So I had the car serviced 2 months ago by sandicliffe Skoda Nottingham and yesterday whilst driving up the A1 my oil warning light came on. I pulled over and checked the dipstick. Nothing.  Almost nothing on it at all! I let it stand for a couple of hours and checked again and it was still not showing on the dipstick. How can this be? 2 months and 6k miles later 

Maybe they didn't put enough back in? Sounds silly but easily done. Especially under time pressure and if more than 1 working on the car.

That is the issue you can get if you do not cold dip, then check at normal operating temperature after a service, 

then leave it another 6,000 miles unchecked.

Why would I check after the service? You trust the professionals to be able to do there job properly and competently. That's what there paid for especially from a main dealer

You should certainly have checked the oil level several times over the intervening 6000 miles. Oil levels do tend to drop.

Sadly not all are Professionals or fully qualified, there are Apprentices and fitters. 

There are Technicians as well that commonly get it wrong.   So now you are aware of that, and can check now if you have the correct quantity of oil in and there is no excessive oil use in the next 6,000 miles.

52 minutes ago, JamiePvrs said:

So I had the car serviced 2 months ago by sandicliffe Skoda Nottingham and yesterday whilst driving up the A1 my oil warning light came on. I pulled over and checked the dipstick. Nothing.  Almost nothing on it at all! I let it stand for a couple of hours and checked again and it was still not showing on the dipstick. How can this be? 2 months and 6k miles later 

 

The officially acceptable consumption of 1 litre/1000 miles could more than empty your sump in 6k miles. You may have a leak or other fault. But you can’t blame the dealer, or prove anything, after that mileage. Personally I check the oil every month which is 1500 miles for me. 

^^^ ?

Where did you find that officially accepted Oil Consumption.

 

The VW Group thing in Owners manual, for all engines, petrol & diesel, 3,4.5,6,8,12 cylinder from 44Kw up is.

'May use 0.5 litres in 1,000 km, (621 miles) so 1,242 miles, and even they know that is not acceptable, 0.3 litres being excessive in an engine after 5,000 km.  Again in the Owners Manual on Using more oil in the first 5,000 miles.

Then about crossing Mountain Passes in Summer towing Hannibal's Elephants. 

Edited 12 April, 20188 yr by AwaoffSki

When I was young I felt really in touch with all the mechanicals of my car having rebuilt the engine and carried out many changes and improvements. I could almost intuitively pick up anything which wasn't right and was often to be found with my head inserted in one of the cars orifices.

 

But these days the cars are designed to produce this bubble where we feel cosseted and secure and under the bonnet is a blur of high tech wizardry. I've become too reliant on warning lights and messages and driving has become more of a spectator sport. The only time I get that connected feeling again is when I drop into 'wild' mode - but even then I've not checked the oil level!

 

Reading this thread is timely prompt to take more responsibility for my lovely 'new' chariot. Thanks for that.

5 minutes ago, AwaoffSki said:

^^^ ?

Where did you find that officially accepted Oil Consumption.

 

The VW Group thing in Owners manual, for all engines, petrol & diesel, 3,4.5,6,8,12 cylinder from 44Kw up is.

'May use 0.5 litres in 1,000 km, (621 miles) so 1,242 miles, and even they know that is not acceptable, 0.3 litres being excessive in an engine after 5,000 km.

 

Most manufacturers will quote 1l/1000 miles, VW/Audi always did. If they have changed that to 0.5l/1000 km then I apologise for not realising they can now go a further 242 miles per litre of oil consumed....

 

VW Group have been giving this backside covering information for a long time, and it is not 'within tolerances' and does not let them off any hook 

when Official Oil Consumption tests are required, they get away in Europe with it sometimes, not in the Rest of the World though.

 

Supposedly a 'Professional' did this Oil Consumption test and yet does not know what a litre of engine oil weighs.

Edited 12 April, 20188 yr by AwaoffSki

If the oil cannot last between service intervals then I would deem that a poor effort by the manufacturer. This car is a work horse and if it cannot do the work then what use is it to me. My Saab didn't use a drop in 18k.

Is there a problem with the weight of oil?

