vRS Mk. II 1.4 litre twincharger oil consumption issues

[SeaGoat]

1 hour ago, Fitzwilliam said:

. . . I’ve generally registered 86-89 degrees after a good warm up, yesterday most of the time it read 95-96 degrees . . .

For what it is worth, I regularly see an oil temperature around 95°C when the engine reaches a steady temperature.

On a VERY few occasions I have seen 100°C.

On a long run (e.g. 30 miles or more) I never see the temperature fall below 90°C.

 

Over a five year period I have averaged a shade under 40 MPG based on litres purchased and miles covered - I am happy with that :).

[Sittingbull]

On 24/05/2019 at 16:10, Fitzwilliam said:

Went across to Awesome Gti in Manchester yesterday to have the cruise control fitted. Before setting off I checked the oil level and it was exactly at the top of the hatching on the dipstick, when I got back after around 130 miles the level had probably dropped about 1mm. One thing which was very noticeable was the oil temperature ran quite a bit hotter than when I have the level nearer to the top of the dipstick, I’ve generally registered 86-89 degrees after a good warm up, yesterday most of the time it read 95-96 degrees and that was with fairly light cruising at 50-55 being limited by following lorries over Woodhead Pass. With higher oil temperatures with less oil in I assume that would probably increase oil consumption so I’m going to stick with the oil level nearer to the maximum mark. Awesome Gti seem a pretty decent firm to deal with although some of the stuff they sell seems pretty pricey. Didn’t think fitting the CC would be a long job but it took the technician almost three and a half hours to complete which meant that I hit rush hour traffic on the way back, first time I’ve managed to top 50mpg, trip computer registered 51mpg when I got there, the traffic on the return leg knocked the days average down to 47, still not bad though.

 

Those mpg figures are achievable in my experience as well particularly when being a steady eddie so to speak rather than driving rather briskly. Pretty good for a twincharged engine.

 

As for the oil temperature, I've given up watching it and worrying after 5 years of ownership. Ours has consistently ran at around 96 when warmed up, if after a long motorway run it is not unusual for ours to read around 100 or slightly under. I used to fret about it, but it has never seemed to harm the car in operation over that time. We've been using 5W 40FS for a wee while now, and it still does pretty much the same as it always did, running around 96.

 

When that happens, I usually sit for a few minutes to allow the reading to come down to 90 or less prior to turning engine off.

 

 

[OzFabia]

Mine consistently sits on 93 or 94 degrees in summer when warm, and I've seen over 100 going uphill (under 90 going downhill in the other direction). Not a problem.

[Ootohere]

In the UK with a CAVE or CTHE engine with 5w 40 FS at the top of the Cross Hatch area i expect to see normally just trucking along around the 92*oC indicated.

That might never be reached in the coldest of ambient weather even on long runs, and on spirited drives and hotter weather the Indicated oil temp should drop to the low 90's pretty quick when you slow down after having the indicated temp up in the 100 plus.

That is with the correct quantity of oil and strength of Anti freeze / summer coolant.

 

VW504/507 5w 30 FS LL oil can be all over the shop.  That is the elephant in the room that VW never glanced in the direction of.

[Fitzwilliam]

, With all the comments about using 5w40 oil I’ve decided to bite the bullet and get some and start using it even though I’ve still got nearly 4 litres of 5w30 ll left to use. Ordered 5 litres off eBay, brand is Drivetec. very reasonably priced at £16.99 delivered, I’m going to let the oil level go down to near the bottom of the hatched mark and then top up with 5w40 so it will take a reasonable amount. Be interesting to see if it makes a positive difference.

Edited 26 May, 2019 by Fitzwilliam

[SeaGoat]

Can't say I have ever heard of DriveTec.  I last bought four litres of Castrol Edge Titanium FST 5W-40 from Tesco at a crazy low price.

[Fitzwilliam]

I’ve decided that rather than just start topping up with the 5w40 oil I’m going to do a full oil and filter change, I’ve ordered a Mahle filter which should be here in a few days, I’m going to measure out exactly 3.6 litres and then check the dipstick level and then top up to get it to a reference level if necessary, reset trip 2 on the computer and then drive exactly 500 miles to give me an accurate idea how much it’s using. Hopefully I should be able to tell if the consumption is reduced relative to 5w30.

Edited 27 May, 2019 by Fitzwilliam

[Ootohere]

If filling in litres and buying fuel in litres you might as well drive 1,000 km (621 Miles) or 2,000 km. 

