Coming back from Heathrow Friday evening with SWMBO, was in heavy traffic with lashing rain. A yellow oil can sitting on a choppy sea appeared on the dash panel. Asked SWMBO to check what it meant in the handbook (while silently praying) she said it was low oil pressure. Gulp. Later an amended reply of low oil level. Stopped with hazards on and no sign of oil spewing out. No services going north until Toddington(why?) but kept going cautiously. Found a litre of VW507.00 spec Castrol at £20. Checked oil level and yes, was low. Poured the litre in and the light went off. Checked the oil when I parked on the level and it is now a little high. About 1/2 way up the top black spheroidal thing.

Now, I'm a chap who has checked oil regularly since I was 14yo and am very surprised that this happened. Either the black dipstick has been giving dodgy readings (it is difficult to get consistent readings) or the engine has suddenly developed a leak or is burning oil. Only 16months old and done 23,000 miles.

Any ideas apart from checking more regularly?

I would get is checked & fixed under warranty urgently!

I would say that this is not, in general, a problem. I have a Vrs and I regularly check the oil. In my last car, I never ever checked the oil, neither did it use any. This one does, I just put it down to it being a performance engine, that requires some topping up. I prob use half a litre every 3-4,000 miles.

If you're concerned, or it seems abnormal usage get it checked out.

Raises the question: why don't they put an orange end on the dipstick? Trying to judge the level of shiny(ish) black oil on a matt(ish) dipstick is a nightmare. Has anyone tried painting the end of the dipstick with something bright which will stand up to hot oil?

Raises the question: why don't they put an orange end on the dipstick? Trying to judge the level of shiny(ish) black oil on a matt(ish) dipstick is a nightmare. Has anyone tried painting the end of the dipstick with something bright which will stand up to hot oil?

Worse still on the standard vrs where the oil is almost clear and you can barely see it at all. Just looks like water on the dipstick

Just checked the oil level 500 miles after the emergency top up, includes 180 miles at motorway speed yesterday. No change in level which is still slightly high.

Noticed that the dipstick is forced to bend right in a tube ,when it is inserted, which must help with the oil being smeared all over the place,

I have what must have been one of the last pd 2.0tdi engined fl cars, and regular top up with a litre of oil about every 6000 miles, our 1.9pd units suffer the same.

My diesel Octavia Vrs did about a litre of oil every 10K for the first 50K or so.

Apparently for cars on variable servicing the oil is thinner and is designed to burn, mine stopped burning so much oil, I now put in 1/2 litre every 20K or so (between services)

Raises the question: why don't they put an orange end on the dipstick? Trying to judge the level of shiny(ish) black oil on a matt(ish) dipstick is a nightmare. Has anyone tried painting the end of the dipstick with something bright which will stand up to hot oil?

I completely agree, even with just the regular 2.0tdi it is rather difficult to tell exactly where the oil level is and get a repeatable reading off the stick, despite leaving the car parked up for over an hour before checking the level.

I have to give Ford some credit at this point though, the new transit minibus I drive at work has a very clear and easy to read dipstick:

My diesel Octavia Vrs did about a litre of oil every 10K for the first 50K or so.

Apparently for cars on variable servicing the oil is thinner and is designed to burn, mine stopped burning so much oil, I now put in 1/2 litre every 20K or so (between services)

For the diesel vRS the same oil is used regardless of service regime because the longlife oil is DPF friendly. The same is true of any VAG engine fitted with a DPF, the same longlife 507 oil is required.