Top Up Oil on a new diesel 2.0 ?

[VolksGolf]

Just a quick question. I've done best part of 3000 miles in 2 months. Regularly checked the oil and its not dropped. All previous new cars i've owned (including a Mk V 2.0 TDi 2004 MY) have used the best part of 1L per 1000 miles for the first few 1000's of miles. Has something changed? Are they running in the engines straight after engine build?

I'd appreciate other people's experience's as instinct tells me, I need to keep checking the oil in these formative miles despite no drop in level.

How much oil has your 2.0 diesel used in the early miles?

[Jacktherat]

My previous Golf V GT 170 PD used roughly 1 litre of oil every 2500 miles over the 3 years I had it which was deemed acceptable by the dealer.

My present Scirocco TDI 140 CR has used only 0.5 litre in nearly 10K miles and both cars were bought new and 'run in' the same way.........in the first 3K miles, no over revving while cold, no harsh acceleration, kept the maximum road speed to about 75 MPH/2000 RPM.

My regime for checking the oil level is to do it on level ground after the engine has been idle for at least an hour and that's after the engine has been up to temperature so that 99% of it has drained back to the sump.

I've got to say the CR engine is like night and day compared to the PDs performance-wise.

[Keithuk]

Well I have the litre of oil they gave me and I've used 200ml in the first 2k since then it hasn't used any its now done 4.6k. In theory the oil consumption should drop as the engine beds in. I'm told that they take a long time to bed in. I've read 10k and I've read 25k before they loosen up.

Now as for acceptable oil consumption that will vary depending on manufacturer. Now it used to be 1 pint per 1000 mile but we are metric for a lot of measurements so half a litre per 1000 mile is perfectly normal. If it doesn't use any oil then its time to worry. ;)

[JimC64]

Jeeesh, using oil / not using oil:aargh4:...lol

Ok, here's my tuppence worth.
07 plate brand new A6 2.0 tdi now covered 77k miles approx. I found that from early on I was using oil at the rate of about 500ml every 3-4 k miles or so...that eased off at about 14k miles and now needs a top up only every now and again!
Its quite an expensive top up too over a period of time, they don't tell you that when you buy the car new!!!

I used to run Ford Mondeos for many years before that and had around 4 or 5 of them. Typically, I got it from new and as an area sales manager I travelled approx 50k miles per year, so they'd go back after 3 years usually with around 160k miles, maybe a little more sometimes.
In ALL of that time, with every one of them I never, ever at ay time had to top up the oil.....EVER!
To the point where I almost stopped checking fluid levels.

Anyhow, for what its worth thats my experience

[Keithuk]

Well a friend of mine had a 2 year old Jetta TDI and he used to keep a gallon of oil in the boot for topping up. He is a rep so it came from the pool cars. It had done 75k. ;)

[noonoo63]

Well I have the litre of oil they gave me and I've used 200ml in the first 2k since then it hasn't used any its now done 4.6k. In theory the oil consumption should drop as the engine beds in. I'm told that they take a long time to bed in. I've read 10k and I've read 25k before they loosen up.

Now as for acceptable oil consumption that will vary depending on manufacturer. Now it used to be 1 pint per 1000 mile but we are metric for a lot of measurements so half a litre per 1000 mile is perfectly normal. If it doesn't use any oil then its time to worry. ;)
As per JimC64 why would you have to worry if your car did not use any oil? I have had many cars and none of them needed oil between services. They were all checked fortnightly and never needed a drop of oil and this is going back to the 70's.......ahh memories of youth lol.

[Keithuk]

As per JimC64 why would you have to worry if your car did not use any oil?
Because engines are designed to use some oil as oil moves up around the piston rings because they have gaps in them. Its an oil control ring not an oil scraper ring. The valve guides have seals on them to reduce the amount of oil that is sucked down and in to the engine on induction else the valves would seize in the guides. All this over a long period of time will need topping up.

