Because of the independant service, i wouldn't imagine you'd have any success with hyundai. How long ago was that service done?, as it seems unlikely that you could lose all the oil without noticing it?. What i am wondering i guess, is, did your indy put the sump plug back on properly?.

And yes, 3 litres seems to be pretty much all of it!.

Thanks for the replies folks.

The indy is a very good one, and regularly wins the national top technician awards and even officially services electric vehicles with various makes, as we're well off the beaten track here.

As stated, we should have checked more regularly - we used to, but sometimes life gets busy and things get squeezed out. Won't get caught out again though and a painful reminder not to overlook the basics!

You can't burn that much oil without smoke or leak that much without signs of leakage - I'd say the issue was almost certainly serious under-filling at the previous service.

Being a Scot who checks he gets what he pays for, I always checked oil after a service - to make sure it had been changed...(colour)

My daughter recently had a problem with her Peugeot 107 failing to start. Turned out to be a duff battery but RAC tech also pointed out that oil level was very low. She's living with in laws at moment and FIL had a can of suitable stuff in his garage from which they topped it up.

Says no sign of any leaks - I've sent her You Tube vid on how to change oil so she can see both plug and filter. No drips there and nothing to suggest leakage from gaskets etc. Working supposition is that local indy who serviced it drew too little from bulk supply and underfilled. It's another engine with only 3 litres to fill.

Son has same model and it definitely uses a bit between services. I have repeatedly tried to din into him need to check dipstick regularly but he's got to funny noises/low oil warning at least twice.

Couple of weeks ago I was chatting to a couple I was housemates with back in 81/82. They related their Austin Allegro c1986 that needed topping up during any long journey. That of course prompted me to mention son's overlooking of routine checks that were ingrained in my generation. Think I may have mildly offended; both admitted they'd not know where to look for dipstick on their Mazda or Jazz.

Fortunately VAG cars stil have a proper dipstick, instead of one of those vaguely-calibrated screen displays hidden in a sub-sub menu, as with Volvos and BMWs.

Sadly that's no longer true - the Audi/Porsche/VW 3.0 V6 TDI originally had a dipstick but soon replaced by an electronic sensor - for a while the plug could be removed and a dipstick bought from a dealer - but recent versions no longer have the boss to fit a dipstick.

The sensor and display has no way of showing overfills.

Interesting postscript to me vowing to maintain a main dealer service history to keep the warranty going.

Just had my Jeep serviced at the usual flagship glass palace, an 'intermediate' service. Was promised they would update any software and also asked them to investigate a slow puncture as sometimes the TPMS systems can be damaged when disturbed, so they would replace it under warranty if broken.

Fixed price was quoted at £229, fairly reasonable as they have to make their money somewhere. Turns out this doesn't even include an oil change - what kind of service is that?! So, paid another £45 to get the oil done.

Upon collection they had looked at the wrong tyre and found no fault, despite the specific tyre being recorded on the service sheet, and they hadn't any replacement valves in stock anyway (I booked it in over a month ago).

They couldn't do the software/maps update as promised because they haven't got a fast enough internet connection and it would be chargeable because it takes so long...

To cap it all, they'd pumped up three of the tyres to 10psi above the recommended levels and one to nearly 20psi higher than the book.

That's why I stopped using main dealers - coffee was truly excellent though!