Hi guys n gals,

I got my vRS serviced for the first time 10 weeks ago to the day, and the car has since done just under 3000 miles and the oil light has came on. I just checked my dipstick and there's not alot in there.

It was serviced at the main dealers, should I be asking why a full oil change doesn't last 3000 miles, or do I put it down to the oil thirsty TSi engine? From new to the first service at approx 9.5k I had to top up the oil twice.

Thanks

Blair

I take it then that when you collected the car, you never checked the Oil level yourself as per the poor description how to in the owners manual.

'car up to normal running temperature and sat a few minutes & oil at or near the top of the hatch' ?

**You had to top up twice before the service and up to 9500 miles, i thought you would know you need to check the oil,

& always check yourself and do not trust others word.*

So basically you do not know if they filled it correctly at the Service, Oil Change,

& you have not checked within the next 3000 miles.!

*I had a vRS in for a service 3 weeks ago, they charged for 3.6 litres of 5w/30 fully synthetic.

I dipped it outside the garage but the oil was cold and you can not tell if it is a correct reading.

(i never bothered to go in to see or ask how they had checked, the car had only 6 miles done on it since i had dropped it off, so i knew it had never been up to 88 degrees celcius even sitting warming up in the garage.

it takes at least 10 miles to get to 88 degrees, 5 miles to get to 50 degrees at this time of year)

I was 10 miles from the garage and stopped and checked the Oil, because the Oil temp was 3 degrees higher than what it was running at normally before it went in for the service, and after only 10 miles..

It needed 1/2 a litre of Oil to bring it too the correct Oil level.

I have reported this to Skoda UK.

Telling the Skoda Workshops or going back to them is a waste of time IME.

They are not Filliing & checking the Oil Level correctly at Oil & Filter changes IME.

** I think you need to leave the service with your vehicle,

(OR GET THEM TO SHOW YOU HOW THEY CHECK< BEFORE YOU LEAVE.)

then check & if wrong, go straight back,

I never bothered going back because i knew when talking to the Service Manager that he was a muppet.)

3 times now i have checked a vRS after OIl changes at Skoda Workshops.

One time after a vRS had an engine rebuild from being one suffering from High Oil Usage.

It had too much Oil in it.

george

I do not understand why they cannot come up with a dipstick with two sets of markings, one hot and one cold. Checking in a particular situation is not always practicable. Surely the only diference is the density of the oil and therefore the volume it takes up!

The dealership mechanics are suppose 2 go on training days for these cars and therefore should be aware on what is the right way 2 check? Why is this not getting done ? Surely they must empty what's in and replace with the measured amount ?

That seems to be the irony of it all - they fill by volume and do the consumption check by weight....

??? A good few on here have a vRS.

Can you please just dip the oil when cold, when you get a chance, & tell us where the oil is on the stick?

With mine now cold, The oil will be over the Orange Plastic on the dip stick.

It will show this as the correct amount of oil when checked correctly with the hot oil.

*I can tell you that if you run it with the Oil level just a little low, the Oil Temp will be higher than t the correct level

& the Oil quantity will quickly deplete. ie use up oil.*

george

I watch my car being serviced by my dealer and has been 3 times now (34k) and each time they put some in , run the engine, leave it 5 minutes, check the level, add a bit more, run the engine, leave five mins ect , until its right...

our merc ambulances must be checked when warm too... explained by our techs as the oil isn't just in the sump then, its in the engine/filter ect ect ... sooo by this explanation I would suggest it may be over the max if checked when cold... but I havent done so , i always check when warm, so I cant answer georges Q. but I would assume mine would be the same...

Sounds like they simply didn't put enough oil in mate.

I was talking to SWMBO the other day about the importance of checking oil level every now and then -her reply was "but surely that's what the warning light is there for..... to tell you when it needs topping up". Bless her haha! ;-)

Had my 10k service about 1200 miles ago, checked they'd correct level in, currently has used about 300 ml of oil. This is similar usage to what I had in first 10k

??? A good few on here have a vRS.

Can you please just dip the oil when cold, when you get a chance, & tell us where the oil is on the stick?

With mine now cold, The oil will be over the Orange Plastic on the dip stick.

It will show this as the correct amount of oil when checked correctly with the hot oil.

