Reset Audi Oil Switch?

(2011-01-27 15:20:17)

1. Walter Zerk Says: We got an oil light on our '08 Audi A4 turbo. Thinking the oil was dangerously low, we poured in two quarts and tried to go on our way. Big mistake. It wouldn't start afterward.

The dealer says the light was just a "low level" indicator, not loss of oil pressure. And that we must have set the "oil overfilled" switch. He says we have to have the car towed in and he'll take care of it.

But really! Tow the car twenty miles to have them reset a switch? Isn't this something that can be done in our driveway?

I know what you're thinking. How can people who can mess up when adding oil, the simplest kind of maintenance, tackle a switch reset? Yeah, ok. Fair enough. But we can have a more experienced guy come by to help. It just seems you should be able to reset a switch without towing the car all the way to the next county.

What do you think? Can we reset that switch at home? Can you point us to the precedure?

2. Zzonyx Says: Before doing anything else, drain excess oil from the engine, the switch should reset automatically. To do this an experienced DIYer will do. Being an alarm, I don't think you can force-reset it - the correct way is to remove whatever caused the alarm, ie excess oil. Starting the engine in these conditions would probably ruin it in no time, meaning you would have to tow it anyway.
If this doesn't work, use a VAG teminal connected to the diagnostics port in the car. Make sure whoever does this has experience with VW Audi engines.
Haven't you people ever heard of the dipstick? The Manual shows how to do it.