I've had my Octavia for exactly one year, and I haven't even used a one-litre bottle of engine oil to top it up. Is this normal? I thought that diesel engines and new engines generally were supposed to use a bit of oil in the first few thousand miles.

I checked the dipstick and it's still 3/4 of the way up, so not bad. That's a pretty good effort, Skoda, I have to say. Perhaps I'm lucky or it's normal. This is my first Skoda and haven't regretted it yet, so long may it continue.

 

By the way I'm on fixed servicing, i.e. every 20,000 miles or two years, and because of my change of job, I have only done 10,500 miles so far. I wonder if the oil will be really black and thick by the time the service is due. Does low mileage before the first service affect the oil and engine? Yes, it seems a dumb question but I'm just curious.

 

I guess I still live in the 80s, where I had to change the oil every 5,000 miles!

I think the internet tends to skew things towards the worse end of things.  I have had two diesel Octavias and neither have used oil.

 

You're car is on variable servicing, fixed is 10k miles/12 months.

 

The oil will be black about 5 minutes after the engine is started after a service, that's just how diesels are.

 

There's nothing to stop you getting it changed to fixed 10k service intervals, just get it serviced now and the computer reset to fixed.  Personally I don't like the idea of 20k or 2 years between services.

Oil cheap, Engine expensive.

 

Lots of short journeys and multiple cold starts are not too good for any engine.  My first octavia from day one only ever did trips of 25 miles (to work, visiting aged parent) or longer (holidays) still as good by any measure when it went to the crusher at quarter of a million miles.  Oil was changed every 10,000.

As Trundlenut says, Diesels put carbon into the oil, so its black very soon.  This is normal, and why Diesel specific oil is high detergent to keep it all in suspension, and why old hands like to do more frequent changes.

Fleet managers and frequent changers love the idea of no/little service costs during their ownership, so manufacturers accommodate.   Second users with no warranty are not so important.

Our 1.4 TSI uses a bit of oil - maybe half a litre a year - but I doubt it was optimally run in and it does far too many shorter trips of 3-4 miles.

 

The Japanese cars I've owned have never used any oil between services.

I have 1.9TDI PD y2006.

Never had to topup any oil in 7y.

When I was buying it I was told that its normal for this engine to use some amount of oil, but seems not:)

But maybe its also because I drive it very carefully, keeping it light until engine reaches working temp....etc.

 

And just one comment regarding Japanese cars....I've had Honda Civic for 4years and had to topup few times...even oil light came up few times. And not to mention also corrosion on few different places on the body. And this was not turkish CIvic (I am referring to Sedan version), but Japanese one.

 

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Edited 11 November, 201312 yr by franek

Two 1.9 TDIS (non-PD) - don't use a drop of oil (or at least never needs topping up between services).

20K miles and not burnt a drop yet. 

My diesel vrs has only used about a quarter of the dipstick and that was within the first 4000 miles while I was running it in. Since then its not touched a drop of oil.

Nice to hear all of the above comments - means things are normal and that I can rely on my car.