*I can tell you that if you run it with the Oil level just a little low, the Oil Temp will be higher than t the correct level

& the Oil quantity will quickly deplete. ie use up oil.*

george

I watch my car being serviced by my dealer and has been 3 times now (34k) and each time they put some in , run the engine, leave it 5 minutes, check the level, add a bit more, run the engine, leave five mins ect , until its right...

our merc ambulances must be checked when warm too... explained by our techs as the oil isn't just in the sump then, its in the engine/filter ect ect ... sooo by this explanation I would suggest it may be over the max if checked when cold... but I havent done so , i always check when warm, so I cant answer georges Q. but I would assume mine would be the same...

Just checked mine cold and it is sitting just above the max level. Checked it the other day when hot and it was at the top of the band. Which is confusing if the above is not true (although gravity would surely bring it all back to the sump when you turn the engine off, just not sure how quickly).

Doesn't oil expand when warm not the other way around ?

The oil does return to the sump when the engine and the oil is cold in a vRS.

Skoda/VAG have not calibrated the 'Dip Stick' to show the correct level/capacity of oil when cold.

Seems like that would be easy, but as you see, the correct oil when cold is above the Orange Marker.

This is crazy, but why there are engine & oil usage problems.

The vRS Oil capacity is shown as 3.6 litres.

Well i am running a bit more than 3.6 litres, but please do not listen to me, find out from SKODA UK what is wrong.

The Questions are IMO what exactly do they mean, from their bad translation & different from the POLO GTi manual.

,

PAGE 168, 2010 Fabia Owners Manual.

? What do they mean by?

(yes i know they mean check hot, but they are too vague IMO)

"Always check the oil level on vehicles with engine 1.2ltr,/44kw when the engine is cold,

on other vehicles when the engine is warm. Otherwise the measure result is incorrect and oil could be incorrectly replenished-risk of engine damage!" ?

HOW WARM?

?How long is the "wait a few minutes" that the Owners manual says?

'Normal running Temperature, 88 degrees celcius oil that has cooled a bit to 76 celcius

& 3-4 minutes wait, is a different level being shown on the dip stick

from a 5 minute warm up & 4-5 minutes wait. IME.

george

Doesn't oil expand when warm not the other way around ?

Which is why I am confused the reading cold is higher than hot, unless somehow there is more mass of oil in the sump somehow when cold!

Why don't they just empty and fill in with the right quantity ? How difficult can it be famous last words

It is so simples really, You do wonder how it can all go so wrong.

I will look for the link again with the 'official dealership oil usage check', it is in a post here.

I think most Owners here must know how to check their Oil, only some seem not to.

george

This is the Instruction to a Dealer on doing an 'Oil Consumption test', pinched from somebody elses post.

This Polo GTi Owners manual Oil Level check is in a post from someone else,

just a few words different from the Fabia manual, but importantly its clearer.

Excuse me but I try to understand why this has turned to another "what is the best way to check your oil level" thread, when in fact the OP's question had nothing to do with personally checking the oil level and finding it low. His Oil light came on, full-stop. Now unless you imply that the computer does not know when to check oil level, or it did a bad German-English translation and that's the cause of the alarm, all this discussion could potentially have nothing to do with the actual situation.

Hopefully the OP will be back and say if he checked after the service.

Because if he never, then he will not know if it had the Correct Oil level in from leaving the Service 3000 miles ago.

Is it a big deal if the subject of how to check the Oil Level on a vRS , crops up again & again. & again.?

Skoda UK said they were going to Up-date on Oil Checking on a vRS.

CZ-English Translation i believe.

george

Which is why I am confused the reading cold is higher than hot, unless somehow there is more mass of oil in the sump somehow when cold!

It's probably tricky to understand but the main issue will be where the oil is - ie when hot the oil may not have drained back into the sump etc. so cold would be higher but, all other things being equal, (ie the oil remaining in filters and heads etc.) It's all to do with the relative coefficients of expansion of the oil and the sump. Yes the oil will expand when hot but so will the sump and if the sump expands more than the oil for a given temperature difference then the level will drop when hot.

Is it a big deal if the subject of how to check the Oil Level on a vRS , crops up again & again. & again.?

Certainly not, as long as it has a relation with the actual situation. I mean, It wouldn't be the best of help to post the correct procedure for oil checking when somebody asks for a rear-ARB.

Now the worst written manual in the world and the most ignorant "oil-checker" couldn't change the fact that his Oil warning has come on, meaning around 1.5 lt of oil is gone from his oil tank. Blaming the technicians first instead of the car, when we know that during 9,500 KM he had to top-up twice sounds to me like refusing to accept an obvious situation, which is: the car does consume some oil. Is it much? Now If we do some simple math, we could easily deduct that the car consumed:

1.5L/4800 KM > 310ml/1000 km which is below what VW and Skoda consider excessive (500ml/1000 km) according to the manual.