 

See what oil use is after a couple of tanks of fuel.

 

Excessive Oil use after a Oil & Filter change can happen in 1.4 Twinchargers even when they were not oil users previously.

Then settle down after a top up.

[Ootohere]

Here is the invoice where the Technician never knew the weight of a litre / 3.6 litres of engine oil.

[Fitzwilliam]

I think I’ll just stick to miles for simplicity’s sake, I buy my fuel in £s worth too.

[Fitzwilliam]

Did the oil and filter change this afternoon, interestingly the oil I drained out measured 3.8-3.9 litres. I put 3.6 litres of 5w40 in then drove a couple of miles to the local tip to dispose of the old oil. When I got back left it to stand for 15 minutes and then checked the dipstick level, having drained more off I wasn’t surprised that the level was only half way up the hatched area, needed to add a further 250 -300mls more to get it to the top of the hatched area so 3.9 litres seems to be the right amount. Trip 2 has been zeroed, see what it’s like after 500 miles.

[Ootohere]

Good.

The VW Oil check on all engines other than the 1.2 44kw engine which is done cold is at Normal Operating Temperature.

So really around 90*oC, but over 80*oC is fine, checked on the flat. 'After a few minutes they say.  so maybe 4 minutes.  very vague.

If Skoda had not said 'Warm' when SEAT, VW, Audi said 'hot' or Operating Temp for the same engines all would be clearer. 

Cold checks are obviously good before driving to know there is oil in the engine, and compare a cold check to a 'At operating temperature check'.

 

Edited 1 June, 2019 by Skoffski

[Fitzwilliam]

I’ll do a stone cold check in the morning, always think that’s the most accurate because then you’re sure every drop of oil is in the sump and it’s obviously the most repeatable method from a point of view of spotting any drop in level. For my own piece of mind I’m going to do oil and filter changes every 3000 miles from this point on, it not much of an expense at less than £30, at my mileage that’s about every 6 months or so.

[Ootohere]

Really the 5w 40 FS is good for 10,000 miles (or a year)  unless you do only 6,000 miles a year.   

Only £30, but your cars oil changes have been done lots and it is a oil user.

You could change the Oil filter every 3,000 miles.  I would not bother unless you are tracking the car.

 

If you have 3.9 litres in, the stone cold check should have the oil on the flat above the cross hatch.  A good Stone Cold level IMO.

[Fitzwilliam]

Changing the filter every 3000 miles is probably a bit OTT, think perhaps I’ll just renew the oil every 3000 and filter at alternate changes so every 6000 miles.

[Ootohere]

I think you are missing the point that the oil can last well, especially if needing topping up with a bit of an oil user, 

and some filters are crap.  But i like the Mahle filter(OC 295)  and not the original Black or changed to Silver OEM VW / Audi filters on a 1.4 TSI Twincharger.

As it is the 5w 40 fs & Mahle filter will be great for 6,000 or even 10,000 miles.

 

Edited 4 June, 2019 by Skoffski

[Fitzwilliam]

5 hours ago, Skoffski said:

I think you are missing the point that the oil can last well, especially if needing topping up with a bit of an oil user, 

and some filters are crap.  But i like the Mahle filter(OC 295)  and not the original Black or changed to Silver OEM VW / Audi filters on a 1.4 TSI Twincharger.

As it is the 5w 40 fs & Mahle filter will be great for 6,000 or even 10,000 miles.

 

My concern with extending the mileage between oil changes on an engine which has now covered 57k miles is it’s effectiveness being reduced by borewash and causing the consumption to accelerate with the accumulation of more miles, as the cost of the oil is not great it does not cost much to keep the oil fresher and cleaner for the extra peace of mind and possibly reducing consumption as well.

[Ootohere]

IMO your car had too many oil changes and maybe using 5w 30 FS LL. 

Forget the borewash and before parking up make sure once the engine is up to temp you give it a bit of a blast and then it is parked up with nice clean plugs, 

and if you can use Tesco Momentum 99 and not Shell V-Power Nitro +. 

 

Perfectly good non oil using Twinchargers can use oil after an oil and filter change.  I like to leave the oil and let the engines do the job.

& no Engine Flush, just the old oil up to temp and then removed by suction, other than the first oil change on an engine i do not know, that gets the oil drained and a new sump plug.

[Fitzwilliam]

Tesco Momentum 99 is its staple diet.

