So gentlemen (and maybe even women, who knows...),

 

Today my motor told me it was thirsty for some oil. With only 13.000 kilometers on the clock yet, I found this to be a little early, but hey, let's trust the system to know what it needs better then I do. 

 

Upon checking (as I have done for as long as I can remember, by pulling the dipstick, wiping it clean, re-inserting and checking level) I found that this particular dipstick is very hard to read. Even after letting the engine stand for a bit to let the oil drip back down and carefully wiping the stick, as soon as I re-enter it it comes back covered in spots of oil. 

 

After trying a few times I gave up and just threw in a gulp of 0w30 oil (because that's all that particular gas station had on sale, it showed as certified for VW and BMW at least). The warning light went off and I resumed my trip.

 

Lo and behold, after having parked her for the afternoon (about 4 hours) there the bloody light was again! Same story on reading the dipstick so I again threw in a gulp (about a 150cc's I would guesstimate) and the light went out again.

 

 

So... if it comes on again I will definitely visit my dealer, but is this normal behavior? Anyone have any insights on the particular needs of this engine? :-)

No it's not normal to drive 13000km without checking your oil

If its not showing up on the dipstick solidly then you are probably below the minimum... just putting a few glugs in isn't going to fix the problem! From bottom to top of the dipstick is about 1 litre I believe, the warning will come on when you are in the danger zone, not when it's just a bit low.

 

Really you should check every 1000 miles / 1600km. Also you should use the correct grade of oil assuming you don't want to damage the engine further.

The warning light went off for a while only because you opened the engine hood. I don't understand the logics behind but it works like this.

As others said check your oil level regularly and use proper oil...507.00 5W30

1 litre / 13000 km is normal for a new engine.

Checking oil level every 1000 miles? Seriously, the previous car (BMW 320d E90) had no such exotic demands and never asked for any fluids other than diesel.

 

Now I will accede that checking more regularly on a new engine, having higher-than-normal 'running-in' needs might be prudent - but I did sort-of half expect the dealer to have informed me thusly were it important for me to check such things. As it stands the first service / check is already scheduled after the first 30.000 kilometers and I figured they would just change out the oil then and there and see if it needed topping up. 

 

I'll go by the dealer tomorrow to have them check the oil level and inform me of the necessary steps in the future.

 

After having checked the manual (the sticky one at the top of the octavia sub-forum) I found that Skoda does mention that these engines consume 'a little' oil (up to half a liter per 1000km, apparently, yikes!) although my specific engine is not mentioned in there (the table where engine oil capacities are mentioned). I think I used less oil per kilometer in my moped back in the days .

 

I would have filled up more but I didn't want to overfill it (that seems to be very damaging as well) and the dipstick reading was, as I said, very messy and inconclusive. 

 

 

Thanks for the advice thus far :-).

I'm really curious to see if the 2.0 TDI consumes any oil. So far I've never had a car that's needed the oil level to be topped up between oil changes.

Seriously you need to check the oil regularly. I check mine every other weekend along With coolant and screen wash.

Most turbo cars seem to use a little oil, my Passat TDI would do about a litre in topups every 10k. Surprised about your BMW as all of my past ones have used a litre every 2-3k those were all big petrols though

Can't speak for diesels, but both my previous petrol vRS's got through somewhere between half a litre and a litre every 10,000 miles.

Having checked the new petrol vRS every thousand miles or so for the first 4k, I then left it another 2k, and still no need at 6,000 miles. Just hit 8,000, and put in a bit over half a litre, after some fairly intense motorway driving over the past couple of weeks.

My diesel passat uses about between half and one litre of oil every 18000 miles which is handy as that's the service interval

Well I don't mind checking the oil if the dipstick was somewhat usable, but that must mean I'm doing something wrong, hence my planned visit to the dealer to have them enlighten me!

Remove, Wipe, dip, read, replace

Works for me

Check it once a week at the some time as you do your screen's, coolant, brake fluid, tyre pressures, tread depths and lights.

Please don't say that's done at 13000 miles as well? :0

I agree that the dipstick has a poor design, but I still manage to make out the difference between the bottom part which is entirely covered, and the upper part which has some random drops.  If you don't, I suspect your oil level to be really low.

 

As for checking fluids every 1000 miles, that's ridiculous once you're past the first 5k or so. I do it on my classic car, but a modern car shouldn't need that level of monitoring. 

I agree that the dipstick is badly designed & difficult to read, I also had the same problem trying to determine the level on mine.

