Polo GTI High Oil Usage - Discussion Thread

[iigx]

Another 1.1L of oil used in the last 1500kms - now at 7,500km. They replaced the oil breather today so hopefully will see an improvement.

Question for those in servicing... I complained about the oil splatter on the car and the Service Manager advised to me it was "Rail dust" from transportation of the car in Europe.

Is this a BS excuse to try and divert attention from oil splatter, or the truth?

[gavs]

Bulltish mate, how can your car produce more rail dust after you wash it?! Take it elsewhere my friend to a dealership who actually knows what they're talking about!

[Polo Princess]

Hi

I am the happy owner of a MY12.5 Polo GTI in Candy White and have done less than 6000km. I am less happy about the oil usage but accept that this is a part of the game right now - and it will hopefully improve over time.

I have a question on oil. I know that Castrol Edge 5W-30 Longlife III is the oil provided by Volkswagen, but I notice there are a number of Castrol Edges 5W-30's out there. More confusingly the Castrol Website shows CASTROL EDGE PROFESSIONAL LONGLIFE III 5W-30, CASTROL EDGE 5W-30 A3/B4 and CASTROL EDGE 0W-40 A3/B4 as all being OK for Polo GTI's 6R. (see: Castrol Australia - NetLube)

Given some of the Castrol Edge products are considerably cheaper from places like SuperCheap Auto than from my dealer and given that it seems I am going to be through oil for a bit longer what should I be buying??

Thanks for your help.

[nomadx38]

@Polo Princess

I just checked on the Castrol website and both the GTI and my car (a 77TSI) are recommended to use Castro Professional Edge Long Life III (5w-30).

VW recommends this specific type because it is made in partnership with Castrol (even says so on the bottle) and is specifically designed for VW/Audi/Seat/Skoda ("cough cough"). It says in the manual and even on my oil cap to use the Castrol oil.

Now personally I like Castrol oil and have been using it on my cars, quads and motorbikes for a long time and never had a problem, so you could say I’m a loyal fan. This is why when I bought my car from Bayford (big mistake BTW!) after the first service I bought my own oil from Burwin VW. Burwin uses the Castrol that is recommended. Bayford use a Shell alternative. Though they "should" meet the same spec, I personally would stay with Castrol. I did notice though after I started using the Castrol oil I can hear a lot more idle engine noise (crankshaft sounds, valves) so it is definitely thinner to some degree, But still 5w-30. I don’t know if that is better for fuel economy by reducing engine drag and stress but it’s what VW recommends if it screws up, I have followed their instructions to the letter.

More on topic to your question, "technically" you can use different oils, BUT as a word of caution i would be careful using oil out of spec for the engine. Oil too thin / thick could give poor lubrication to the parts that require it most, like the bearing on the turbo turbine. I would try to keep the viscosity the same. As for the VW spec (VW 507), i think it mostly refers to an "emissions standard" like how many pollutants the oil gives off when burnt, how much drag it has on the crankshaft and thus fuel economy things like that.

On another note has anyone used a higher grade of oil without problems? Personally I would rather use 0w-40 because of the warmer climate here in Australia but no one makes it to the VW 507 standard.

[JonP01]

Hi

I am the happy owner of a MY12.5 Polo GTI in Candy White and have done less than 6000km. I am less happy about the oil usage but accept that this is a part of the game right now - and it will hopefully improve over time.

I have a question on oil. I know that Castrol Edge 5W-30 Longlife III is the oil provided by Volkswagen, but I notice there are a number of Castrol Edges 5W-30's out there. More confusingly the Castrol Website shows CASTROL EDGE PROFESSIONAL LONGLIFE III 5W-30, CASTROL EDGE 5W-30 A3/B4 and CASTROL EDGE 0W-40 A3/B4 as all being OK for Polo GTI's 6R. (see: Castrol Australia - NetLube)

Given some of the Castrol Edge products are considerably cheaper from places like SuperCheap Auto than from my dealer and given that it seems I am going to be through oil for a bit longer what should I be buying??

Thanks for your help.

Hi,

In my experience you wont actually be able to buy the Castrol Longlife over the counter in Eastern Australia at least. The point behind the Longlife oil is to extent oil change intervals and since the oil change schedules are once per year you should still be topping up with the longlife product.

If you go to your local VW dealer parts department, they will be able to sell you a 1 litre bottle of the longlife oil, but it will likely be in a silver container with VW branding, rather than Castrol branding. I am told it is exactly the same oil as the Castrol one.

I definitely would not be trying to save money buying a different oil from Supercheap, etc, but that is just me. Personally if any warranty or oil usage issues were to arise, I would want to be able to truthfully state that the only oil that had gone into my car was the one sold to me by the dealer service department and intended / recommended for that vehicle.

According to my Polo owner manual there are different types of servicing schedules and they differ in the type of oil used. The Australian schedules are now the longlife schedules and that requires the corresponding oil. My guess is that the other oils recommended by Castrol are in those cases where the owner does not wish to use the long life servicing schedule. But I would worry that not doing so may effect the warranty.

[brad]

Given some of the Castrol Edge products are considerably cheaper from places like SuperCheap Auto than from my dealer and given that it seems I am going to be through oil for a bit longer what should I be buying??

Go to Supercheap / Repco / Autobarn. Ask for an oil that is VW 504.00 approved (Shell & Penrite are likely contenders). Make them show you on the bottle or the techspec on the internet where it says 504.00 approved. That is all you need. If it's approved then it's been to the VW labs, the mfr has paid the fee & VW issue a letter of approval.

Repco recently had the Shell 504.00 on special for $50 which is a bit of a bargain. Shell Helix 504.00 is factory fill in many VW group engines.

I think a lot of people over-analyse these things.

[k0e1]

Ok so went to livo VW for an oil consumption test and he told me there have replaced the hose on 2 cars so far and he said both of them went worse after the part. He said one of teh cars went through 1.1 L in 600km (not good at all). I asked him what happens afterwards and he said all he could do is put the old part back. WOW !!! so this thing will never resolve mind as well request for a new car cause clearly it is a defect. Anyone here actually had a breather hose replacement and it actually worked?

[BLN355]

I still don't understand how this breather hose is supposed to help?
Its clearly a piston ring sealing issue as per the LS1 engines. Oil gets past the rings gets burnt up and blown out the exhaust hence the oil spots on offending vehicles rear ends.

[kawabanga]

My experience (already related here):

_Before breather pipe change: 1 liter every 10.000Km and big intake pipe completely oil-wet.
_With new breather: in the last 2.000Km the oil get down on the dipstick of only about 1mm (halved) and the intake pipe is completely dry.

[GTI JOE]

My experience (already related here):

_Before breather pipe change: 1 liter every 10.000Km and big intake pipe completely oil-wet.
_With new breather: in the last 2.000Km the oil get down on the dipstick of only about 1mm (halved) and the intake pipe is completely dry.

Same experience as kawabanga.....so far so good. I will post IF the situation goes to crap.
Oh...just my 2 cents worth regarding oil brand. I still think that Liqui Moly Top Tec 4200 seems a better oil for the Polo engine. I was using this to top up and it seemed to stem the bleeding until the dealership changed the valve and hose. Funny, when they asked what I was using to top up, they didn't seem to know Liqui Moly???WTF? They suggested using Castrol Professional Titanium if top ups are required?