I have a 54 reg 2.8 Elegance. Everything is fine with the engine except that like clockwork it needs a liter of oil every 3000 miles or so. No sign of leakage or burning. I checked with the local garage and they said that it's common to that engine especially with the synthetic oil. At

I have the 2.8 Elegance and put in about a litre every 4000 miles.I had the 100tdi before and had to put a litre in about every 6000.I ended up buying a 25 litre drum with another superb owner(100tdi),and it worked out at around

2.8 Elegance here, and I've put in about 3 litres in 10,000 miles, I thought it was the mileage, mine's done about 58,000 miles.

Actually, the engine is causing the high mileage problem too, I've never enjoyed sitting on motorways until I got the Superb, just set the cruise and cover 500+ miles in a day no problem, with a lovely quiet, comfortable ride.

I have a 57 plate 1.9 tdi,115 bhp.

first 10,000 miles i put in 1.5 liters of oil.

I had a 05 plate 100 bhp for 2 1/2 years and every 10,000 miles i put in 1 liter of oil.

I use my superb as a taxi great room in side. I have some squeaks from dash area and a clicking noise from front foot well.

I have a 57 plate 1.9 tdi,115 bhp.

first 10,000 miles i put in 1.5 liters of oil.

I had a 05 plate 100 bhp for 2 1/2 years and every 10,000 miles i put in 1 liter of oil.

I use my superb as a taxi great room in side. I have some squeaks from dash area and a clicking noise from front foot well.

Same here but mines a 130, my mate with the Passat said his ate oil until it got to about 90k then it stopped, he uses Fuchs now if that's any help.

I think these engines fail to bed in their piston rings properly because VAG fill them initially with synthetic oil. The PD engines (and probably the others) seem variable in terms of oil consumption - perhaps it depends how they were treated in the running in phase.

Mine was probably thrashed for the first 20k miles on its original fill of synthetic (Skoda UK rep mobile) but it now uses very little oil between 10k mile changes of Fuchs 507.00 - it certainly reqiures no topping up.

When I was shopping for a Superb, I saw quite a few with external oil around the EGR/anti-run on housing - very visible from the top of the engine. These must have been producing a lot of blow-by and hence burning plenty of oil. I walked away from these.

I'd better take good care of mine.

rotodiesel.

Well how about this then, I gave mine a night out on the black gold about 4k ago, I used VX 5/30 synthetic oil and a GSF filter, before she would eat a litre per 2k of distance, checked it yesterday, not a drop required, cleaner out of the exhaust as well because when I got her and it had to be tested for my licence I thought it was going to go down on emissions due to the amount of black smoke when revved, I did put a GSF airfilter in at the sametime so this is helping as well.

Did the oil you used meet VAG specification 505.01, 506.01 or 507.00?

If not, expect a repair bill for camshaft and followers soon.

rotodiesel.

It's B4 spec oil, can't find any references to the 500 specs on the tub, been using GM oil in my Taxis for the last 15 yrs and never had any issues with it, I know this engine is supposed to use a certain oil etc, but I think it's a marketing ploy myself, if this oil is good enough for a 300 BHP VX V6 I can't see it not being able to cope with this ancient tractor engine, and if it does go pop I will just scrap the car.

Thinking of selling it soon anyway, so if anyone wants a 1.9 TDi Auto with around by then 70k on it on an 04 plate in a comfort spec for around 6.5k PM me.

Roto, while I have no doubt you know your stuff have a read here, totally confused users and an absolute minefield, including a ref to *non hardened camshafts* whatever next chocolate crankshafts ? I'm almost certain this is all back covering by VAG to get out of failures when the oil is worn out and done 18k with a punter screaming *you said it'll do 20k etc* I think most modern oils, not some factor sourced multigrade for a Capri are up to task, there are many grade brandings but the one that should really matter is the 0/30 - 5/30 - 10/40 rating with it's synthetic quality listed, as I've said before oil is slippery by nature and as long as the contact surfaces are coated it should lubricate ok anyway with the crucial part of predicting when the oil is contaminated enough to require changing to avoid wear, anyway have a read bud...

