I bought the car when it was less than a year old with 11,500 miles on the clock. It had never had an oil change but the oil looked filthy so I changed it within the first couple of months. Strangely, it was still pretty dirty even after this change and about 3 months later it had it's first dealer service. The dealer noted 'engine flush!' on the service (including the exclamation at the end) which made me think this was not a good sign...

 

The car is now 3 and a half years old, does relatively low miles (currently 22k on the odometer) and during my ownership, I have completed an additional oil change in between annual services and yet EVERY time the dealer service includes the comment 'engine flush!'. How many oil changes does this damn engine need to keep it reasonably clean!? NOTE: Currently, after an oil change the dipstick is clean but soon goes black after only a few miles. Is this something to do with the recirculation of unburnt fuel from the exhaust as suggested by the dealers or something else entirely?

 

I can only compare this experience to my other car, an '04' Civic Type R which I have owned from new and which currently has 38k on the clock. I follow the same twice yearly oil changes however, the oil in the type R is crystal clean after a change and it takes at least a thousand miles for the oil to begin to show any signs of contamination. I owned a Civic VTI for 11 years prior to buying the type R and that was the same, so why is the Octavia petrol engine so filthy and is there something I should be aware of?

 

Mine stays clean for quite a while after an oil change. 3years old and done 52k miles. First change was done at 20k when I first got it and then 10k intervals since then. Certainly stays clean for first few thousand miles I reckon

Well, I can't say I'm surprised to hear that as your experience is more in line with what i would have expected. I haven't had any issues running the car but the engine just seems unusually dirty.

 

Perhaps this isn't something most folk think or worry too much about anyway but i'd be interested to establish whether my situation is an exception rather than the rule.

Yep mine is black all the time.

mine is always black too.

 

even when I had a new fabia vrs tsi the oil was black within the month.

I do a oil and filter every 3500 miles and mines always black , don't worry mate some engines just dirty the oil more then others

Thanks for all the responses...

 

Not sure why the dealer keeps highlighting the 'engine flush!' as if it were unusual if most of us seem to be having the same experience with dirty oil. Still, reassuring to hear that this doesn't appear to be an issue. Many thanks guys for taking the time to add your experiences / feedback!

Edited 24 December, 201312 yr by jjl5000

Same here! Black immediately after an oil change. Even took it back after 1st service for checking but they said it was 'normal'.

Same here! Black immediately after an oil change. Even took it back after 1st service for checking but they said it was 'normal'.

Just checked mine and it is still fairly clean looking after I changed the oil 1500miles ago. Diesel cars that i had before were like that. Change the oil and immediately after running the engine it would be black again. Have never found that with petrol engines and strange that I would appear to be the only one so far with tsi that doesn't have black oil!

Our 1.4 TSI doesn't dirty the oil any more than normal, and it gets used for a lot of short trips (blame the wife).

Mine stays clean for around 2-3k after the oil has been changed,mine is on 50k & had its oil changed every 10k.