Hi All

 

Just casting around for ideas and options for this old problem.

I have just bought a 2010 Octavia estate. 66k miles, one owner, FSH. Not a mark on it. Immaculate interior. Nothing on the whole history of MOT tests except a pitted brake disc. This is the type of car I usually go for. I hold my hand up to not doing enough research, but the cam tensioner fell off my A4 TDi, so needed a car quite quickly. I bought it from a dealer in Gloucester for what was probably a high price....£5K

After 300 miles the oil light came on. I topped it up hoping they'd overlooked this at the dealer. Unfortunately, after another 300 miles the light came on again. The exhaust is sooty.

I called the dealer. The dealer said get a 'diagnostic test'  and call the warranty company. The warranty company said it was a pre-existing issue and is not covered. The plan only covered £1000 including VAT and didn't include the cost of a diagnostic test anyway.

What should I do? Essentially, I have to put oil in at every tank fill up. Even if I suck up the cost of the oil, I can't help but think that this is a bad thing for the engine/exhaust system.

Should I push to return the vehicle or, ask them to pay to remedy the problem? I imagine this is an engine rebuild.

I am trying to contact the previous owners to see if they got rid of it because of the oil issue.

The dealer said they'll call me, but they haven't

 

Any thoughts?

 

 

 

 

My immediate reaction is, what engine are we talking about here? 2010 Octavia Estate is NOT enough information!

Welcome.

 

You have not said what engine the car has.   Is it a TDI.

 

You posted in the Fabia Section.

 

If it is a 2.0 TSI Octavia look at the pinned thread at the top of the section.

You will see why they might say a 'Known issue'.    

 

If they mean in General then they knew before the Warranty was bought.  If they mean your particular car, same thing. 

Edited 30 March, 20242 yr by Rooted

Apologies 1.8TSi

Same thing then.

 

Pinned thread on 1.8 TSI & 2.0 TSI and the engine issues, top of Octavia Mk2 section. 

Low mileage cars are a bad buy, you pay twice as much for half the car, the bores will be glazed from lack of use, hence the oil consumption.

 

Silly people run cars in wrong, you need to spank them from the off to get a good bore/ring seal.

In this case of Euro 5 1.8 & 2.0 TSI,s it was more than just silly people.  It was silly VW Group engineers.   Very much a known issue even while cars were well within the manufacturers warranty period.

http://briskoda.net/forums/topic/266114-18tsi-and-20tsi-engine-failures/page/76

 

 

 

Edited 30 March, 20242 yr by Rooted

Christ, an EVERYTHING thread! Hurts my eyes looking at all the rampant speculation in there...

 

In all the years I've worked on engines, on everything from the 1960's onwards there were always engines which had been driven far too gently early in their lives which drank oil badly. In fact I had one, a little old lady's 1.4 16V Fabia which was terrible. The only thing that fixed it was ruthless spanking for thousands of miles until the piston rings wore down enough to start sealing properly. It's quicker and easier on turbo engines because of the higher cylinder pressures on full boost.

 

Either keep the car and start spanking it or throw it back where it came from and ask for a refund.

 

If I had a penny for every time this happens I'd have a few Bob by now but it bears repeating: NEVER buy a low mileage car, it's ALWAYS better to buy a high mileage car in immaculate condition with a full history.

9 minutes ago, sepulchrave said:

 

If I had a penny for every time this happens I'd have a few Bob by now but it bears repeating: NEVER buy a low mileage car, it's ALWAYS better to buy a high mileage car in immaculate condition with a full history.

even worse(unless you are aware if what needs doing/additional checking). 

Buying a low mileage older car where rubber stuff etc  has been deteriorating quietly underneath due to lack of use.

Reject the car - https://www.theaa.com/car-buying/legal-rights

agree with bigjohn and reject the car as the 1.8tsi are known to have piston ring issues causing high oil consuption

 

you are lucky you have bought it from a dealer and not priviately as you will be protected by consumer rights

 

 

Thanks for all of the replies.

 

I can take being admonished, (doing it myself, don't worry), but low mileage, older cars have been fine for me over the last 30 years. Usually it's a window motor or blower actuator that goes....engines and gearboxes fine.

 

In an effort to find out whether the dealer knew about the oil consumption, I tracked down the previous, and only, owner. We had a long chat. He said he had always added half a litre every 2000 miles. He also said he wasn't particularly gentle with it, and liked the top-end kick. He didn't tell the dealer about the oil as he didn't think it was too much. A VW dealer gave him 3K for it. I guess they then passed it to the small dealer I bought it from.

 

I notice that the consumption isn't quite as bad when driving locally (550 miles from max stick to oil light coming on). This drops significantly on dual carriageway miles (75-80mph).

 

The 3 month Warranty (backed by The Stig, no less!😀), doesn't cover high oil consumption, just as it doesn't cover much else!

 

I'll quote the Consumer Act (thanks bigjohn), to the dealer. I guess they didn't know about the issue, but given the nature of the fault, it makes the car unfit for use. If it was a wheel bearing, suspension bush or clutch, then that's an acceptable part of buying a second hand car, but the fix for this issue is potentially the value of the car, and given that it is definitely not anymore a pint every 2000 miles, it will need addressing sooner than later.

 

I imagine it won't be long before a black box can tell you the car's complete history of revs, speed, cornering and braking Gs, and radio listening habits. Although, even if it does it won't stop engine designers getting it wrong sometimes.

 

 

They can tell you all that now when the ECU is integrated. As happens when there are fatalities.