It seems to pick-up oil drops from the tube when pullling it out. I found checking it outside in clear light made it better to read instead of in the dimly lit garage.

My oil level warning light came on shortly before the 30,000km service in my diesel & it was about 25% above the MIN mark.

 

 

I agree with GatorLinearFade regarding the checking.

The whole point of having an oil level sensor, washer fluid level sensor, coolant level sensor etc is that you shouldn't need to check the car every week.

Its sensible to check the car before a big journey but for day to day use thats what the technology is there for.

Check it once a week at the some time as you do your screen's, coolant, brake fluid, tyre pressures, tread depths and lights.

Please don't say that's done at 13000 miles as well? :0

 

Coolant - Brake Fluid, Tyre pressure and Lights are _all_ monitored by 'the system' in the car, so I don't see how it should, living in 2015 already, still be a necessity to check all those things manually.

Thread depth - the tires are brand new and I'm switching to (also new) summer ones as soon as the weather picks up.

 

I had a brief email exchange with my dealer just now and he says it's indeed perfectly normal for the car to need about a liter after the mileage I've done so far.

I'll re-check the oil in broad daylight today and find a bottle of 5w30 to top up if needed.

All of these sensors could fail and you would never know (I don't mean at once though) so I don't see any reason not to check every few weeks manually. It only takes a few minutes to walk around your car and check it

Seriously you need to check the oil regularly. I check mine every other weekend along With coolant and screen wash.

Most turbo cars seem to use a little oil, my Passat TDI would do about a litre in topups every 10k. Surprised about your BMW as all of my past ones have used a litre every 2-3k those were all big petrols though

I check the oil level every time I visit a gas station, but I haven't had to add a single drop during the 175 000 km we've driven with the Volvo. (2.5 litre turbo) The oil level stays at the same mark from one oil change to the next.

Just checked my oil - first time since last service 9000 miles ago (!) - needed 250ml to take it back to max.

Most of my previous cars have done over 80k when I bought them so high oil usage could have been down to neglect from the previous owners or long service intervals.

Coolant - Brake Fluid, Tyre pressure and Lights are _all_ monitored by 'the system' in the car, so I don't see how it should, living in 2015 already, still be a necessity to check all those things manually.

I'll re-check the oil in broad daylight today and find a bottle of 5w30 to top up if needed.

 

The senors only tell you when it's too low so you could be driving around with wrong tyre pressures and low oil for a long time before it hits the sensor alert stage.

 

As for '...top up if needed.', I think it's pretty obvious that it IS needed.

 

By all means refuse to perform any regular basic checks yourself if you feel you shouldn't need to "... living in 2015..", but don't come crying on here when you have a blow out and the engine seizes

It's not that I'm principally against checking fluids, but I don't see why the sensor trigger level is (assumed to be) below critical and/or harmful levels.

 

If they can detect the oil level and thus warn me when it dives, it makes sense to warn me before it can actually harm the engine, not after the damage has been done (because then I would have already noticed other symptoms such as the engine seizing, as you so colorfully describe). 

 

It's not as if I'm willfully ignoring engine warning lights (insert a flashback to Penny driving with Sheldon in her Mk2 Golf), I'm merely stating it's odd to assume a warning light means I was late checking the levels. I've only owned the car for 2.5 months, I've driven a _lot_ of cars in my life so far and never ever have I encountered situations where I had to check my oil more frequently than about once every few months (even with (old) bangers). 

 

I will concede one could view this as a performance engine and it being turbo-charged add extra special 'needs' but as stated the last car was 'new' and 'performance' too and that one never bothered me for fluids outside normal service interval and the occasional top-up of the windscreen wash (and diesel, of course  ).

 

 

I will add to that the following real-world observations as evidence:

 

- the tyre pressure monitor has warned me once already: the difference was .2 bar negative with the recommended pressure (which is nowhere near safety-impacting level)

- the windscreen fluid has warned me many times this winter already, it will do so long before it actually runs out (about 0,5 liter left) 

- the fuel gauge will go all-out (warning: you are almost out of fuel! shall I navigate you to the nearest gas station?!) at 11 liters remaining (which is about 100 kilometers)

 

Of course you should not ignore these warnings, I'm merely stating they are set conservatively. 

 

And I do take good car of my car: it's kept clean and tidy, I use a block heater to pre-heat the engine before driving (and will wait until at least 80 degrees celcius before flooring it) and I make sure I give the turbo some cool down time before the shut-off. 

