sealed and generally re
quires little attention.
T he cooling system has been filled at the fac
tory with a permanent coolant which does not need to be changed. The coolan t consists of a
mixture of specially conditioned water and the
manufacturer 's glycol-based coolant addi-
tive G13 antifreeze with ant icorros ion addi
tives (50% for USA models ; 60% for Ca nadian
models) . Th is mixture both assures the neces
sary frost protection and protects metal com
ponents in the engine's coo ling system from
corrosion and scaling. It a lso raises the boil
ing point of the coo lant.
D o not reduce the concentration o f the coo l
ant in the summer by adding plain water .
The
proportion of coolant additive mu st be at
least 50 % but not more than 60 %
to main
tain antifree ze protection and cooling efficien
cy. If the coolant frost protect ion is too low,
the coolant could freeze and damage the veh i
cle heating and eng ine cooling system .
For year-round driving, antifree ze is added at
the factory for temperatures down to:
- -31° F(-35°C)USA
- - 4 0 ° F ( -40 °C) Canada.
I f you must add coo lant, use a m ixture of wa
ter and coolant addit ive. Mixing the coolant
addi tive wi th disti lled wate r is recommended.
A WARNING
Be fore yo u check any thing in the engine
compartment, always read and heed all
WARNI NGS
~ .&. in Working in the engine
compartment on page 195.
(D Note
- Befo re win ter sets in, have the coolan t
checked to see if t he coolant ad dit ive in
-
Checkin g and fillin g 201
your vehicle is sufficient to meet the cli
mate conditions . This is especia lly impor
tant if you live in a region where the win
ter is extreme ly co ld. If necessary, in
c rease the p ropo rtion of coo lant add itive
to 60% .
- When adding coolant additive to your
cooling system, remember:
- We re commend using on ly coola nt ad
d itive G 12++ or G 13 for your veh icle .
T his coolan t ad di tive is availab le a t au
thor ized Audi dealers. Other types of
antifreeze can significantly reduce cor
rosion protection. The resulting corro
sion can cause a loss of coolant and se
rious engine damage .
- Do not add any type of rad iator leak seal
ant to your vehicle's engi ne coolant .
Add ing radiator repa ir flu id may adverse
ly affect the f unction and performance of
your cooling system and cou ld resu lt in
damage not covered by you r New Ve hicle
Li mited War ran ty.
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