Does your Car use oil between services ?

[ddyer79]

When i started my car yesterday evening I got a flashing warning notice that the oil level was low. The car has covered 11,120 miles. I stopped at the nearest petrol station, read the handbook and was confronted with the news that I needed VW 504 00 oil. Now unless I was at a Skoda servicing agent this is basicaly meaningless. However, persevering I found I could use oils that conform to ACEA B3/B4 standard for a one-off fill-up.

Petrol stations are no longer the stockists of vast arrays of products and finding the right oil was a pain (and expensive at almost £18 a litre).

Anyhow, 11,120 miles and a litre of oil got me thinking - is this usual or acceptable on a 2012 engine.

Anyone else needed to top-up between services.

I am on varaible services intervals and it is registering currently a service will be required at about 18,500.

[Coops]

Rightly or wrongly, I don't check my oil that often - perhaps once every couple of months but I've found that my diesel Superb very rarely uses any oil.

Never had to top up before first service

[alanbathurst]

I have a 170 hp 2.0 diesel which needed a bit less than a litre of oil at approx 9000 miles ....just had first service at 19000 miles oil about half way down on dip stick.

I know that this is a totally different engine but it shows the improvement in engine tollerances at manufacturing. this is the third car I have owned with this engine, all have covered over 100,000 miles and non have ever given concern over oil consumption.

not too many years ago it was quite normal to use a pint of oil in 1000 to 2000 miles (jaguar xj6 4.2) but modern engines are so superbly (no pun) engineered

that oil consumption is very low in comparison.

This may be why the extended mileage between oil changes are common now (very little piston blow by).

The xtended service mileage regime concerned me at first as diesels used make a mess of their oil and needed changing at 8000 ish miles but having experienced several cars with this engine have found no reason to be worried as all have gone on to over 100000 miles with no failures or oil consumption issues.

I have noticed that as mileage increases less oil is needed to top up between services.....it seems that the bedding in process continues long after the 1000 mile running in process and consumption continues to decrease.

Modern synthetic oils are very thin compared with the old oils and it continues to suprise me that the oil consumption is so low.

So... after a long waffle I would not be concerned it would seem to me to be perfectly normal

[Ootohere]

Was your car previously serviced

or was it new and you collected it after it should have had a PDI.

Did you check the oil level yourself following the service or when you collected it,

or are you working on the assumption that it was at the correct level after them checking.?

That is a dangerous assumption to ever make that it must be at the correct level as it leaves a Garage Workshop.

george

[bilun777]

11,000 miles and you've never checked your oil level?

[GaSelle]

When i started my car yesterday evening I got a flashing warning notice that the oil level was low. The car has covered 11,120 miles. I stopped at the nearest petrol station, read the handbook and was confronted with the news that I needed VW 504 00 oil. Now unless I was at a Skoda servicing agent this is basicaly meaningless. However, persevering I found I could use oils that conform to ACEA B3/B4 standard for a one-off fill-up.

Petrol stations are no longer the stockists of vast arrays of products and finding the right oil was a pain (and expensive at almost £18 a litre).

Anyhow, 11,120 miles and a litre of oil got me thinking - is this usual or acceptable on a 2012 engine.

Anyone else needed to top-up between services.

I am on varaible services intervals and it is registering currently a service will be required at about 18,500.

Never drive a car, that shows a warning like that. The "VW 504 00" standard is usually written on the back of most oil canisters, so it´s quite easy, to find the right one. It is very normal that even a new engine uses a little oil for the first period. It is also covered in you owners manual.

[ddyer79]

11,000 miles and you've never checked your oil level?

Having previously owned a 170CR Superb II for 3 years and 60K miles with absolutely no need for any oil, I made the rash assummption that at 6 months and 11K miles this car would be the same. Just goes to show how wrong you can be.

To other posts replies:

I drove onlly 3 miles to the nearest petrol station - it was only a warning light - that flashed a few times - but very prominantly and noticeably!

VW 504 00 was nowhere to be seen on any oil that I picked up at the petrol station. As they are more keen on selling confectionary, coffee and groceries the choice of oils was limited and no helpful manual to check what was suitable.

Good question regarding delivery check - never thought of checking the oil although i immediately had tyre pressure and tracking tested.

[Ootohere]

Re Tyre Pressures.

I dont know if your cars are the same as Fabia TPMS (tyre pressure Monitor System)

Read the owners manual maybe.

When You change tyres or choose your Pressure, you probably have to Press Reset on the TPMS

On the Fabia the ABS Systems picks up on Tyre Change by the Rolling Circumference.

Its never worth leaving that to a Garage or Tyre Fitting centre either.

& even if you have TPMS, you need to check Tyre Pressures regularly.

The System might not be working or more unusual (almost Tom Jones there) the Warning that the warning is not working might not work,

so best check.

george

[Cemesis]

I checked mine on the weekend by chance and its reading about 80%. It was tilted back slightly on the drive though

[Tankdave]

Mine indicates a different level of oil, dependant on what side of the dipstick I view, Taking that into consideration, it may have used a litre in the first 18k

Edited 31 July, 2012 by Tankdave

[JustinCombi]

My 1.8 TSi regularly needs a top up - probably something like 1 litre every 4-5k miles I think. Obviously this kind of consumption is within the usual limits (0.5 litres/1000km?), generally I have found my turbo cars (944 and Audi TT) have used more oil than my N/A engines (including a hard driven Mazda MX-5 which never uses a drop).

[myaussieskoda]

It would be rare for any two engines coming off a production line to be identical (from a tolerance perspective) so you can expect a wide variation of oil consumption figures. Some engines will be at either extreme of the tolerance range and some will be in the sweet spot. My 1.8TSI used about 300ml in 5000kms which I consider OK. My previous diesel engine used a bit more but the CCV valve was a crappy design and I was getting a lot of blow by.