The reason why oil consumption gets better from new as the oil lies in the minute imperfections on the cylinder bore. As the engine beds in these are slowly rubbed/polished off so they don't hold as much oil so it doesn't get burnt in combustion. This rough surface helps the rings wear in to the cylinder. ;)

[JimC64]

Thanks for that Keith:beerchug:


Because engines are designed to use some oil as oil moves up around the piston rings because they have gaps in them. Its an oil control ring not an oil scraper ring. The valve guides have seals on them to reduce the amount of oil that is sucked down and in to the engine on induction else the valves would seize in the guides. All this over a long period of time will need topping up.
URGENT - Someone needs to get in touch with Ford real quick and tell them this. They've really messed up somewhere along the way:(
I had probably around 6 Mondeos, maybe more and none of them used any oil practically...never, not a drop between services!
They must be doing sumthin wrong or the designers have coc ked up!!:D

The reason why oil consumption gets better from new as the oil lies in the minute imperfections on the cylinder bore. As the engine beds in these are slowly rubbed/polished off so they don't hold as much oil so it doesn't get burnt in combustion. This rough surface helps the rings wear in to the cylinder. ;)

I still think that Audi may have shares in the Castrol company, or that German engineering is not as good as American engineering? Is this possible??
My car used a small fortune in oil from day one, and even at 77k miles politely requested that I deposit yet another £15 of expensive oil into her.

Just seems strange to me that some companies get it so right and some wrong. You'd think that after all these years in the automotive industry they'd have things like this sussed......Am I alone in these thoughts??

[Gerryf]

I haven't put any oil in any of the cars I drove since 1998 :confused:.....I kid you not.

[noonoo63]

QUOTE=Keithuk;578028]Because engines are designed to use some oil as oil moves up around the piston rings because they have gaps in them. Its an oil control ring not an oil scraper ring. The valve guides have seals on them to reduce the amount of oil that is sucked down and in to the engine on induction else the valves would seize in the guides. All this over a long period of time will need topping up.

The reason why oil consumption gets better from new as the oil lies in the minute imperfections on the cylinder bore. As the engine beds in these are slowly rubbed/polished off so they don't hold as much oil so it doesn't get burnt in combustion. This rough surface helps the rings wear in to the cylinder. ;)[/QUOTE]




Thanks Keith. You must be a mechanic lol:aargh4:

[Early-1800]

2.0 110 TDI SE is on 2nd 1litre bottle of oil used to keep level up to mark at 30+ odd K miles. Not too bad considering longish oil change intervals. Prob uses about the same as previous Ford and Renault Diesels @ half litre-ish per 10,000 miles

[Keithuk]

Thanks Keith. You must be a mechanic lol
Correct noonoo63, I'm a motor vehicle technician at a College.


2.0 110 TDI SE is on 2nd 1litre bottle of oil used to keep level up to mark at 30+ odd K miles. Not too bad considering longish oil change intervals.
Its on its second 1litre bottle of oil after 30k that isn't bad, thats how I read that.

So you have it set on the long life 20k service interval then? Is that by choice or how it was set from the factory? The service interval will depend on the type of driving you do.

I personally don't like these long life service intervals. I bet you are saying the price of this it can stop in for 20k? ;)

[Early-1800]

Yes not unhappy about the amount of oil need to top up. Prev Renault was on 2yrs/18,000 miles and read that some variable interval services like Diesel BMWs can go 25K+.

Think Ford/Peugoet/Vauxhall service at 12 months/12,000 mile is a good compromise.

My old Clio had only been in twice when it was 4+ years old and done 50 odd thousands miles.... doesn't feel right.

[DerekHago]

I have the same engine in a Passat saloon (set to long-life servicing).
I first topped the oil up at 13,500 miles (it's still saying my first service is due at 18,600 miles).

Regards

[Keithuk]

I have the same engine in a Passat saloon (set to long-life servicing).
I first topped the oil up at 13,500 miles (it's still saying my first service is due at 18,600 miles).
That seems a strange mileage Derek if its set to the long service interval.

Check your service schedule have a look at the sticker on the first page it will either say QG0, QG1 or QG2 in the code. The other part of this sticker is on the boot floor. I was told by a friend at work who used to work for VW.

QG2 = Longlife 20k
QG0/QG1 = T+D Time and Distance 10k

Now I've just been told on another forum that this is incorrect I shall have to check with my friend at work again.

QG0/QG1 = Longlife 20k
QG2 = T+D Time and Distance 10k

You can also check when its due for service with How to display the service reminder (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TaVr_OuVVyc) ;)

[DerekHago]

No, that's perfectly correct. The manual says that long-life is "between about 9000 and 18000 miles, depending on the driving style, but the computer calculates in kilometres". I make 18600 miles remarkably close to 30,000km, which I suspect is the top interval for long-life.
I'm chilled about it - it's counting down sensibly and will reach zero at some point :-)

[DerekHago]

KeithUK - I enjoyed the video you suggested I watch, if only for the guy's accent.

