Does anyone have any experience of the oil consumption of a Golf TDI.
My wife's car (9 months old) has just required 2.5 litres of oil after 12,000 miles. (I work overseas so the oil level had not been checked - and the wife is not very mechanical!)
The low oil level was only recognised when the low oil warning light came on and it then required 2.5 litres to get back to the full level - or so I am told.
Would any damage have been done by letting the oil get this low?
Edited by Dynamic Dave on 26/09/2009 at 21:53
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A while ago there was a warning on this site about lease car drivers getting the bill for new engines if they hadn't checked the oil.
I mentioned this to my brother who has the TDI130 Golf. He discovered that the level had gone from Max to well below Min even though there was ages to go before the next service (another top tip from this site!). This is one of the newer models so the service intervals are a long way apart. If you ask the leasing companies to service lower mileage ones more often they refuse. Does this make them a poor investment second-hand?
As to whether you have damaged the engine, most engines have a sump capacity of 4-5 litres, so you didn't have a lot left in there. I'd make sure you are extra-careful with servicing in future.
Chris
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VW tdi engines vary considerably in their oil consumption depending on how the engines are treated for the first 5/6,000 miles. Actually your consumption is not too bad; some engines can use as much as a litre every 1000 miles!
Probably no damage has been done but be absolutely certain that the correct oil has been used for topping up. The whole question of oil type for VW diesel engines is a very fraught one. The engine is probably a pdi type (pump duse); oil spec VW 505.01 MUST be used - which engine is it? If the oil was topped up by a VW dealer then they will hopefully have used the correct oil.
There has been considerable discussion in this forum about VW oil types and oil consumption. If you do a search you should find loads of info.
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My wife\'s 110 TDI is 4yrs old and 55000 miles. The oil is regularly checked and has never needed any sort of top up. Treated really gently at first and progressively increased revs and throttle openings/loading over first 3000 miles. It\'s not a PD but that should make no difference. However I suspect VW will read from the well worn sheet if you complain. i.e. \"thats well within tolerance sir\"---isn\'t it always.
PS I\'d make damned sure it really needed those two and a half litres too much could do lots of damage.I have a friend with a Mk three whose light comes on from time to time for no reason.
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My Golf 110TDi's done 22k miles in 2 1/2 years and has only needed about a litre of top up in total over this distance.
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Excuse me for being technically inept, but why does too much oil in the engine cause lots of damage? I recently topped up my 406HDi with oil, and when I checked the dipstick, it was very slighty above the maximum marker.
Have I done wrong??
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Slightly over is noting to worry about. A lot over and it starts to leak out of all the seals, as you can get wrong pressures all over the place. Very far over the top and you can get 'hydraulic lock' in parts of the engine where there is supposed to be an air space and there isn't - and this will break things!
BTW my mates A4 TDi 130 has done about 75k miles and not needed any oil between (approx 25k mile) services - much to the surprise of the garage technicians! Mind you my 95 Xantia TD doesn't use any oil either at 85k, and neither did my BX TD until the head gasket started to leak it all down the back of the block at 120k - and this is progress????
Richard
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I'm currently running an A2 with the 1.4 Tdi VAG engine. In 4,000 miles of my ownership (currently on 8,000) it's used less than a litre. This is less than I expected as I know from experience that new engines are prone to using some oil. At least the service flap on the A2 makes checking the oil a simple job!
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Re overfilling a diesel, if it is very over full then the lubricating oil can get into the combustion chambers, where it burns, and you then have no control over engine rpm as the presence of the oil is not being controlled by the throttle. I understand the engine can 'runaway' and self destruct or is this just another urban myth?
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Overfilling with engine oil can destroy an engine. A well known example was the BMC 1800 (nickname land crab). It was found that if you overfilled the sump even by a small amount the crankshaft hit the top of the oil in the sump, aerating it, and turning it into foam, result good-bye bearings. The factory cure was to move the marks on the dipstick.
I have seen a Golf self-destruct on Wimbledon Park Side, smoke as thick as smog, sky high rpm, and the driver standing at least 5 yards away unable to get closer or do anything. Thank goodness it was not in gear!
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Apparently they are considering making it part of the driving test that you know how to check a few basic under-bonnet things like the oil level. Everyone should check their car's oil level regularly - it's simply asking for trouble to leave it to the garage at each 10,000 mile service. If the oil pressure warning light comes on whilst driving then the engine's probably already sustained some damage.
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Is it true that all the best engines will use a bit of oil or is that a load of old pony.
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I'm not sure what you mean by 'best engines'. All I know is that of the 20+ cars I have owned/driven/serviced on behalf of family, the only ones to have used oil have lost it via seals somewhere. My current 306 HDI has Castrol 10/30 which has not moved from the top mark in 4000 miles (car has now done 28K).
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Yes, undoubtedly it is a characteristic of VAG TDI engines to consume oil, at least in the first few thousand miles. This should be well documented in the car's handbook.
I had a company A4 TDI back in 1997 and had the same rate of oil consumption (if not higher) as the originator of this thread and too needed about 2 litres of oil before the oil pressure light came on to warn me. I recently heard that it was still going strong in the company fleet. However I don't know its mileage or whether it's had any engine repairs! Only time will tell if any long lasting damage has been done.
I believe that one of the risks of overfilling is damage to the catalyst.
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Diesel boy asked the question which was on my lips (eg what damage can overfilling with oil do) but the difference is that he had the courage to ask whereas I didn't!
My newly acquired second hand Saab 9-3 Tid warns stridently in the handbbok about overflling with oil and places disproportionately large signs all over the engine compartment and elsewhere about the dangers of doing so. No info about the consequences however.
Thanks for the backroom advice/knowledge and also for tolerating us less mechanically knowledged equipped people in backroomland.
Saab is nice, Saab is different and Saab is Swedish !
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As mentioned above, one of the consequences of overfilling with oil is that it can lead to unburnt oil being blown through to the Cat with expensive results
as for VW oil consumption, my 2 litre petrol can do thousands of motorway miles and not use a drop, but in 600 miles of commuting, which might be 3/4 weeks, can easily use a litre.
I have to grow old - but I don't have to grow up
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navillus - what model is the golf ?
the reason why I ask is that recently my 10 month old GT TDI threw up a warning message "Check Oil Level". It only required .25 ltr to get it back to an acceptable level.
Just curious how 2.5 ltr can be used without the level warning coming on (assuming the cars got one) ?
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The reason for not overfilling a diesel engine with lube oil is that the engine can run on engine oil - so if it has too much in the sump, it can carry it across the breather system and the engine will run away and destruct itself, as there is no fuel governing.....
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Have had two TDI engined cars. Both used oil in first 6 months and then after first service I never needed to add a drop over 200K miles.
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My 97 R A4 TDi 110 at 70000 miles uses a litre every 2500 miles
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I've been told the oil consumption on PD TDI can vary between servicing.
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Six and a half years later, they're probably married with kids at school!
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