Checking Engine Oil Level / Oil Consumption / Oil Light On

[Hillbilly]

Thanks Hillbilly! Is there a particular oil brand people recommend here. I looked for the VW recommended castrol edge professional long life III 5w-30 but it isn't stocked anywhere, seems like only available through the service centre. I was told pennzoil is a good alternative, but I'm unsure.

**EDIT**
Just saw on the castrol website they do say to use Castrol Edge titanium Engine Oil - 5W-30 A3/B4 as a top up only so perhaps I should just use what the recommend.

Penrite Enviro+ is an approved oil and is cheaper than Professional III The Edge is a 502/505 and the Enviro+ is a 504/507 rating

Here is a link to the full list of VW approved oils https://drive.google.com/folderview?...GM&usp=sharing

A fair bit of reading but gives the right info

You would be best to got to a dealer and buy the right stuff as should you use a non approved oil and later have engine probs VW may use that to duck out from under on a warranty job as they have been known to do oil tests to check whats in it.

[Ideo]

So, I'm not using any oil. Should I be worried? :p

[Hillbilly]

so, i'm not using any oil. Should i be worried? :p

no !!!!!

[changas]

Hi all,

I've spoken about my oil consumption previously in the observations / questions thread a while back (prior to my 45k service).

A quick summary was that between 0-15k and 15-30k the oil levels were usually very good, minimal consumption and the services were flawless.

Hit 43k, check oil warning popped up, took her to VW just to share my concern, they advise that 500mL / 1000km is quite normal consumption - isn't that a fair bit? No, it's quite normal - OK, happy days who am I to argue with the experts. They had advised that I continue monitoring it.

Did my 45k service, not a problem in the report, everything was fine. I do a lot of highway driving so my usage is quite high - oil light pops on at 52k. Again, I refill it with the recommended oil (Castrol edge professional long life III 5w/30). 58,500km - check oil light pops on again - think nothing of it...VW's must use a lot of oil.

Get my DSG service done (pay with one of my kidneys, apparently I was the first R DSG service at the dealer) at 60k. I drive 62,200km and the check oil light pops up on the way to work. I take it to VW, get an oil consumption test done...they find that it uses about 100mL / 1000km...fairly acceptable. Another few thousand km and it pops on again at 69850km...refill, suck it up...fairly normal.

Fast forward again and I've had my 75k service conducted - again no drama's or anomalies. My engine light pops on at 77958km and I follow the same process, I refill 1L of oil (I check the dipstick each time, it's at the min. mark when the check oil light pops up and when I refill with the 1L Castrol bottle, it sits exactly at the maximum mark). Light goes away, go about my business and then the light pops on again at 79869km. So that's roughly 523mL /1000km now; I will be topping the oil up with a litre bottle every 2000km (7 times between services?!?!) I organize with VW again for a oil consumption test and this time they've found that its using around 350mL / 1000km now.

I had noted before that there was no oil spill below the car in the driveway nor in my parking bay at work so i have difficulty believing that it is a leak - this is still the case. No modifications, everything is bog standard, I do heaps of highway driving between Canberra, Sydney and Newcastle hence the high km's in a short amount of time.

Would love some more comments or advice! Very much appreciated! I am somewhat concerned now as I've owned the car brand new for 2.5 years and my warranty runs out in December 2013!

[gavs]

Hi all,

I've spoken about my oil consumption previously in the observations / questions thread a while back (prior to my 45k service).

A quick summary was that between 0-15k and 15-30k the oil levels were usually very good, minimal consumption and the services were flawless.

Hit 43k, check oil warning popped up, took her to VW just to share my concern, they advise that 500mL / 1000km is quite normal consumption - isn't that a fair bit? No, it's quite normal - OK, happy days who am I to argue with the experts. They had advised that I continue monitoring it.

Did my 45k service, not a problem in the report, everything was fine. I do a lot of highway driving so my usage is quite high - oil light pops on at 52k. Again, I refill it with the recommended oil (Castrol edge professional long life III 5w/30). 58,500km - check oil light pops on again - think nothing of it...VW's must use a lot of oil.

Get my DSG service done (pay with one of my kidneys, apparently I was the first R DSG service at the dealer) at 60k. I drive 62,200km and the check oil light pops up on the way to work. I take it to VW, get an oil consumption test done...they find that it uses about 100mL / 1000km...fairly acceptable. Another few thousand km and it pops on again at 69850km...refill, suck it up...fairly normal.

Fast forward again and I've had my 75k service conducted - again no drama's or anomalies. My engine light pops on at 77958km and I follow the same process, I refill 1L of oil (I check the dipstick each time, it's at the min. mark when the check oil light pops up and when I refill with the 1L Castrol bottle, it sits exactly at the maximum mark). Light goes away, go about my business and then the light pops on again at 79869km. I organize with VW again for a oil consumption test and this time they've found that its using around 350mL / 1000km now.