 

I think the maths works out as:

79g / 0.3 = 260g/1000km

260g / 856g = 0.3037g/1000km

 

Forgive me if I've missed the point but the mechanic does seem to know the weight of oil.

 

On the general topic - by design diesel engines will burn oil far quicker than petrol (higher compression maybe??)  but what is an acceptable level is debatable. I would have hoped the sump would be big enough to cover the service intervals but that means more weight of oil and more weight of bigger sump so bound to be a target for cuts to reduce mpg. Burning oil will mess with the dpf so I'd worry if it was being used at a high rate.

 

If we don't trust the mechanics where we have the car serviced then we're probably going to the wrong place. I depend on being able to trust the mechanic(s) will do a job properly, will diagnose problems accurately and promptly, and not change things which don't need doing. 

Carrying out an oil consumption test on a 1.4TSI Twincharger 132kw engine with a 3.6 litre oil capacity.

so you put in a new oil filter & 3.6 Litres of oil, take the engine to operating temp which requires at least 5 miles driving not ticking over. 

you drain or suck out that oil and weigh.

3.6 times 857 grams is 3085.2 grams, or a bit more.    Because 1 litre of oil does not weight 1,000 grams even still in a bottle.

 

3,643 grams of oil is 4.2 litres of oil drained before the test, and 3565 grams drained after the test would be 4.1 litres.

 

This is why the Owner never paid the Dealership that wanted paid to do the Official Oil Consumption test, and Skoda UK paid to fit a replacement engine.

In Gods we trust, in Factory Trained Main Dealership technicians you check after them.

Oil and coolant levels, if they checked the air filter, the tyre pressures and if the TPMS is checked and the wheel bolt torque settings, 

after a PDI and after a Service....

1 hour ago, JamiePvrs said:

If the oil cannot last between service intervals then I would deem that a poor effort by the manufacturer. This car is a work horse and if it cannot do the work then what use is it to me. My Saab didn't use a drop in 18k.

 

Some cars use more oil than others, there are so many factors involved. I have found with modern engines that they use less oil after 30k miles so hopefully yours will improve rapidly if you are doing 6k in 2 months. The oil level warning will stop you killing the engine even if you only top up when it comes on. (Although most people on this forum will cringe at letting it do that regularly).

To get an idea of what it is using you are going to have to check it every 1000 miles. That way, if it is drinking too much, you can get it looked at. 

Edited 13 April, 20188 yr by classic

I will be checking it from now on. It's just really disappointing to have a nearly new car and find it drinks more oil than a RX8! Skoda said theybwill have a look at it when it's next in for service, dash indicates 2500 miles so sometime in the next few weeks. It will have ticked over 30k in the next month or so. Maybe then it will improve. A friend has the golf GTD and he has never had an issue before, does similar mileage too. Maybe I need to drive mine harder like he does lol

At least there was a fix for the Mazda engines.

With the 1.4 TSI Twincharger 160, 170, 180, 185 ps Engines the failure rate on those produced 2009-2012 is greater than 20% and even replacement engines have been replaced.

 

 

Today i would check it cold,  and then as it should be checked after a drive and when at operating temperature to be sure you have the correct quantity in now.

Then you know where it is cold before trips, and when collecting after a service.

Simple as that really. 

 

Mericans might have different Gallons & differents Quarts, and old videos and Fixed Service Interval info, 

but at least state the check @ Operating Temp unlike VW UK Videos.   **It is in your owners manual though.**

VW Engines are checked at Operating Temp, not warm, other than 1.2 44Kw ones that are checked cold.

(Obviously knowing the cold level on a dipstick is important. All Oil in the sump possibly...)

 

VW 1.5 TSI EVO engines have VW508 00 oil,   Check out the price Main Dealers want for a litre of that.

It will be interesting to see how many Service Desk personnel know about VW508 00,  and the cost of it. 

More upselling coming.

 

 

 

Edited 13 April, 20188 yr by Offski

Diesel engines should be worked hard so I wouldn’t be worried about that 

I have been involved in the past with overhauling hgv, bus and railway diesels.

Light loading and excessive idling were considered very bad for running in a new engine. They would be tested under load before going into service. Work it hard and check it regularly and most diesels will respond well.