[SeaGoat]

6 hours ago, Fitzwilliam said:

Tesco Momentum 99 is its staple diet.

 

Crazy that this fuel often costs less than 97 RON at mainstream gas stations - WTF?

Edited 4 June, 2019 by SeaGoat

[Fitzwilliam]

Just thought I’d put in an update since I did the oil and filter change and went to 5w40. I’ve done about a further 1500 miles since changing to 5w40 and tbh it’s made no difference whatsoever to the oil consumption that I can detect, unfortunately it’s had a detrimental effect on my fuel economy to the tune of 10-15% so not good, even fairly long runs being a struggle to get close to 40mpg.As soon as I realised this was happening I started doing my topups with 5W30 C3 again. Having now put in over a litre of C3 in topups the fuel consumption is beginning to recover noticeably and will hopefully return to what it was previously once there is not much residual 5W40 left in the sump. A 30+ mile trip out of town the other day returned 43mpg which is a bit more promising.

In all other respects the car is performing beautifully.

[Fitzwilliam]

Since getting my VRS in January I’ve been trying to get a handle on exactly how much oil my car is actually using, after a few months of checking and topping up my car has now covered just short of 4K miles and I’m now getting close to having used all of the 5 litres of 5w40 C3 oil I bought when I got the car I’ve been able to do a pretty accurate calculation, the result of which is an oil consumption figure of 735 miles per litre, tbh it’s quite a bit better than I expected considering the comments by other users about lots of short journeys from cold starts causing higher consumption. The 100% accurate figure may be a bit lower as I did do an oil and filter change about halfway through the 4K miles, so 700 miles per litre may be a better estimate. Next week I’ll be doing a  journey of 300 miles or so, the longest since I got it, it will be interesting to see if the oil consumption is less on a longer run. From my accurate measures when topping up my oil I’ve estimated that from the very maximum mark on the dipstick to the top of the hatched area is 0.3 litres so I’m going to set it at the maximum before I set off and then check the volume needed to refill the morning after to see if the consumption is less.

[Fitzwilliam]

Edit to last post I meant 5w30 C3 🙂

[Sittingbull]

On 29/08/2019 at 17:14, Fitzwilliam said:

Since getting my VRS in January I’ve been trying to get a handle on exactly how much oil my car is actually using, after a few months of checking and topping up my car has now covered just short of 4K miles and I’m now getting close to having used all of the 5 litres of 5w40 C3 oil I bought when I got the car I’ve been able to do a pretty accurate calculation, the result of which is an oil consumption figure of 735 miles per litre, tbh it’s quite a bit better than I expected considering the comments by other users about lots of short journeys from cold starts causing higher consumption. The 100% accurate figure may be a bit lower as I did do an oil and filter change about halfway through the 4K miles, so 700 miles per litre may be a better estimate. Next week I’ll be doing a  journey of 300 miles or so, the longest since I got it, it will be interesting to see if the oil consumption is less on a longer run. From my accurate measures when topping up my oil I’ve estimated that from the very maximum mark on the dipstick to the top of the hatched area is 0.3 litres so I’m going to set it at the maximum before I set off and then check the volume needed to refill the morning after to see if the consumption is less.

 

Skoda UK deemed our consumption level of a litre of oil per 700 miles to be poor enough it warranted them supplying and fitting a new engine back in 2014. New engine zero consumption. 

[Fitzwilliam]

Did my 300 mile round trip yesterday. Probably 200 miles at 65-70 mph the rest a mix of enforced 60 and50 limits. During the journey oil temp was pretty stable at 94-95 degrees  It would appear that the numerous suggestions from other VRS owners that lots of short journeys after cold starts gives high oil consumption is right on the money. Having set the oil level at the maximum before yesterday’s journey this morning I half expected the level check would see it down to the hatched area, to my astonishment (and joy) the level drop was tiny, maybe down 0.5mm or so from the maximum mark, I’m guessing on the journey it used under 100mls, maybe 60-70mls at my best estimation.

Even if 100mls had been used it would make the average consumption 0.33 litres per 1000 miles, which I have to admit that I’d be perfectly happy with. I have to admit in all the cars I’ve ever owned I’ve never observed such a big difference in oil consumption with the type of usage the car gets, the VRS obviously prefers high speed long runs. 

I was hoping the journey would see the car top 50 mpg, so the 47.6 mpg the trip meter registered was just a little disappointing.

 

Edited 3 September, 2019 by Fitzwilliam