Silber Igel

It would be interesting to get their thoughts on a sample of 'Variable' spec oil after it had been in the sump for 2 years , that way we could know 'the whole truth' ie is variable good or bad for your engine! I wonder if theres a place over here that would do an oil analysis?

I used Blackstone Laboratories. www.blackstone-labs.com

OA is a common practice in the big truck, big diesel, aircraft and boat industry. I think if you put "oil analysis" in your web search tool you will be able to find one closer to you.

It would be interesting to do a "real world" test of the variable oil over 2 years. I thought I was pushing the envelope by going 10K in 7 - 8 months. Clearly, this oil works well and could probably go a lot farther than 10K.

:cheers:

To sum up, do you get the service warning whatever the service schedule the car is set to, fixed or variable?.Like many others my handbook said service at 10000 miles, the data plate indicates variable, queried with the service department who supplied car and they didnt contradict variable, have now done 11500 miles with no servive warning!

Stubax

Judging by what others have posted on here , you do indeed get a 'countdown' in your odometer for a fixed service , as well as a variable one . For the fixed 10000 service it seems the warning starts to be displayed in the high 8000 mile brakets and counts down from 'Service-1000 Miles' untill your car is due to be serviced , so if you have seen nothing , id say you are on variable.

So when's the right time for a fill-up?

My dealer warned me to check the oil regularly (every 1000 kms) as a chipped 1.8T is a known oil scavenger - or so he said. At 8000 kms all was well with the oil level snap in the middle of the perfect zone, but now at 9000 kms (and after a high-speed blast through Germany - could these be connected?) it's dropped to one-quarter of the perfect zone.

Say a refresh at 10k? That's km, not miles...

What oil change frequency do others have?

I've only checked my level once... Really need to do this more often.

[raises his head master's voice]

Especially a speed criminal such as yourselves!

Speeding me? On which part of my 2 mile journey to the train station do you suggest I put my foot down then?

Oh, I really long for the day that I can commute into work by car again...... sigh...

In that case I shouldn't worry about oil levels too much...

Q, a 2 mile journey each way - your engine won't even get warm. Not good for the engine long term. Sound like a good excuse for a slightly longer route to/from the station??

If I ever get a permanent job again and it involves the train I'll probably buy a moped for that purpose... I'm too lazy to cycle

Seems I was a bit too quick on the draw yesterday - the engine was probably still a bit hot and some of the oil won't have reached the sump yet. Did another check this morning and found that the oil level was up where it was the previous time I checked: right there in the middle... Seem to have run it in pretty well compared to what my dealer was suggesting!

Still interested, however, in the frequency with which other 1.8T drivers are having to top up.

Not had to put a drop in mine.

Oil changed at 10K miles (10 months, fixed servicing). Now at 16K. Level still the same.

Mine's completely standard though...

If there was somewhere flat at home I might get to check mine more often. It does use a bit between services but TBH not enough to worry about topping up.