VW - 1.9 TDI oil 'gulp'/sudden drop in oil level

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Mon 6 Aug 2012 13:06
VW - 1.9 TDI oil 'gulp'/sudden drop in oil level - cws

I'm now on my second VW 1.9 TDI and one thing I've noticed with both engines is that they gulp oil (ie in the 'check' area of the disptick, the level drops by 25-35%) every so often, and then use none for a while...and so on. It seems to be irrespective of oil type used (viscosity or brand) and irrespective of how the car is driven.

It doesn't concern me and oil use is not excessive, just wondering why this happens?

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Mon 6 Aug 2012 17:25
VW - 1.9 TDI oil 'gulp'/sudden drop in oil level - Peter.N.

Are you always checking the oil with the car level and sometime after you have stopped?

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Tue 7 Aug 2012 09:08
VW - 1.9 TDI oil 'gulp'/sudden drop in oil level - cws

I always check the oil level when an engine is stone-cold ie after it's been left overnight, and on level ground.

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Tue 7 Aug 2012 11:32
VW - 1.9 TDI oil 'gulp'/sudden drop in oil level - Big John

My Skoda Superb 1.9pd has alway "gulped" oil after a service. The level drops rapidly from the top marker on the dipstick to about midway - fine after that though.

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Tue 7 Aug 2012 14:06
VW - 1.9 TDI oil 'gulp'/sudden drop in oil level - smb1

See if there is oil in the intercooler pipe and/or take the pipe of the turbo and see if there is oil, if so then it could indicate the turbo is on its way out.

If you can get at the turbo see if there is any play on the shaft, if so you probably need to change, quite often you don't need a complete turbo you can normally buy the centre housing with new bearings and shaft.

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Tue 7 Aug 2012 16:15
VW - 1.9 TDI oil 'gulp'/sudden drop in oil level - cws

I'm not convinced there are any problems, as I had exactly the same on a previous VAG TDI. I bought the car (an Audi A3 1.9TDI) at 88K and up until I changed the head (after a snapped cam belt) at 210K, it gulped oil with no other issues. Oddly when I changed (only) the head, the gulping stopped. So now my Passat 1.9 TDI is doing the same, I'm not so much worried as more intrigued (I also know someone who had a Golf Mk5 1.9TDI from new which gulped oil periodically as well!).

Could it be to do with how the engines are run-in ie driving style from new?

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Tue 7 Aug 2012 20:02
VW - 1.9 TDI oil 'gulp'/sudden drop in oil level - madf

As I understand it, the new engines are filled with synthetic oil so mimsing when new will lead to glazed bores and high oil consumption.

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