Noda

thanks, really appreciate it

ah I think I am making words up here, sorry. Pretty sure I filled up to 2 mm above the hatched area (B area as you say?), which I have called Max. Should have taken pics of each measurement of course. Now the level is at the top of the hatched area. So on 500 km it has dropped 2 mm on the stick. Does that make sense?

After 500 km, the oil level is at the B mark, top of the hatch pattern on the stick. According to my measurements, approximately 0.5 litres from Min to Max, and 1.4 litres from level when oil lamp came on, up to Min.

It has not occured since that incident

A VW diagnosis device from Biltema, not the cheapest one though.

Yes, literally standing in my garage, not the workshop :)

Yeah air in fuel system would make sense given the symptoms. It cranked OK without booster, could have been more clear on that sorry. It had one day off in the garage before this incident. So air in fuel system... is that something a workshop can dig in to?

no engine fault codes on my personal ODB device, forgot to write that sorry

Just an update: it took 2 litres of subsequent filling and checking, before level was approx 2 mm above Max. I have reset the counter, and will check again after 1k km

Yesterday morning I took the car out of the garage, battery topped up from charger, started easily. 20 meters out the engine died, just as from turning off ignition. Tried cranking, no sign of starting. Looked around motor, nothing of notice, perhaps some discoloration around some injector mounts, not sure. Connected a battery start booster, cranked for a record long time, eventually the engine came back to life, running as if nothing happened. Since then no problems, engine starts easily. If the injector pump somehow abruptly lost power, it should have been easy to start again, right? One concern could be condensation in fuel tank perhaps, since I have the habit of letting the tank be closer to empty than full. IDK. Since this error was intermittent, what error source could the workshop guys hope to find? Octavia MK II 1.6 TDI, 232k km, changed diesel filter around 180k

Difficult to say exact color of the coating in the blue flashlight, but scraping it with a knife tip, I think it was a thin coating, not flaky thick residue.

I guess there is a logic to there being 3.8 litres left in the sump when oil level is at MIN?

is there such a thing as an oil volume to dipstick level mapping for the 1.6 TDi?

I agree, I see no leaks, and really have not seen the kind of bluey exhaust smoke you can see in traffic from time to time.

Workshop says the motor likely has used 1 litre on 1,300 km, that there should be approx 3.3 litres left, and that they use an automatic volume gauge/ counter on the pump when they refill. I should have checked the oil level immediately after service. Using 1 litre on 1,300 km, meaning I will use 10 liters a year. It does not make sense to me.