The petrol engine on my 5 1/2 year old Passat uses about 1ltr of oil every 2 to 3 months. I do about 8.000 miles a year, mostly 7 mile runs to work. The car has covered just over 40,000 miles now and has always been serviced at a VW dealer.
Is this normal?
Prior to the Passat I had a 15 year old 1.3 petrol Golf with 60,000 miles on the clock that never used a drop. Why?
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uses about 1ltr of oil every 2 to 3 months.
Approx how many miles is that?
Prior to the Passat I had a 15 year old 1.3 petrol Golf with 60,000 miles on the clock that never used a drop. Why?
Modern engines have tighter tollerances, and because of this can be known to use a drop of oil. More so if the manufacturers first fill of oil is changed too early.
See the last paragraph of HJ's FAQ no.16
www.honestjohn.co.uk/faq/faq.htm?id=13
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Thanks DD.
A bit late for me to apply to the Passat now but interesting nonetheless.
In two to three months I would cover 1,500 to 2,000 miles and use approx 1 to 2 litres of oil. It's always done it. No blue smoke or anything and it runs fine as far as I can see but I just wondered if this is normal for that engine.
I honestly can't ever remember topping the Golf up in five years doing a similar mileage..
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SWMBO bought a Toyota Paseo that was 18 months old and had 20k on clock - that used oil from day one - no rhyme or reason - sometimes it wouldn't use any for a month and next week it had lost half a pint - Toyota couldn't find a problem and car never caused a problem - just needed to keep eye on oil level - no smoke on startup or while running - was a complete mystery - the only plus point was when crank seal went behind flywheel just after guarantee ran out the dealer fixed it for free but it still drank oil.
It was a PITA though
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I used to own an Octavia with the VW 2 litre petrol engine. That used about 1 litre per 2000 miles.
I wasn't very happy with the situation, especially when the Skoda garage said I was lucky and most of these engines use 1 litre per 1000 miles.
If you search on the internet, you will find that this seems to be a very common problem on these engines - although the garage called it a characteristic.
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son is a vw technician (mechanic) says oil use in 2.0lt petrol is common, no cure. jag.
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If VW [and others] weren't so stupid as to try and run-in their engines on fully-synth, then they wouldn't have this very common problem.
If the rings haven't bedded-in by 500 miles - then they never will. Fully-synth is far too good at preventing ring-to-bore contact to allow proper ring bedding.
It should always be 1000 varied miles on a good mineral oil - then put the long-life 0W-30 in. This problem just needn't exist.
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If VW [and others] weren't so stupid as to try and run-in their engines on fully-synth then they wouldn't have this very common problem.
Firstly, I think you are absolutely right. But this can only apply to the petrol engines, as the PD diesel engines must have a high spec synthetic oil from day 1 to protect the very stressed camshafts on these engines, which also drive the unit-injector pumps.
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I would also agree with Screwloose's analysis of this problem - ring bedding is a critical process which absolutely requires a degree of wear (polite term for bedding in). Unlike the surfaces in a rolling bearing or in a diesel fuel pump which are lapped, engine bores are deliberately left rough by a honing process in order to retain oil.
The PD engines are almost always supplied with an initial fill of fully synthetic oil to give the longest time/distance interval to the first service. This is a marketing requirement which mitigates against good bedding in. I bought my PD just after its first service at 21k miles and I suspect it was used as a repmobile - not very considerately driven. Probably because of harsh treatment and an oil change "on the limit" it's one of the very few PDs I've seen which uses virtually no oil - still on the top mark after 8k miles of hard but considerate use.
VW have a real problem matching their engineering needs to the requirements of the market place and this is a good example of this. Their literature and servicing schedules are an absolute model of confusion (dealers were putting the wrong oil in PD engines initially, and owners didn't know whether their engines were PDs or not) and a potentially good product has suffered as a result.
659.
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My 1.9 pd has used 1 litre in the last 19k miles. Its had hard use for most of its 40k miles.
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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My MK3 Golf AGG 2L engine at 180,000 miles consumes 1 litre of 5-50 FS oil per 10,000 miles. Office Golf MK4 2L engine at 40,000 miles consumes 1 Litre of VW oil every 1000 miles. There was some talk on USA web sites that some engines had their control oil rings fitted upside down!
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This was a problem with the 1500/1750 Maxi/Allegro engines. It was caused by drivers being over cautious when running in. It caused the cylinders to become 'glazed' and there was no quick fix to solve it. The only way it was cured (and I've done many of them in the distant past) was to strip the engine down - including removal of the pistons and run a glaze buster down the bores. Re-fit pistons with new rings and re-assemble. Do not run engine in aftrer this has been done and the chances are it will use virtually nil oil. My old Allegro did 300 miles to 1 pint of oil religiously. When I stripped & rebuilt it never used a drop between oil changes. Depends how much work you want to do to overcome the problem and whether putting oil in every so often is that concerning to you.
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These are the views of Robin the Technician with 35 years in the trade. I fix, therefore I am...
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Oh well according to my maths I'm paying about 98p to £1.00 a litre (of oil and petrol) instead of 93.5p.
Not the end of the world I suppose given everything that's going on!
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I would be highly 'wazed off 'with this , it is apalling for you, and the planet.
Modern engines should use nil oil between changes. my old bangers were better than that. Also my 2l Duratec uses no oil between yearly changes(10K )
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My fathers March 2001 2l 8v Skoda Octavia auto does not require topping up between services (6-7k ish /1 year). He knows someone who had a Golf of the same vintage with the same 2l 8v engine that guzzled oil. Was this because Skoda didn't use the new long-life oil at the time? The Skodas service interval was 10k or 1year, had VW moved onto variable servicing by then ?
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This was a problem with the 1500/1750 Maxi/Allegro engines. It was caused by drivers being over cautious when running in.
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I think this is the same problem with many diesels especially VaG PD units. This is why they take 10K of hard driving to truly bed them in. I'mk on my 3rd PD-engined car and it is a pain, because I dont do a 200 mile motorway thrash every other day, so it takes months to run them in ! And woe-betide anyone who buys one of these and drives ultra carfully for the first few 1000 miles.
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My ZX 1.9TD requires no oil at all between changes (every 6k / 3 months) and its on 109k, roughly 12 years old. Using 1L of oil per 1,000 miles in a huge amount IMO.
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