I am having to top up my oil every 500-800 miles. Is this normal? Is the oil grade critical because using the VW/Skoda specific oil is costing a fortune!

Welcome to the forum.

 

The Spec of the oil is important the brand is not.  So if on Fixed Servicing and your engine require VW 502 00 that is what is needed and not VW 504 00 Long Life.

 

How much oil are you topping up with & is this 5w 30 Full Synthetic Long Life (VW 504 00) ?

 

Are you checking the level with a Cold Dip to see how much shows and as per the Owners Manual with the Oil at Operating Temperature.

 

Maybe best be sure the correct quantity is in and then monitor closely the use because there have been VW TSI engines with excessive oil use 

and there are remedies.

 

See the pinned thread at the top of the page.

Edited 25 October, 20169 yr by Offski

I am having to top up my oil every 500-800 miles. Is this normal? Is the oil grade critical because using the VW/Skoda specific oil is costing a fortune!

You need to run an approved oil.

 

Depending on whether you are on long life or fixed interval you can use Quantum Long Life III or Platinum respectively. They are about £27 and £22 respectively for 5 Litres. That is  around £5.50 or £4.50 a litre, so not bankruptcy material but a 10% impost on fuel running costs that ought not be there. I suggest you buy 5 litres and decant into a 1 litre container if that is what you like to have with you in the car, that will be more economical than 1 Litre top ups, which in service stations can be £25 or more!

 

The bigger issue is the level of usage. That is quite a bit of oil if it is from full to oil warning light - 1 Litre in about 650 miles (mid point of mileage).

 

You may get by for a while, but that is going to be a problem and suggests something really is not right.

 

If you are running a long life oil in 5W30 you could convert to fixed schedule try Qauntum Platinum which is 5W40 and may pull back the consumption a bit but it is not going to fix the underlying problem.

As suggested above, see the pinned thread. There's a lot of info there on excessive oil consumption. I'm guessing you've got a 1.8t petrol. My 1.8 Scout is currently awaiting a new engine as my oil usage went to c1 litre every 200 miles. These engines are seemingly well known for it whether in Skodas, VWs or Audis. To me it beggars believe that VAG seem to have got away with what appears to me to be an engine (or at least parts there of) which is (are) not fit for purpose.

I am having to top up my oil every 500-800 miles. Is this normal? Is the oil grade critical because using the VW/Skoda specific oil is costing a fortune!

How much are you adding? On a litres of oil per 1000km basis what is it?

How many km on the engine?

has it always been like this or has it just started.

Manual / DSG?

Driving style? Short trips? easy driver or a bit quicker?

How many km per year?

VAG specific isn't that expensive.

504 is GBP25. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/152269113246?clk_rvr_id=1114598058385&afsrc=1&rmvSB=true

502.00 is even less expensive. If you use 502 you can go to a (5 or 10)w-40 which slows things down a bit.