2000 A6 Oil Warning light LONG)

[Chander Balakrishnan]

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Fellow listers:  My boss bought a new Audi A6 about 2 + years ago.  He
purchased it partly based on my wonderful experience with my 1987 5kcsq
sedan and 1990 200 tqw.  Recently the Oil warning light has been acting up
in his car.  The car has 48k miles on it (his wife drives it to the college
where she teaches, about 65 miles roundtrip every day).

Now here are the symptoms:  The car behaves just fine until the engine is
fully warmed up, and when the car speed goes down (like coming off a highway
and driving on city streets) the Oil warning light comes on (the light with
the oil can picture on it) along with a very loud buzzer that can scare most
people.  It goes off after the car has been running at the lower speed for a
little while.  But yesterday, it did not go off for a few minutes.

The car does not have an oil pressure gauge, and the oil temperature reading
is normal.  Audi said that the pressure sensor was the likely culprit, and
have changed it twice.  Today they called him and told him that when they
took the pan off, they discovered that an o-ring was bad in the oil pumping
system and have replaced it.  The problem now seems to have gone away.

My boss's concern is that the engine might have suffered some damage due to
lack of oil in the past when the light came on, and that the problem might
manifest itself 20k or more miles later when there is no warranty protection
for the car.  My own sense is that Audi engines are usually over designed
and that he should not be concerned about damage to his car's engine.  I
would appreciate comments from anyone who might had a similar experience
with their car.  Thanks.

Chander
1987 Audi 5kcsq SJM
1988 Jetta
1990 Audi 200 TQW
2003 Jetta TDI wagon



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