Phantom Oil Leak…

[AlfieHawes]

I have had a 2011 1.8 Octavia TSI since late August. When I bought it, it had a perfectly clear MOT, and has had no history of anything related to oil (or the engine in general) on the MOTs. It also had a full service before I took it away from the garage.
 

Since I bought it, I’ve had to top up the oil, and I’ve just started getting the oil light again on the dash. I just checked the oil, and it was just barely above the bottom section of the dipstick. When I topped it up less than a month ago, it was pretty much full.

 

Obviously something is taking the oil, but there isn’t any on my driveway, and there isn’t any over the engine or anything like that. I also have no smoke from the exhaust, so I have no clue where it’s going.
 

Any ideas? Cheers

[Warrior193]

Hello Alfie, welcome to the forum. How many miles have you run since you last topped up the oil? What is your engine code? (3 or 4 letters before engine number on the registration document)

Excessive oil use is unfortunately well documented on the 1.8 TSI engine.

Not sure why you are not seeing smoke from the exhaust - but I suspect that's where the oil is going. Do a search on this forum using your engine code.

[AlfieHawes]

Hi, thanks! I’ve done about 1500 miles since I got the car, and some of that has been potentially a little harder on the car than some others’ driving would have been - by which I mean using high revs, not smashing it into gear. 
 

The engine code is CDA. I’ll have a look - thanks 

[TheClient]

You'll be experiencing the well documented oil consumption issues on the ea888 gen 2. See sticky on 1.8 2.0 tsi engine failures for lots of reading.

 

Unfortunately, your out of the 30day automatic right to return assuming you purchased from a dealer. But if you document the fault and show them what it is likely to be they will eventually be left with little option but to take the car back and refund. As resolving the problem is likely to be uneconomic. Like £3000 plus as a guess..  

 

If there is no visible oil leak and no pooling on undertray, it's almost certain you've been caught by the scraper ring clogging that has afflicted so many. 

[Paws4Thot]

4 hours ago, AlfieHawes said:

it had a perfectly clear MOT, and has had no history of anything related to oil (or the engine in general) on the MOTs.

Oil level is not part of the MoT. Neither is "oil consumption" unless the car makes "objectionable smoke".

[Warrior193]

Topped up twice? - say 0.5 litre each top up, therefore 1.0 litres of oil used in 1500 miles. IIRC, VAG would try to claim that's 'within normal use' figures and refuse to fix anything under warranty 😒