Adding oil dipstick to Audi A4 B8/A5/Q5 (by LoCal)11.9.2008 (updated 27.12.2009) - A fellow Audi enthusiast LoCal sent in this contribution.Some new Audi A4 B8 and A5 models ship without oil dipsticks. Instead, they have a selection in the CAR menu in the radio/MMI for checking oil that displays a graphic bar when the ignition is turned on for a while. The oil dipstick hole is still in the engine, but only covered by a plug that is useless for checking oil levels. (Some models, perhaps due to model age or engine type, do have a dipstick and do not have the oil sensor required by the oil display, so the oil selection in radio/MMI is missing or grayed out.) If your car does not have the automatic oil display in the radio/MMI, check out the Audi A5 VAG COM article linked below, and especially the hidden menu mentioned there, to try and enable it. But if it doesn't show a graphical bar after driving the car a while, or the oil selection stays grayed out and isn't even selectable, your car does not have the required sensor and it won't work. More likely, though, you are one of those people who do have the graphical oil display and miss the security of the oil dipstick. Especially if you car breaks down and you are afraid to start it to see the oil status, because starting an engine with insufficient oil is dangerous in itself. Luckily some folks have researched the part numbers to add an Audi dipstick to replace the useless plug in the engine (thanks morski and other guys in the A5OC.com threads linked below). Here are some of the part numbers found for oil dipsticks: 1.8?/2.0? TFSI: 06J 115 611 E * (Both do have the same dipstick tube, 06H 115 610 B) 2.0 TDI: 03L 115 611 E 2.7/3.0 TDI: 059 115 611 AB 3.2 FSI: 06E 115 611 H S5 4.2: 079 115 611 AB (was 079 115 611 AD) This information seems pretty much the same for Audi Q5, which uses a same/similar set of engines. *) DavidB8 reports (http://www.audizine.com/forum/showthread.php?t=333233) that his A4 B8 2.0 TFSI had the mentioned dipstick, it is unknown if the same works correctly for the 1.8 TFSI - there is some question if it is officially for 2.0 TFSI either but it seems to work - see the link and decide for yourselves. Older note: Audi does have a tool part number VTO-T40-178 that is a generic oil dipstick, adjustable for various engine types. Apparently the top of the stick has a range of 0-200, for 2.0 TFSI this should reportedly be set to 39. The lower end of the dipstick has another range of 0-30. For 2.0 TFSI reportedly, on the lower end scale, position 0 is the low and position 24 is the high limit of the acceptable oil range for the engine. This tool is not designed to be left in place (instead use the oil dipstick tube cap that is in the car when not measuring oil), the tool should be dipped into the tube only when necessary and stored somewhere else at other times. Link to this information in Finnish (thanks to Paavo Pesusieni): http://www.ultimatevw.com/keskustelu/index.php?cmd=aihe&id=10753&sivu=348 Reference links: http://www.a5oc.com/forums/showthread.php/check-oil-2909/index2.html (A5OC.com thread with information on the oil dipstick) https://a6retrofit.tripod.com/articles/a5vagcodes.html (VAG COM codes, including enabling the MMI oil display) http://www.a5oc.com/forums/showthread.php/oil-stick-part-5449/index.html?p=58667 (Oil stick part number for 3.2 V6 FSI?) With the dipstick in place, why not add a touch more detail under the hood. The good looking Audi R8 oil cap part number is: 420 103 485 B. It is compatible with Audi A4/A5. By LoCal |
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