since the oil consumption discussion comes out again a little bit and becomes more acute with some, the Nikasil thing is also unpacked again.
For all new: The 4.2 V8 engines have a Nikasil coating (nickel carbide silicon) of the cylinder treads. This is known at least from ABH - whether later (V8) engines e.g. I don't know how the A8 was made. Today, Audi is no longer so manufactured.
Well, in recent years it has been mentioned again and again and suspected that the partly abnormal oil consumption is mainly due to the decomposing reaction of sulfur-containing fuel in combination with Nikasil coatings. The oil consumption is mainly also dependent on runtime.
In order to substantiate this with facts, I once researched and also found out where the original information actually comes from. Here's the message:
http://www.audiv8.com/forum/showthreaded.php?Cat=&Board=v8engine_ger&Number=6680&page=&view=&sb=&o=&vc=1
The following links are really interesting:
http://www.530i.org/530i test.htm
http://www.koalamotorsport.com/article-m60v8.asp
And Nikasil in general:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikasil
Now it is obvious that the first batches of ABH suffer from this same problem in a weakened form, which would explain the increased oil consumption with good performance.
The message is only meant to bring a little light into this matter. Some here (including me) represent this Nikasil thesis and at least in my case it was based only on what was read in the forum. There's no harm in having some background info.
So for everyone interested and affected
Have fun
Bastian