A6 TDI engine oil - VWAUDI Forum

Very briefly, the PD diesel engine is special and is nothing like the crude engine offerings from the American car makers.

In order to make a diesel efficient, the fuel has to go in at very high pressure. On the PD the pressure is about the highest around, approaching 30,000 PSI. To do this, the cam and roller follower for the unit injector is heavily loaded - so heavily loaded that your "ordinary" engine oil would be literally squeezed out. To make matters worse, in order to fit these wide unit injector cams in, the ordinary inlet and exhaust valve cams on the 8V PD are very narrow - too narrow in fact. This means that these cams too are heavily loaded and ordinary engine oil will fail to lubricate them.

I have seen the results of using ordinary ACEA B4 spec oil in a PD and I wouldn't recommend it - nor would I want to foot the repair bill.

The efficiency of the PD comes at a price - which is the need for special oil and frequent cambelt changes. At today's fuel prices, it's not a bad swap.

rotodiesel.

How long before tappy tap should start to be heard at a rough guess? my mate has used semi synthetic in his Passat and she's still doing it at 220k without issue, the thing I wanted to point out was even VAG dealers don't stock the biblical lubricant from what was written on the thread I linked, if they don't then they are putting in the wrong oils also, so I question the whole thing because they of all ppl should know and stock the right stuff.

If you play roulette, how long before you lose? If I pay good money for an engine I look after it and get my money's worth.

rotodiesel.

Na, I didn't mean that, I can see your logic on it, what I mean is is it an almost instant thing, or is it gradual?

I haven't tried it so I don't know. It probably depends to some extent on the extreme pressure capability of the non specified oil used.

rotodiesel.

I've had a chat with someone who knows about this sort of thing also, he confirms there is some issue with these engines but couldn't say if it is blurb or fact, anyway he also reckons the GM oil I use is to quote VX....suitable for ALL modern diesel engines, and also said it was convenient for VAG to make their own branding specs up so to confuse the end user into buying only their products.

That's all OK then.

rotodiesel.

I suspect anyone only finds out when it is too late. In the meantime I top up with Castrol 506.1 or 507.0 when I need to and the 4 litre bottle used between a Superb V6 TDi and a Fabia VRs lasts me about 18 months. So it isn't a major issue cost wise. I hope the main dealer servicing use the right oil. The bill always states "Shell Helix".

I suspect anyone only finds out when it is too late. In the meantime I top up with Castrol 506.1 or 507.0 when I need to and the 4 litre bottle used between a Superb V6 TDi and a Fabia VRs lasts me about 18 months. So it isn't a major issue cost wise. I hope the main dealer servicing use the right oil. The bill always states "Shell Helix".

#The bill always states "Shell Helix".#

After agonising over what oil to use to top up with, this weekend whilst checking the oil level I spotted a little Shell Helix sticker. So I guess that's what I will use in future.

Jenks

You could use Fuchs as well lads, they do a VAG spec oil as well, GSF stock it.

2.8 Elegance here, and I've put in about 3 litres in 10,000 miles, I thought it was the mileage, mine's done about 58,000 miles.

Actually, the engine is causing the high mileage problem too, I've never enjoyed sitting on motorways until I got the Superb, just set the cruise and cover 500+ miles in a day no problem, with a lovely quiet, comfortable ride.

I've got a 2000MY B5 Passat with the 2.8 30V APR engine and it has always used quite a lot of oil. Running at 70MPH continuously can mean as much as 1 litre in 1000>1500 miles. I am afraid that I did not run mine in very well - mainly constant engine revs for the first 1000 miles run back from Brunsum to Scotland. My car is now at 60,000 miles and still enoughs a drink now and again!