It took me a long time to understand that he was saying "Ask a VW sales guy", and whichever way I listen, I still think that instead of "Multi-function indicator" he says something beginning with "MotherF...."

Anyway, I do indeed have the motherfunction computer, and it's easy to see when the next service is doo. Sorry, I meant to say due...

[Keithuk]

The manual says that long-life is "between about 9000 and 18000 miles, depending on the driving style, but the computer calculates in kilometres".
But if you live in the UK it should calculate in miles not kilometres? I've just checked mine on the MFD and it says 4700 miles or 82 days which is correct as I have QG1 in the service schedule. I've done 4.7k at the moment so that will make it 9.4k which is close.

Yes the dialect is a bit strange in the video but its US. ;)

[VolksGolf]

Thanks for the replies and I think I'm reassured. However, I've noticed my MPG fall from 56 to 41 with no change in driving style over the mileage in the 2 months. This maybe (from my non technical mind) due to the cold weather over the last few weeks

[DerekHago]

I think all of us here are reporting lousy fuel consumption when it's cold, and I think that once one feels the car is run-in, one tends to be a little bit more, well, enthusiastic on motorway slip roads than when the car is new and the owner is cautious.

I've found my cruising MPG took until 10,000 miles to reach a plateau, and it's a lot better than it was with a new engine. The first mile with a cold engine, though, is spectacularly awful, and all urban driving is a bit of a disappointment compared to my previous 1999 TDI.

[DerekHago]

KeithUK writes "But if you live in the UK it should calculate in miles not kilometres? I've just checked mine on the MFD and it says 4700 miles or 82 days which is correct as I have QG1 in the service schedule. I've done 4.7k at the moment so that will make it 9.4k which is close."

What I said, or intended to say, was that the manual for car specifically states that Long Life servicing is between 9000 and 18000 miles, but not exactly, because the car calculates the distance in Km and displays it in miles.
Mine's telling me the first service is due at 18,600 miles, which is 30,000km.

Your car is telling you that your service is due at 9,400 miles. Well, that's pretty much 15,000 km exactly, not 10,000 miles roughly...

For those who didn't know, if you go to Google and in the search box type
15000 km in miles
it'll tell you :-)

[VolksGolf]

I think all of us here are reporting lousy fuel consumption when it's cold, and I think that once one feels the car is run-in, one tends to be a little bit more, well, enthusiastic on motorway slip roads than when the car is new and the owner is cautious.

I've found my cruising MPG took until 10,000 miles to reach a plateau, and it's a lot better than it was with a new engine. The first mile with a cold engine, though, is spectacularly awful, and all urban driving is a bit of a disappointment compared to my previous 1999 TDI.

Is a15MPG loss expected in the cold even on a new engine ?

[Jacktherat]

Is a15MPG loss expected in the cold even on a new engine ?

Headwinds are probably the biggest 'drag'.

Recently I drove from Edinburgh to Amesbury in torrential rain and high winds all the way and only managed overall 51ish MPG.
2 days later on the return leg, the wind had dropped but it was still pishing down, same road works through Birmingham etc and I managed 62+ MPG and that's at motorway speeds for 90% of the journey.

I don't honestly know if DPF re-generation would affect MPG either way.

[SC03OTT]

Is a15MPG loss expected in the cold even on a new engine ?

Is that your overall average loss for a tank, or just the loss for say 10 miles? My trip computer shows me to get roughly 45mpg on my 10 mile drive home during the summer. Yesterday, that same journey but in the cold was giving me 33mpg. I'm not panicking, as it's normal. The extra load on the car of the heating plus the heavier traffic as people try and get home before dark, combined with my already heavy right foot all contributes to that loss.

[VolksGolf]

15mpg loss over the time i've had the car

I use the calculations on the fuelly website but have not managed to link them to this website like some others

[Keithuk]

Mine's telling me the first service is due at 18,600 miles, which is 30,000km.

Your car is telling you that your service is due at 9,400 miles. Well, that's pretty much 15,000 km exactly, not 10,000 miles roughly...
Yes what I'm saying is we drive in the UK so everything is calculated in miles why are you converting everything to km's? ;)