oil confusion

[jimgironde]

this is not about oil dipstick confusion or long term oil consumption, been there!!

My 140 tdi is 20 months old with 19k on clock. It had oil changed at 10k and I have only used 1 ltr of oil from new.
The oil level warning light came on last week and I opened a new bottle of oil but didn't put much in (it cost £15 and the car is being serviced in a weeks time!).
50 miles later the light came on again so put some more in. The light came on again 80 miles later and I topped it up again.
I have since done 300 miles, no oil leaks, dipstick reads max and light hasn't come on again.
Has anyone come across this? It is almost as though the light will come on when on minimum but will keep coming on until you fill it up to max

[PeterPassat]

Sorry but never happened to me - yet!

Best of luck.

[dieseljames]

I've had the warning light come on....to find out that it was just over half full (checked once cooled) I drove it about again just to check and no warning lights came on so I topped it up to the max anyway and assumed it was just a glitch, it has been fine since (few months).

[Quatrelle]

jimgironde - I hate to offer this again, but would it have been worth disconnecting/reconnecting the battery?

[jimgironde]

Quatrelle, I assume that would clear any rogue repetitive messages?

I am not 100% convinced with VW warning systems. I had rogue warnings on my tyre pressure monitor on 2 occassions in a matter of days a few months back, the pressures were ok. It happened again a week later but the warning light would not reset and stayed on. Popped it into the main dealer and they hooked it up to a computer and forced it to reset. I asked what was wrong with it and they said nothing, I asked them why it had given false warnings and they just stared at me blankly!!!

[dieseljames]

rogue warnings on my tyre pressure monitor

i once had a renault that religiously screamed at me to stop the car IMMEDIATELY for having flat tyres.......erm no! The sensors were famous for being wrong and as they are part of the tyre valve were often placed on the wrong corner when having tyres re-fitted.

I think cars are trying to be too sci-fi these days and it takes the responsibility away from the driver. What happened to a good old fashioned kick of the tyres! or the weekly check of the dipstick! I'm sure it cant be too long until someone tries to claim against a manufacturer for something pathetic like ESP "didnt save my life" or whatever.

Has anyone heard the one about the guy in the Winnebago RV with the cruise control?..its probably a fake but it made me chuckle!

[Quatrelle]

A battery disconnect would certainly be my first check, even though I've got an extended VW guarantee - it might save me a trip to the dealer - and if the fault reappeared would then indicate that perhaps it was a genuine warning. It's no different to rebooting a pc.

I wouldn't be in the least surprised if the cruise control story was true - it was America, after all, where they put warnings on rear view mirrors saying that objects could be closer than they look, and where Macdonalds started putting 'Warning, contains hot liquid' on their coffee cups. You've only got to read the Passat driver's handbook to see where we've got.... I've got the driver's handbook for my 1977 US-spec. MGB, and they wouldn't dare print anything like that now.

[PeterPassat]

A battery disconnect would certainly be my first check, even though I've got an extended VW guarantee - it might save me a trip to the dealer - and if the fault reappeared would then indicate that perhaps it was a genuine warning. It's no different to rebooting a pc.

.

Go for the battery disconnect - I do it about once a month for 1/2 an hour then reconnect, to clear all the c**p, it works wonders.