I had noted before that there was no oil spill below the car in the driveway nor in my parking bay at work so i have difficulty believing that it is a leak - this is still the case. No modifications, everything is bog standard, I do heaps of highway driving between Canberra, Sydney and Newcastle hence the high km's in a short amount of time.

Would love some more comments or advice! Very much appreciated! I am somewhat concerned now as I've owned the car brand new for 2.5 years and my warranty runs out in December 2013!

I will pop some photo's up when I figure out how!

Changas, coming from the polo community I know about vw oil consumption! There are ways to accelerate oil consumption but just to be clear, vw see 1L/2000kms as acceptable oil consumption so unless you can comfortably get below that then they won't do much I'm afraid...

[walbjj]

Ive heard that using a heavier weight oil. 5w-40 will slow oil use.
A mate pushed his oil topups from every 3k km to 7500km by using the heavier weight oil
I guess it's a matter of dealing with it when it comes to vw ownership.

[nat225]

i think if u had the warning light on a couple of times then u may need to revisit the user manual and actually read the owner responsibility for regular maintenance, ie checking oil level regularly..

Hi all,

I've spoken about my oil consumption previously in the observations / questions thread a while back (prior to my 45k service).

A quick summary was that between 0-15k and 15-30k the oil levels were usually very good, minimal consumption and the services were flawless.

Hit 43k, check oil warning popped up, took her to VW just to share my concern, they advise that 500mL / 1000km is quite normal consumption - isn't that a fair bit? No, it's quite normal - OK, happy days who am I to argue with the experts. They had advised that I continue monitoring it.

Did my 45k service, not a problem in the report, everything was fine. I do a lot of highway driving so my usage is quite high - oil light pops on at 52k. Again, I refill it with the recommended oil (Castrol edge professional long life III 5w/30). 58,500km - check oil light pops on again - think nothing of it...VW's must use a lot of oil.

Get my DSG service done (pay with one of my kidneys, apparently I was the first R DSG service at the dealer) at 60k. I drive 62,200km and the check oil light pops up on the way to work. I take it to VW, get an oil consumption test done...they find that it uses about 100mL / 1000km...fairly acceptable. Another few thousand km and it pops on again at 69850km...refill, suck it up...fairly normal.

Fast forward again and I've had my 75k service conducted - again no drama's or anomalies. My engine light pops on at 77958km and I follow the same process, I refill 1L of oil (I check the dipstick each time, it's at the min. mark when the check oil light pops up and when I refill with the 1L Castrol bottle, it sits exactly at the maximum mark). Light goes away, go about my business and then the light pops on again at 79869km. So that's roughly 523mL /1000km now; I will be topping the oil up with a litre bottle every 2000km (7 times between services?!?!) I organize with VW again for a oil consumption test and this time they've found that its using around 350mL / 1000km now.

I had noted before that there was no oil spill below the car in the driveway nor in my parking bay at work so i have difficulty believing that it is a leak - this is still the case. No modifications, everything is bog standard, I do heaps of highway driving between Canberra, Sydney and Newcastle hence the high km's in a short amount of time.

Would love some more comments or advice! Very much appreciated! I am somewhat concerned now as I've owned the car brand new for 2.5 years and my warranty runs out in December 2013!

[Hillbilly]

Doesnt sound too bad really But seriously you wait for the light to come on. Do you check it before that.

I had a Nissan that would usually go 4000k without using oil and then would use 500ml per 1000k so used to just change the oil at 5000k.
However as it was a Taxi it got checked EVERY MORNING without fail.

Most cars use some and long trips tend to burn off the impurities and so appear to use more than a car running around town and not fully hot all the time.

[nickSFC]

So I'm kind of relieved to hear that I'm not the only one that's noticed some oil usage (though mine is pretty tame in comparison to some)

Have done a shade over 25k kms in 2years of ownership, and just about to come up to its 2nd ever service, and the oil light came on as I was heading home last night. Checked the dipstick, and it was below min kind of freaked out a bit at first , but after reading this thread, I don't feel so bad

I'll freely own up to not checking the oil level before this - used to do it regularly with my previous car (Pug 306 GTI), but I'll admit complacency, due to it being my first brand new car. live and learn I guess, I'll definitely be checking it regularly in the future

Luckily, there's a VW dealership within walking distance of my house, so will head down in the morning - here's hoping they'll let me walk out with a free bottle of oil if not, I'll happily take it elsewhere for its upcoming service

[Hillbilly]

Ive heard that using a heavier weight oil. 5w-40 will slow oil use.
A mate pushed his oil topups from every 3k km to 7500km by using the heavier weight oil
I guess it's a matter of dealing with it when it comes to vw ownership.

As the VW oil spec is 5w-30 you may be void your warranty by using something different to the VW approved oils

OK till the yellow stuff hits the fan then after an oil test Wham.