Hi, on a 100 mile trip today, my temp gauge fluttered from 90 down to about 80 at the lowest all the way. It went up to 90 whenever accelerating hard, but dropped back to 80-85 when cruising. Is this normal? Haven't noticed this before. Oil light came on too, which I knew was a tad low, but not that low. So I stopped and put 1L in.

 

Cheers

24 minutes ago, gman88667733 said:

Hi, on a 100 mile trip today, my temp gauge fluttered from 90 down to about 80 at the lowest all the way. It went up to 90 whenever accelerating hard, but dropped back to 80-85 when cruising. Is this normal? Haven't noticed this before. Oil light came on too, which I knew was a tad low, but not that low. So I stopped and put 1L in.

 

Cheers

Do you have DSG gearbox or manual. If DSG replace the DSG stat. Plenty of writeups ana also where to get from Autodoc. Check Superb 2 forum 

I do have DSG. What is the DSG stat?

Just now, gman88667733 said:

I do have DSG. What is the DSG stat?

There is an inline stat near the battery end of the engine and above the gearbox. Most people wrongly replace the engine thermostat. 

Sorry on mobile I am terrible at putting links on.  Check my posts and other in the Superb2 forum. Someone mentioned just this week. Simple DIY job. 

Worth noting that even driving at 68 mph on cruise control, the mpg didn't go above 49 on a flat straight road. Driving the A30 all the way. Seems lower than it used to be

 

Loads of us on the Superb side done this fix for the temp issue. Please do take a look around there. 

So you have different issues. So needs addressing.

The coolant one.

Then low oil means the coolant / system works harder to cool the oil.  What temp was that showing?

 

Has 1 liter of oil actually been enough to have the oil capacity up where it should be? 

I doubt it if you had a low oil warning.

Worth noting that my cambelt and water pump are now almost 7 years and 55k miles old.

Well I stopped and purchased a bottle of the correct oil, topped it up and the warning went away. Then carried on with our trip. Just arrived at our destination for a few days, so I'll go check the level now.

Why do you set off driving knowing that the oil level is low?

 

If you open the bonnet for more than 30 seconds and do nothing the Low Oil or Low oil pressure lights go out.

Out for as much as 100 km / 60 miles.

Edited 22 March, 20197 yr by Skoffski

Well, when I checked it, it wasn't low as such. But halfway between the two marks. It is now at the top fill line.

Strange?

There are stone cold checks, for 1.2 44kw vw engines, or if you want to do

and there as in the owners manual checks, @ operating temp parked on the flat.  Which are you doing, or are you doing both. Done before engine started. and done when engine and oil up to temp?

When the low level light came on, I stopped at the nearest service station and waited for 5 mins and then checked, I understand that that isn't ideal, but it had to do at the time. I topped it up with the oil after another 5 mins or so.

When I checked the level just now, the car had been sat for probably an hour after our drive and is on I would say is on fairly level ground, definitely not a defined slope.

 

My car is a 1.9tdi

Edited 22 March, 20197 yr by gman88667733

Apologies never noticed you had low oil issues. Please deal with that so you have a level playing field with no issues than the fluctuating temp needle. Please read up on the DSG stat if you believe it’s the cause then swap it. 

Is it likely that my oil really was just a bit low without any underlying issue?

Hasn't had fresh oil for 10k miles. (6 months) it had fresh oil when the turbo was changed. Admittedly I never checked it after it was done to see if the level was correct!

A Low Oil light is not a bit low it is quite a bit low, 

and the oil capacity low has the oil working harder as the oil is a coolant as well as a lubricant.

 

If you are leaving oil and filter changes to Variable / flexible it has at least had a bit of a refresh.

But why would the level now read full after 1L?! 

I'm getting a service done when I get back home. It needs a water pump and cambelt done as well. I do notice a bit of oil around the filler cap, it should be mentioned!

Er, on my car (same engine) the "low oil" warning triggers at the bottom mark on the dipstick, which needs 1l to refill. Or I can get an oil service, since the oil consumption is about 1l per year.

Odd one that people run around with oil getting as low as 1/4 low on oil to know where the light shows.

There are 1.4 TSI's that can be low by 1.5 liters of a 3.6 liter oil capacity before the low oil light or message shows.

Good that older engines can be relied on to show when just 1 liter low, if they can be that is.

Good to know, Ken. Thank you!

Out if interest, should oil be kept a the maximum level?

The manufacturers via the Owners Manual recommend you keep it in Area A of the dipstip checked at Operating Temperature,

then have advice on area C and B.

Sometimes MUST or MAY gets lost in translation about topping up.

Warm gets used maybe by Skoda while SEAT, Audi or VW might say 'hot' or at normal operating temperature.

Lots gets lost from German to Spanish, to English , American English or Czech, Chinese etc.

Then Quart gets lost in conversion to Imperial or US gallons.

 

If you are not checking the oil between services or until the Oil light shows you have no idea how long the oil has been running at very low levels.

 

Edited 22 March, 20197 yr by Skoffski

I tend to check the oil every month or two, I'm fairly certain it was at about 25% of the way between the two lines for a while now.

However, I think I'll definitely add it to my monthly list now. Thanks!

Just need to get the temp gauge sorted now.

Just an update on this. - due to unforseen health issues that cropped up the same day as my last post, I haven't been able to take the car to my local garage yet.

However, a new symptom related to the temp gauge has appeared. It seems to warm up a lot faster than I'd expect it to. For example, after driving for maybe 10 minutes it wasn't far off of 80 - 85. This wasn't driving hard either, at speeds under 15mph. The car was then left for maybe an hour and when it was moved again, the gauge starting increasing almost immediately. The bonnet felt stone cold. 

Haven't had any instances of it going past 90 yet though, so could this still just be the thermostat? I'm hoping to get it to the garage either this week or the start of the following week.