Good evening all. I have a 2013 Octavia VRS Diesel that uses a litre of oil every 100 miles. It was using half a litre of water every day too, but since a garage identified the auxiliary water pump has the problem, I now only use half a litre every four days, even though the garage didn't replace the pump? Maybe it was a wiring fault?

 

The car goes into limp mode when you put your foot down, when it is warm only. It can get so bad that the car will drive no faster than thirty miles an hour even on the motorway. I initially thought the DPF might be blocked and took it to a place  that deals with DPF's. They said the problem was the auxiliary water pump but wouldn't fix it because they do DPF's only. I then took it for its yearly service and the guy at the garage put 15w40 instead of the recommended 15w30 but it is still using loads of oil.  The last garage I took it to  told me the turbo was ****ed but with two days and £1100, he could fix my car. 

 

Six days later I went to pick up the car and it is still broken but it has a new turbo... He's put my bill up by £300 and wants me to bring the car back to tomorrow for another day so he can actually find out what is wrong and no doubt charge me more to fix it. I'd love to know if anybody has a better idea of what might be wrong so I can tell him and what my rights are when it comes to the bill.

Welcome. 

 

Hopefully someone will be along that can figure all that out.

 

How long had you the car before it started using a liter of oil every 100 miles.

 

I hope somehow you stop getting ripped off.

 

PS.

The correct oil was 5w 30 FS III so long life and the spec is VW504 00 / 507 00.     These things matter.

Edited 15 August, 20232 yr by toot

1 minute ago, toot said:

Welcome. 

 

Hopefully someone will be along that can figure all that out.

 

How long had you the car before it started using a liter of oil every 100 miles.

 

I hope somehow you stop getting ripped off.

Hiya Toot. I have had the car for two years.  It's been using increased amounts of oil and water for a year but it's got worse over time. 

That is what happens sadly when you do nothing to fix them. 

I did try to fix them. I had the cooling system pressure tested. It has now been tested twice. I also took the car to a DPF specialist and then a service specialist. And ultimately to a supposed turbo specialist...  I've kept the service schedule and spent £2000 keeping this car on the road.  I've tried my hardest to fix it.

Services and pressure tests are not going to fix it. In the immortal words of @toot you need someone with more than an idea.

You are using water and oil at a high rate. You need to find out where they are going. They could be mixing in a part that is not good and getting on for writing the engine off.

Is the exhaust smokey? If so what colour? Blue leans to burning oil. White is water. Have a look at the underside of the oil filler cap. Is it milky? Did any of the oil changes show anything in the oil? 

3 minutes ago, MarkyG82 said:

Services and pressure tests are not going to fix it. In the immortal words of @toot you need someone with more than an idea.

You are using water and oil at a high rate. You need to find out where they are going. They could be mixing in a part that is not good and getting on for writing the engine off.

Is the exhaust smokey? If so what colour? Blue leans to burning oil. White is water. Have a look at the underside of the oil filler cap. Is it milky? Did any of the oil changes show anything in the oil? 

I see occasional smoke when I presume it is doing a regen. Usually there is no smoke at all. There is no water in the oil either. Nothing is going on the floor as well. 

 

I can drive the car around town all day and its fine but the moment I put my foot down, it goes into limp mode.-

Have you had it scanned for errors with a proper bit of software like VCDS?

Just now, petrolcan said:

Have you had it scanned for errors with a proper bit of software like VCDS?

Apparently the guy who said it needed a turbo has a Snap On scanner that hasn't helped him. He said it was reporting turbo under pressure and therefore it's the turbo.

1 hour ago, Rob774 said:

Apparently the guy who said it needed a turbo has a Snap On scanner that hasn't helped him. He said it was reporting turbo under pressure and therefore it's the turbo.

 

So, no then. See if you can find a VCDS owner that's local to you and offer them a few beer tokens

 

 

Using coolant could be either Egr cooler, charge cooler, head gasket or blocked matrix. Are you getting steam out the exhaust? Is there any coolant residue around the reservoir from it overflowing? If there’s a new turbo then the oil consumption must be elsewhere, so can rule turbo out. A scanner isn’t going to show you why you are using coolant. It needs a decent mechanic. Pressure tests often don’t pick up on internal coolant leaks as they aren’t big enough and also sometimes only apparent when at operating temperatures. 

Edited 16 August, 20232 yr by T07

16 hours ago, Rob774 said:

I see occasional smoke when I presume it is doing a regen. Usually there is no smoke at all. There is no water in the oil either. Nothing is going on the floor as well. 

 

I can drive the car around town all day and its fine but the moment I put my foot down, it goes into limp mode.-

At 1 litre per 100 miles, that exhaust should be smoking like an old Russian T55. Are there any sign of oil leaks on the underside of the engine bay?  I once had a rental from Rent a wreak in California - that leaked oil like like the Torrey Canyon!

Sure, you've been doing your best to sort out the issues. You've been trying the specialist route which can save you money and can work out well but as you've also found out, not so well when there are multiple faults in different areas...  Youur specialists haven't really got edit near to the bottom of everything going on and as their name suggests have stuck to their limited remit. 

 

Let's just say it did have a turbo fault,  and that's fixed now and that money and repairs sailed now. So that's behind you. 

 

So, your still stuck with the coolant consumptikn which maybe a number of things as described by @T07 but needs a mechanic with some clues to diagnose.

 

The oil usage surely is immense. And as pointed out, unless they've pulled a fast one on you, can't be the turbo.

 

I seem to remember the op already  posted it's not landing on the floor. So that leaves being burned.... and that should be noticeable. Common culprit on these engines as rings isn't it?  What's the engine code - the letters at start of engine number?

 

A forum like this is good, useful, especially for fixing problems others have experienced. Dealing with multiple things and faults at the same time is harder on a forum though... there's also possibilities of some symptoms being linked.

 

I think what you really need is a mechanic you can trust, with some experience on these engines and ask him / her to inspect and advise what is required to put it right... maybe you have to pay just to get that assessment but if they're good it will be money we'll spent and help you decide what to do next...

 

  Its a shame it's already cost you north of £2k but your either gonna have to spend some more money likely or off load it and get something else!! 

 

I doubt with what your experiencing, it is only one single fault remaining unfortunately. 

Edited 16 August, 20232 yr by TheClient

The fact that its using large quantities of oil and water without any visible leaks bears that out, the only common factor I could think of is head gasket failure but surely the exhaust gases and inside of the tailpipe would be indicative.

 

I agree with both T07 and the Client, you need someone with the gear and more than no idea, a useless mechanic with a Snap On scanner is still a useless one, maybe even more so.