Just check your oil regularly so you don't end up with an expensive surprise. Oil is not only a lubricant, it is a coolant also. Just spend two minutes every fortnight to check the oil, coolant, brake fluid. My two cents...

[dkaile]

My 1.8 TSI has done just 4500kms and I had to fill oil around the 4300km mark. It drank about 500ml oil. Skoda says its normal for the turbo charged TSI engines to eat oil in the initial 10K kms after which it gradually reduces. I used the factory recommended (in India) Castrol Magnatec Titanium 5W40 fully synthetic oil which costed me around 400 Rs. (about 4.5 pounds) for the 500ml here.

[BilboBaggins]

Check oil, tyres etc every week or so (possibly OCD, but comes from over 30 years of driving and although cars have improved old habits die hard) My 1.6CR is now 16 months old and has done 27,000 miles, not needed to top oil uo but it was changed on variable servicing at 18,500 miles by dealer.

[ddyer79]

I have found some of the responses quite interesting.

My Superb warns me of a bulb failure - so I don't check my bulbs, it warns me when water levels are low - so I don't check them, it tells me when the car needs oil, but a few of you believe I should check it frequently. I assume that the safety systems on the car inform me when I need to take action. Now either I am foolish to trust these safety systems or niaive in believing they work. I am sure that there is enough tolerance in the oil level for example as to not run the engine dry - it was depleted by about only 15%-18%.

There are warnings for ABS, low tyre pressure (although I do check/change these dependent on journeys and loading) , key left in car, doors ajar, low fuel, stabilty/traction control activation and on/off , brake pad thickness as well and I trust the car to handle all of these within tolerance.

I wasn't expecting to be chastised for not checking, but I must confess it has made me think !

Thanks for all the comments.

[Quino]

I think is normal that a TSI engine to consume some oil . I generaly top-up oil about 1liter@15000km (this is the service interval for europe <arround 9500miles>). but i admit that i go in rpm's around 4000/5000 when i'm in a hurry, otherwise the current driving rpm's are about 2200/2300. so i think is normal to eat-up that oil.

[ste2000]

Yes, it does. My 2010 manual says, that, depending on conditions, oil consumption can be up to 0,5 litres per 1000 km (some 625 miles). Meaning that during 15000 km interval one (if he/she is lucky enough) might need up to 7,5 litres to compensate - IMHO too much to be normal.

In my local Skoda club there were several engine repairs since consumption exeeded even those ubnormal (still legitimate) figures. Procedure is standard: user says to oficial dealer about over-consumption. Dealer replenishes oil and seals engine, then, after about 1000 km (or earlier, if lamp goes on) dealer checks the oil level. If confirmed (more than 0,5 litres per 1000 km), engine is repaired, substitute car is given for the the repair period.

The thought was as follows: marketing makes car manufacturers extend oil-service intervals, but engines need fresh oil - such overconsumption helps to renew oil during those miles of thirst .

Edited 1 August, 2012 by ste2000

[Quino]

The oil consumption is directly dependent by the driving style ... if you have a little sport-man inside you and you like to go higher in rpms it is very possbile a higher oil comsumption.

[ste2000]

Quino, my and my colleagues' experience is opposite: the more we are in traffic jams the higher is oil consumption. High speeds/RPMs do not show that consumption as jammed ride.

[redbuta]

We were given a bottle of engine oil in the boot, right?

I think that's for emergency use like this.

[nnickc]

I've just collected a greenline II this week. It's got 42 miles on it, following this post I checked the oil and it is half way down the dipstick.

It looks like it wasn't topped up to the max before delivery.

This could explain why you needed to top yours up after a relatively short time.

Edited 3 August, 2012 by nnickc

[Supurbia]

Lemme sort this one for you all,

Check your book again, as yours is a 3.6 petrol engine 504 maybe ok but most of the new engines need 505.01 - 507 spec, but this might just be a diesel thing, but check it anyway to be safe,

Now for the consumption, I don't think 1L of oil for 11k miles is bad myself, the top up marks say 0.5L from top to minimum marks according to VAG, but I find my Passat needs 1L when the light comes on, mine is a 2.0 140 BKP PD engine without a DPF and when I got it home after buying it which was 250 miles the light came on, since then I have to put 1L in for every 2k miles, as I'm sure you will appreciate I cannot wait to shift this car, VW say it's in tollerance I disagree myself, it's the only car I've ever owned that eats oil, none of my VX cars ever did it and I could run between changes without any top up's, the Superb MK1 needed a top up about every 8K and that wasn't because the light came on, that was a 1.9 130 PD, luckily for me I get a deal on oil where I can bulk buy 20L of 505.01 for £70 so my oil needs every 10k is 8L, 4L for the change and 8L for the top up's so not the end of the world in my case.

[smf1007]

none of my VX cars ever did it and I could run between changes without any top up's

My experience as well. Just replaced a 56 plate 120PS Vectra diesel with 75k on it and during nearly 5.5 years never once had to top up between services. I think I'll check my oil in the morning (170PS DSG with 3k miles since end May).

[BOBW]

Only had my 1.8 tsi for just about 3 months and 2K miles has not used any oil at all, as a matter of intrest the new car came with a top bottle of oil in a custom made velcro holder, Castrol Edge Profesional 5W-30.

[thnp]

Mine's done 25 000 KM and haven't used oil. At all. Zip. Nothing. (It's a 170bHP 4x4. I'm 26 and not especially light-footed either).

Edited 14 August, 2012 by thnp