I believe some of the oil issues poeple have (and subsequent dead engines) may be caused by the owners themselves (not ness their fault).. but please bear with me, its only a theory..

 

its based on my experiance with both cars, specifically my new one when running in.....

 

ok, I'm now up to 4,500 miles (CTHE) and I checked my oil at work yesterday, and this is the IMPORTANT bit, when maybe it was a little too cold, a bit too long after turn off (about an hour, after a very short drive into the garage) and it was below minimum at the little orange bobble at the bottom of the dipstick, now KNOWING I was reading it at the wrong temp, I didn't panic, and put in a measerly 250 mill (MOST people in threads on here when faced with that have put in a litre) , I haven't put ANY oil in this engine yet......

 

anyhow, today I checked it by the BOOK, after it was run to work, and was still hot.... it read a bit over 3/4 up the dipstick... now, as many on here with the teccy pecs (like george) will tesitify, the small 250 mill I put in would NOT have filled it up the almost max..... so my reading yesterday was inaccurate....

 

so here's my theory, someone checks their oil when its too cold, puts in a litre to bring it to max, actually overfills the engine substantially because the reading was taken at the wrong time, oil blows throgh the breathers into the engine, this cycle repeats until the spark plugs get knackered, this then starts the misfires, this then destroys the engine...... OR they are constantly filling up too much and hence think its using too much oil?

 

discuss (I'm using my experiance of the last 2 days with my levels as a basis for this theory, not discounting some people have had the oil weighed and thusly proved it has used too much)

 

NOTE: I'm quite happy with 250 mill used in the first 4,500 miles, my old CAVE used 1 litre in its first 10k, then used nothing at all, I expect them all to use some while running in....

additional info: I ran it in by driving normally full throttle /revs ect where needed from day one (first red line was 30 miles) and it did a track day at 900 miles :P

Re 'By the Book'.

I do not have a new owners manual so you can maybe say what it says.

Is it still the word "warm" they use?

Does it still say '"wait a few minutes" ?

Because that is not very accurate,  'warm'  'few'

 

To me its 'Normal operating temperature', so that is over 50*0C Indecated, i prefer 88*oC minimum, 

& a 'Few' is 4-5 minutes for me.

 

 

Overfilling can certainly be a problem.

 

But good engines are good and really do not need topping up lots.

 

If the car gets 3.6 litres of oil in from new at the dealer than someone buying or driving that car checks and knows where that is cold.

then where that is hot, that helps lots in topping up..

You know where the level should be on the Dipstick when 3.6 litres of oil is in for your car.

 

I now only check hot to confirm that the level on the dipstick is the same as when i did it the 'jabozuma way'.

 

Cold engine with cold oil parked on the flat,

Start the engine & stop right away.

Then dip the oil.

 

Everytime i have done that, the level shown on the stick is the same as the level when checked as Skoda & VW say to.

 

george

 

VW Polo Owners manual which reads different from 2010 Fabia ones,

Skoda said 18 months ago they would give proper instructions.

Why does starting up the engine briefly help with getting the level?, i can't get my head round it as surely a cold engine with all of the oil gravity fed to the bottom will give the best reading on the dip stick.

 

I have however also been advised to check my oil this way on my motorbike & it is what i do & there's often quite a difference with cold showing top of the level and the started up showing 3/4 way up.

 

worryingly theres still people out there that dont even know how to check oil never mind using this advanced method although i think it's part of the driving test now thank god.

Has anyone ever changed the oil in their own car? I have, the oil filter was totally empty. Now if you look at the filter it's going to drain into the engine after time. I would then suggest that the jabo method fills the filter and you will get a better reading

al

I have changed the oil in quite a few vRS.

 

I run my own with 3.7 litres of oil, top of the cross hatch.

 

Why not just check cold.?

Because Skoda/VAG did not design it that way which would be simple.

 

All the oil cold in the sump has the oil showing up beyond the scale on the dipstick, between the crosshatch and the top orange marker.

 

george

 

This is about where 3.6 litres on a check done 'By the book' shows.

That is the VW Book, not the Skoda one.  The Skoda one is 'lost in translation'.

 

*** Actually that is the wrong picture,

that is how a dealer sent a car out after fitting a new engine.*** 

Why does starting up the engine briefly help with getting the level?, i can't get my head round it as surely a cold engine with all of the oil gravity fed to the bottom will give the best reading on the dip stick.

One of the reasons for checking when the engine is hot/warm is because the oil will circulate through the engine ancillaries e.g. turbo, supercharger etc. Thus when measuring at this temperature you get a true measure of the sump contents.