24 minutes ago, JamiePvrs said:

I will be checking it from now on. It's just really disappointing to have a nearly new car and find it drinks more oil than a RX8! Skoda said theybwill have a look at it when it's next in for service, dash indicates 2500 miles so sometime in the next few weeks. It will have ticked over 30k in the next month or so. Maybe then it will improve. A friend has the golf GTD and he has never had an issue before, does similar mileage too. Maybe I need to drive mine harder like he does lol

 

My TDI usually shows the oïl warning light around the time of the service (30,000km).

However, I found on two occaisons driving back to the UK (so ~1000km in 1 run & back again) that it seemed to consume quite a bit more oïl than usual in these conditions.

 

Unless you know for sure that it was full its difficult to say theres an issue.

My neighbour had his Ford Puma returned (driven to his door) by a Ford garage who had forgotten to put the oïl back in.

59 minutes ago, Gabbo said:

My TDI usually shows the oïl warning light around the time of the service (30,000km).

However, I found on two occaisons driving back to the UK (so ~1000km in 1 run & back again) that it seemed to consume quite a bit more oïl than usual in these conditions.

With increasing usage the oil gets contaminated by fuel (petrol or diesel) which makes it evaporate faster, so oil consumption naturally increases with mileage since the oil was last changed. This is one reason why some car enthusiasts change the oil every 5000 miles instead of the manufacturer recommended 10,000 miles (or more if on variable servicing).

Basically the car has used some oil in 6K miles.  That is clear as the oil light was not on for the two months preceding.  Although difficult to prove you've kind of got to hope that the garage didn't fill it to the max as the alternative is that you're losing/burning a lot of oil.

 

Monitor and if your future  oil consumption returns to a lower level its a reasonable assumption you were short changed by the garage.  If you go back there check the oil level after the next service. 

 

 

11 minutes ago, SWBoy said:

With increasing usage the oil gets contaminated by fuel (petrol or diesel) which makes it evaporate faster, so oil consumption naturally increases with mileage since the oil was last changed. This is one reason why some car enthusiasts change the oil every 5000 miles instead of the manufacturer recommended 10,000 miles (or more if on variable servicing).

 

Before coming to Skoda and variable servicing over a 25 year period with various cars (owned from new and properly serviced) on 9-12K intervals I very rarely had to add oil between services.  

 

Until last year I ran a  2010 petrol Mk2 VRS from new for 80K on variable (16-18K in practice) and oil consumption for the first 4 years was negligible, rising to about 1L/8,000 miles at the end of my term of ownership.  

Edited 13 April, 20188 yr by juan27

2 hours ago, juan27 said:

Before coming to Skoda and variable servicing over a 25 year period with various cars (owned from new and properly serviced) on 9-12K intervals I very rarely had to add oil between services.

Modern engines are higher stressed (especially if turbo)  so this makes the issue more relevant.

 

You have been very lucky, on my previous car (Audi RS4) most owners commented that after 5,000 miles their oil consumption steadily rose from almost zero to anything up to 1.0 litre per 1,000 miles.

Edited 13 April, 20188 yr by SWBoy

2 hours ago, juan27 said:

Until last year I ran a  2010 petrol Mk2 VRS from new for 80K on variable (16-18K in practice) and oil consumption for the first 4 years was negligible, rising to about 1L/8,000 miles at the end of my term of ownership.  

 

I must have been unlucky, when I got rid of my 59 Petrol VRS at 80k it was using 1L per 1500 miles! Oh well, I haven't missed it, the MK3 is much better.

 

MK3 hasn't needed any top ups between 10k services so far.

34 minutes ago, SWBoy said:

Modern engines are higher stressed (especially if turbo)  so this makes the issue more relevant.

 

You have been very lucky, on my previous car (Audi RS4) most owners commented that after 5,000 miles their oil consumption steadily rose from almost zero to anything up to 1.0 litre per 1,000 miles.

 

I think my experience has been normal rather than lucky.  I've never experienced oil consumption being significantly different at any point in a manufacturers published oil service interval. 

 

Modern engines do perhaps make more demands on oil, but oil technology has moved along too, that's at least in part why we have longer oil change intervals than the past.