Incidentally, my car consumes around this figure between services, ranging from 200 to 400ml/ 1000 km during the last 13 months that I own it. I don't like that I have to top-up every now and then but it's better than officially quoted figures so I am fine for now. I don't think there is much more to it really.

Edited 4 September, 201213 yr by newbie69

You have it in 1.

You will know that 1.5 litres have gone 'if you know the level was correct to start with'..

If it was filled & checked & all honky dorry, then we will be sure.

Unless the same person checks and is completely happy at the 'filled to max' and not above, then we do not know.

Its easy to go into the Dealership & say to the Service Manager, can you please demonstrate how your staff check the Oil level in my car ? Please!

Like i said here and before often, once the level is low,

the oil temperature that you run at, at speed or over a long run is higher and the vRS uses that 'less oil' up at quite a rate.

In that it is like most vehicles. Recommended oil capacity of the correct oil at the right temps.

Easy to get a vRS hot & it is a pretty small Oil capacity as designed.

george

I understand what you're saying but that would make a lot more sense If we talked about cars which normally consume nothing and all of a sudden we have a case of unusual oil consumption. Then yes, the technician may have been a j&8k or similar and we would have every right to think it's their fault.

But on the 1.4 tsi supercharged engines, some oil consumption is to be expected anyway and the figures the OP claimed sound very normal to me really for me to accuse the technician. Even more if his car has been proven to consume some (2 top-ups in 9.5K).

I have a similar oil consumption and I would really hope it's the wrong way that I check my oil that was to blame but it's not. I personally put 3.5 lt of oil when I changed it, and after 4500 km I personally added 1.5 lt so I couldn't be wrong. Bottom line is to be able to tell for sure, exactly how much. Below 500ml/1000 km? Then you may not like it but don't have a case as per user manual. More? Straight to the dealers with the manual at hand...

Do you see i am not accusing anyone on this thread, first post says 'did you check'.

('I bought' a car with a rebuilt engine, that Tech then over filled it.

Then underfilled it when told it was 'overfilled';.

I bought a second one from a dealership & that was Underfilled,

& put it in for a service and it came out Underfilled.)

Thats why i am bringing up, CHECK YOURSELF, to be sure of the level. Thats not accusing anyone at the OP's dealership.

OK, i have no Oil consumption and neither do many others.

I still check the Oil level after every blast.

The Owners manual says. page 168

"It is normal for the engine to consume oil, the oil consumption may be as much as 0.5 1/1000km depending on your style of driving and the conditions under which you operate the vehicle.

The oil consumption may be slightly higher than this during the first 5,000 kilometers."

then

"One should therefore check the oil level at regular intervals, preferably every time after the fuel tank is filled or after long driving stretches."

" we recommend maintaining the oil level within the range 'A' if the engine has been operating at high loads, for example lengthy motorway trips during the sumer, blah blah.... and on.

good advice if you know your engine is prone to using oil.

george

I watch my car being serviced by my dealer and has been 3 times now (34k) and each time they put some in , run the engine, leave it 5 minutes, check the level, add a bit more, run the engine, leave five mins ect , until its right...

our merc ambulances must be checked when warm too... explained by our techs as the oil isn't just in the sump then, its in the engine/filter ect ect ... sooo by this explanation I would suggest it may be over the max if checked when cold... but I havent done so , i always check when warm, so I cant answer georges Q. but I would assume mine would be the same...

First of all my car is a poor 1.2Tsi 77Kw.

It always used to consume c.a. 300gr oil after 6.000 Km from service and max 600gr up to service time every 15.000Km.

If I check oil level when engine is cold, e.g. after 12 hours since last use, the oil is always at the top of area C, but when I check oil level when engine is hot as described in manual then the level is a bit lower, hardly noticeable at the first 6.000Km. At the time we "speak" my car has 6.570Km since last service and when hot, oil level is at the top of area C.

Is that right that when the low level light comes on, its used 1.5 litres???

Mine came on once - at about 3000 miles. In a bit of a rush (and the engine was cold, so theoretically I can't tell how much is right), so added a half litre.

Next time I got chance to check (hot), it was at the bottom of the hatched area. Added another half a litre.

Checked last night, half way up the hatched area; added 250ml. Will check tonight to see where the level is.

Mileage just about to click over 6000.

You've done well at 10 weeks... Mine lasted a little over 2 before the light was on