Polo GTI High Oil Usage - Discussion Thread

[gavs]

Feel for you mate but don't feel bad about being deceived, part and parcel of VW ownership. At least they are doing something about it now for you.

[Karly101]

Well I booked in for the 2nd part of my oil consumption test for 20th December (only time I could get a hire car I did tell them I'd be massively over the kms by then!), I reached 1400km today (into the test car has done 8,000km) and the oil lamp came on. Stopped by the dealer and the car had drank 1.5litres of oil in 1400km.

I questioned them that it was excessive and they told me not to worry and come back on the 20th December for the 2nd stage of the test Got home... and Volkswagen rang to tell me that they'll need to reschedule my appointment as the car would need new piston rings and that would take 3 days. Why could they not tell me this at the dealer?? Obviously they know its a problem.

So I will be getting new piston rings for Christmas.. hah.. hope it solves this problem. I did not get to run this car in because I bought it at 3000km but I don't drive gently and do fwy driving every day so I would have thought that would help! I will speak to them about reimbursing me for the oil but will settle if they fill my bottle for no charge.

[Eaglehawk]

Started my oil consumption test today. First service just cost under $280.

[Lucas_R]

Karly - thats a huge amount of oil to use in such a short space of time. Sorry to hear that some of these GTi's are having oil issues and having to have pistons / piston rings replaced - especially when some cars are only a few months old.

I used to work at a Holden dealership from about 2000 - 2002, and the Gen III 5.7L V8 had just been released in the SS and HSV variants of the Commodore. They had a massive "piston slap" issue with their engines (causing engine noises and oil consumption), and at any one time, there would be several getting pulled apart and having new pistons and rings installed. Good news is, that the new pistons fixed the issue.....well part of the issue - the cars were still ****boxes but they didn't use oil anymore.

On another note, we have a 95 Corolla which is our runaround car. I keep it in great condition and service it regularly etc, but now thats its done 186,000km it has started to use a bit of oil. It doesn't leak, and ive driven behind it and it doesn't visibly burn it, but somehow uses it up while running. It uses about 100-200ml every 1,000km - and considering the age of the car, thats acceptable. In a new car though, no way.

My Golf has just passed 5,000km and hasn't used a drop of oil so far - and i certainly hope it stays that way.

Another thing to note - i have 2x brothers that work for Audi dealerships with a combined 10yrs or so of experience. Both of them have said that the DSG equipped vehicles are much more prone to have oil consumption issues over those with manual gearboxes. They believe it is due to the DSG always changing up gears and not allowing the engine to load up (especially important in the first few hundred km). I know the GTi is only available in DSG, but when its new, you need to load up the engine (say 4th gear at 50-60kph and floor it - but don't let the gearbox change gears).

Good luck to you and other Polo GTi owners getting this oil consumption issue fixed.

Stopped by the dealer and the car had drank 1.5litres of oil in 1400km.

[Karly101]

Thanks Lucas fingers crossed the new piston rings will be the end of the problem (any one had them installed and how are you doing oil consumption wise?)....

Another thing I have noted in the past few weeks is the back of the car is absolutely splattered with oil so it's no wonder I was going through so much...

[gavs]

Thanks for the kind words lucas, for those unlucky enough to be having these issues they are certainly reassuring.

I also believe that part of the holden fix was to also install a larger volume sump and different dipstick to lull owners still having issues into a false sense of security (word of mouth from part of the GenIII team) and that the issues arrose from teh wrong pistons being fitted into the engines in mexico to begin with

Karly, the proble is that if you are driving it hard and the engine didn't bed in properley to begin with, you are just exacerbating the issue.Because you don't get that good mating between the rings and bores, all that you are doing when running it hard is forcing more oil past and into the combustion chamber, you are making the problem worse, not better unfortunately. As Lucas said, as have many others and I too believe this, based on now 11,000kms. The critical time is the first 100kms. You MUST, not kinda, MUST load up that engine. If you want more specific info shoot me a PM with your email and I will go more in depth for you.

If you don't get that good mate in the first 100kms, then you're going to be forever pushing the proverbial uphill with a sharp stick. The other things is that the bores also MUST be re-honed to get a nice, fresh surface to mate against.

One of the guys in the UK is running Mobil 1 0W40 oil in his heavily tuned GTI and is not having oil consumption issues as yet and believe me when I saw he is REALLY flogging that monster. 0W40 has a slightly higher viscosity so it should be harder to blow by the rings, this is potentially another option for those out there, just ensure that you get the oil that meets the specific oil requirements outlined in your owner's manual.

[RoknRob]

Hey, gavs,

How many kms, on average, do the guys do, when driving the car on and off trucks and boats from the assembly line? If the first few kms are so critical, wouldn't they have already ruined your chances?

I also disagree with the notion that you are "making the problem worse" by running the car hard if you are already losing oil.

I suspect you meant you will lose more oil. I agree with this.

Yes, you will lose more oil, but then, hopefully, VW will acknowledge the actual, underlying problem (faulty piston rings, which were corrected in cars built from March 2011 on, if this forum is to be believed) and fix it.

What a shame it would be to own a GTI but then feel obliged to run it gently for the rest of it's life, just because VW made a mistake. I am certainly not letting VWs mistake ruin my fun!

(But I did check the oil more regularly - until access was sealed by my dealer, for the consumption tests.)

Oil consumption test, stage 2, tomorrow...

[Diesel_vert]

So how many kms, on average, do the guys do, when driving the car on and off trucks and boats from the assembly line? If the first few kms are so critical, wouldn't they have already ruined your chances?

Yes, that does sound logical.

However, the issue isn't the bedding in process - the issue is that it's a manufacturing fault that's causing these problems. Certainly, the bedding in process may help alleviate the problem somewhat, and if you're fortunate enough, it may even fix it completely.



But the point is, it shouldn't be occurring in the first place - irrespective of bedding in "procedure" (this is a road engine for pete's sake, not some highly-strung race engine that needs to be mollycoddled every time you start it up).

If one manages to fix the problem entirely through their own efforts, then more power to you. But an equally valid counterpoint is, how far should a consumer have to go out of their way to fix what should be a warrantable fault?

[RoknRob]

Yes, that does sound logical.

However, the issue isn't the bedding in process - the issue is that it's a manufacturing fault that's causing these problems. Certainly, the bedding in process may help alleviate the problem somewhat, and if you're fortunate enough, it may even fix it completely.



But the point is, it shouldn't be occurring in the first place - irrespective of bedding in "procedure" (this is a road engine for pete's sake, not some highly-strung race engine that needs to be mollycoddled every time you start it up).

If one manages to fix the problem entirely through their own efforts, then more power to you. But an equally valid counterpoint is, how far should a consumer have to go out of their way to fix what should be a warrantable fault?

Exactly. A very eloquent restating of my point above. Thanks.

[brad]

How many kms, on average, do the guys do, when driving the car on and off trucks and boats from the assembly line? If the first few kms are so critical, wouldn't they have already ruined your chances?

Mine had done 18km when i took delivery.

I have a mate in Finland that unloads cars from the RORO boat. They don't hang about, so I assume they'd help the process - except the engines are dead cold and they just start & drive.

Agree with the fact that no matter how the engine is run-in it won't get around a manufacturing/design problem but some people baby their new cars too much.