Sharkrider, agree with what you are saying but I know that was not the case with mine. Even the Skoda oil test had my engine consumption at 482 mls per 1000 kms. Still had to wait for the engine to break though as it was not outside the limits :(

I agree. I keep my level in-between the top and bottom markers. I've found when I was topping up when warm to the top mark it would use a lot quickly and I'd have to top up again. Now if it's in the middle I leave it and while it does still use some it's nowhere near as much as before. My car has the breather mod on it now but haven't driven it since it was put on so can't tell yet if it's done much.

IMPORTANT.

the 1.2 / 44 KW engines are checked when cold.   According to the Book.

 

The Book say 'other engines when warm'.

Cool so it's just not an ideal world and skoda have made it awkward to read, it makes sense now.

 

plus from what i read above skoda basically decide whether hot or cold checks & it changes with different cars.

 

so dealers arent informing vrs owners to check hot or cold, it's here's the keys, see ya later & most folk will assume to cold check in which case the first time they check assuming they check pretty soon after and see that there seems to be too much oil in as it is passed the scale.

 

If the oil is left until the engine burns some oil off then eventually the oil will drop to mid way between the hatchings where mr average owner thinks it is now perfectly within the limits & no longer over full, half way, but in reality the oil is now really theoretically down dangerously towards the bottom on a hot check.so you could have checked your oil cold & been within the hatchings but soon after on a hot drive have the oil light coming on?

 

am i on the right track here, sorry to but in when i dont own one but it is pretty interesting.But shark you & George seem to suggest the opposite with regards to the following:-

 

George's information is that -  the cold oil will show high on the dip stick.(too high to read accurately)

 

Sharks info is that possibly -  "someone checks their oil when its too cold, puts in a litre to bring it to max, actually overfills"

 

If the dip stick on cold shows high then topping up a litre would then only make the true hot reading even lower & not overfilled surely???

Many of us have had the cars for many thousands of miles now and are familiar with how it works and shows.

Theory is great, but practice is better.

 

Simplest and maybe the best thing to do is 'NIKE', Just do it,

 Go to a vRS, (or more vRS')  maybe at a Dealership and try different engines,

open the bonnet and dip the oil cold.

If the salesman lets you, start and stop the engine, dip the oil.

If he takes you for a roadtest, when you get back dip the oil hot.

 

**Many 'Salespeople',  those that have the car home for the first 3,000 miles/3 months when it is a Demonstrator,

think you are stupid, why would you dip an engine hot!!!***

This is often the problem with demonstrators when the customer buys it, the Salesperson stuck some oil in it, or did not, who knows. They say it is serviced and new oil and filter change before you collect it.

'Been through the workshop', 'Service Book stamped'.well most might be, many never get that Oil Change before the customer drives it away.***

 

 

I think sharkrider means 'too cold' as it is cooling down after stopping.  ie 20, 30 minutes or more later.

 

(Skoda says, "wait a few minutes", 30 minutes does not sound like a few.)

 

Stone cold (several hours later.) will show the oil on the dipstick.

with 3.6 litres of oil, that will be well up the metal part of the dipstick a mm or 2 higher than the hot check.

If not you are really in trouble.

 

See no.3 & no.10 on the Oil Consumption Test procedure.

it does seen I have had contrary readings when "hot, compaired to cold" sometimes noggythenog, but then george is really good at providing the technical facts......

 

I think my main issue is, that the vRS will give VASTLTY different readings on the dipstick depending on when you check it... in my recent experiance at least 3/4 of the level available...

 

this is why i think we may be getting overfilling incidents...

 

in summary , I would advise, if you feel it needs filling (like I did when below min) just give 250 mill, then check the next day, dont RISK overfilling, and the engine damage problems that may follow.....

 

others (with a similar attitude to contant "oil stress") have simply taken to ignoring it until the light comes on, a bit extream in my opinion, BUT it seems to work! lol....

"Oil stress" ha ha thats a good'n, perhaps a group buy of cognitive oil therapy is in order.

 

i do sympathise, to have to be so clinical with checking a cars oil is not good and only compounded by the vrs being particularly oil thirsty.

 

Best of luck!

Totally agree with this theory. The dipstick of doom is not fit for purpose. Too many variables affecting the level for it to be accurate. I'm sure the level on the dipstick will change if you've had toast for breakfast rather than cereal that day!

Rightly or wrongly I'm an avid "orange oil lamp man". CAVE engine, 2.5yrs, 19k no mechanical problems whatsoever. Oil lamp has come on twice in that time so topped it back up on each occasion. What's weird is that both oil lamp events occurred roughly 5-6 weeks after the car the car had been in for its service..... Quite what they had filled it with or to what level I'm not sure!!

I'm sure pretty soon they will follow the example of many other manufacturers and just get rid of the dipstick altogether.