I'm really curious to see if the 2.0 TDI consumes any oil. So far I've never had a car that's needed the oil level to be topped up between oil changes.

We have 3 O3s at the company with 150PS 2.0 CR-TDI engine.

All of them burns some oil...

My car consumed 1 litre from 0 to 10.000 km and another 1 litre from 10.000 to 30.000 km.

The next service is coming soon and the oil consumption will be 1 litre / 30.000 km (30.000 to 60.000 km).

It's better than my previous cars: Golf mk4 and mk5 with 1,9 PD-TDI 105PS engines. They burned 2-3 litre oil / 30.000 km.

 

I never wait for the warning light. I check the oil level every 5000-10.000 kms and fill up to maximum level.

I like hard accelerating and I usually floor my car more than once/day but 1) I never do this with cold engine 2) I always let the engine cool down after flooring before turn off ignition.

Well I don't mind checking the oil if the dipstick was somewhat usable, but that must mean I'm doing something wrong, hence my planned visit to the dealer to have them enlighten me!

I don't think your doing anything wrong.

I have met the same impossibility to read the dipstick several times. And no way to predict when it will occur. It is not linked with the fact of being at a far too low level, as the day after it can show a level at the exact middle of the gauge. I always check at least two to three  hours after having stopped the car, and always remove, wipe, dip, and read.

Sometimes it is readable, sometimes not.

 

I have to say this is the first car I meet this issue.

Edited 11 February, 201511 yr by JPH0091

I have to say I also find the dipsticks rather useless. I can check the oil level on my Superb five times and get five different readings, so basically I just don't bother any more, and have been doing this since 2005 when I had one of the first B6 Passats, and I'm now on my 5th VW Group car since then with no problems. Why they don't use a simple flat old fashioned easy to read dipstick is beyond me.

 

Over the past ten years I have done this, and I wait for the 'add oil' light to come on, then put in a whole 1 litre at a time. The 1 litre as far as I can make out always takes it to the full mark, and as my car has an oil capacity of 4.5 litres that means when the 'add oil' light comes on there is still 3.5 litres going around the engine.  The manual does say the message is designed to be used in this way, although I admit it is far from ideal. 

 

Obviously not to be recommended but there is someone on the Superb section who had an unfortunate incident and the oil level wasn't even showing on the bottom of the dipstick, the RED no oil pressure warning light came on and this was while towing a caravan. No apparent damage seems to have been done - as far as they can tell. Maybe time will tell a different story, but I hope not for the sake of their bank balance.

 

http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/339231-panic-advice-for-a-friend/?hl=+caravan

 

Better still my wife's BMW has an electronic oil level gauge on the radio/sat nav display so you don't even have to open the bonnet, I've never even looked to see if it has a dipstick to be honest. 

 

Perhaps I should add I am and always have been a mechanical engineer so I realise the importance of lubricants.

I have to say I also find the dipsticks rather useless. I can check the oil level on my Superb five times and get five different readings, so basically I just don't bother any more, and have been doing this since 2005 when I had one of the first B6 Passats, and I'm now on my 5th VW Group car since then with no problems. Why they don't use a simple flat old fashioned easy to read dipstick is beyond me.

 

Over the past ten years I have done this, and I wait for the 'add oil' light to come on, then put in a whole 1 litre at a time. The 1 litre as far as I can make out always takes it to the full mark, and as my car has an oil capacity of 4.5 litres that means when the 'add oil' light comes on there is still 3.5 litres going around the engine.  The manual does say the message is designed to be used in this way, although I admit it is far from ideal. 

 

Obviously not to be recommended but there is someone on the Superb section who had an unfortunate incident and the oil level wasn't even showing on the bottom of the dipstick, the RED no oil pressure warning light came on and this was while towing a caravan. No apparent damage seems to have been done - as far as they can tell. Maybe time will tell a different story, but I hope not for the sake of their bank balance.

 

http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/339231-panic-advice-for-a-friend/?hl=+caravan

 

Better still my wife's BMW has an electronic oil level gauge on the radio/sat nav display so you don't even have to open the bonnet, I've never even looked to see if it has a dipstick to be honest. 

 

Perhaps I should add I am and always have been a mechanical engineer so I realise the importance of lubricants.

 

 

I had the electronic oil level gauge in my Alfa 159, and i loved it. Never touched the dipstick. I agree with you all, the dipstick on the Skoda is almost useless...