How do you explain the users who go by the orange light and have high oil problems?

The engine must be using oil for the light to come on.

So is it using over quite a few thousand miles , or is it drinking oil at 1 litre for 1000-1200 miles?

 

If the car drives out the dealers/garage with 3.6 litres of oil in as it should,

and the warning light comes on because you never checked physically under the bonnet and dipped it.

 

Then that has now got around 2.6 litres of oil in maybe by the time the light warns you to put oil in..

More than 25% less than the oil capacity.

 

The engine runs at the temp it does at different speeds with 3.6 litres of oil.

by the time it has 25% less oil the cooling system is working harder to keep the oil and the engine at a lower temp.

If anyone thinks they are doing their engine or fuel consumption any good by running low in oil,

i think they have more money than sense.

 

Why would someone do 1000 maybe 2000 miles and never dip the oil once they know the car might use more oil in the first 3000 miles. Or uses oil under different driving conditions once it is run in!.

 

Warning lights are warning lights.

It is not like say in a Renault that tells you the oil level on the Dash when you start the car.

 

george

Warning lights are warning lights.

It is not like say in a Renault that tells you the oil level on the Dash when you start the car.

 

Best feature my van has is the 'oil level ok' notification on start up.

The rest of it is garbage  

First car I saw without a dipstick was a diesel Audi A5. At the time I thought it was stupid but now I'm not sure. If it's as accurate as a dipstick then it would save a lot of time and you could take a few seconds every day checking instead of a few minutes, while having to make sure it's the right temp. I turn off after a run and by the time I get the oil out and a rag to check I then dip it. Then I dip it a few more times to see if it moves then decide if it needs a topup. 

our fiat ambulances have a 5 bar oil level gague on the dash when you start them! so you know quite accuratly whats in them.. a pain though as they dont use oil, but the mercs that you get under the bonnet of every day and only have dipsticks do! lol..

I just drive the car and enjoy it, small variations in fuel economy due to oil levels don't really concern me tbh (and I've never noticed a difference pre and post top up). Think I've put in 3-4L over the 2.5yrs and as said above only a few weeks after a service and then its been fine and settled down. I do dip the level every now and then when I can be arsed but as the level in the dipstick is so bleddy random it's not really much use really.

I don't pretend to understand the oil situation on this engine and as I've only had to buy a small amount of oil I'm happy. If the oil light was coming on quite regularly tho and I was buying oil every month it would be different - I'd almost certainly just ditch the car and trade it in for something else rather than go through the hassle of oil tests, breather mods, replacement engines etc. Luckily I'm in a financial position to be able to do just that without any bother although I appreciate not everyone is in the same boat and I really feel for those people going through the oil-consumption pain. :-)

From 3  years ago, & no idea if any car has broken these records since.

http://skoda.co.uk/news/skoda-fabia-vrs-breaks-seven-national-speed-records-with-fifth-gear

 

Great engines, great cars.

They go fast if you want, slow and easy if you want.

Can be Driven with Economy in mind, or with having fun and still more economic than most cars with a bit of pace available.

They use almost no oil when they are good ones.

Many use Zero Oil between Oil/Filter changes.

 

Its only the few built with poorly Quality Controlled Parts/tolerances that are the problem.

& sadly now buyers of used ones that have not had things sorted out before being passed on/traded in, are having problems.

 

More knowledge at the Dealerships and some advice to buyers of new or used Twinchargers & there would be lots less hassle for many owners.

 

Reading the Owners Manual Should be a great help.

Sadly the Owners Manual has not Specific Information on the 1.4 TSI  178 bhp /180 PS engine.

 

That is a fault Skoda could easily rectify.

 A supplement for the vRS, and pointing out the Recommended 98 RON, & the correct Oil etc,

rather than their general information just covering all Fabias..

 

george

Every time I dip the oil after 5 minutes from shutdown always from 80-90*C.. it always shows up the same level it would do when stone cold and sat for hours or even days.

This picture i've just dipped stone cold on level flat surface and is the same as when I dipped hot a few days back.

https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/v/61715_10200950725663148_1956783853_n.jpg?oh=36432771ad1d7fe39e0055cfec4fa401&oe=51F62DFE&__gda__=1375093964_e3b6c1ac5bf0db46a680eda4ae349713

Well I just dipped cold before heading off the the national meet, and it back up at max! Lol

My old CAVE vRS burnt oil, but not over spec.  My new CTHE burns loads of oil (4 litres 3380 miles), but virtually none on long motorway journeys.

It is booked in for an oil test.

Tony

my CAVE has done 9800mi in 2 years, i have never had to top up the oil between services.

As far as I'm aware my dealer uses Castrol Edge 0W30