Losing Oil

[alb]

Hi

Having a bit of a problem with my 1.4 at the minute, it seems to be going through oil very quickly. I filled it up about 6 weeks ago with 2.5 litres and when i checked it today it was below the minimum marker.
I've had a look in the garage and i cant see any oil marks on the floor, so im thinking it may be either leaking out whilst the engine is running, or being burnt somewhere. Is there any way i can check this?
I've checked around and i cant see any oil leaks in the engine bay, but the engine has the plastic cover on it so i will have to wait till the weekend and take that off and have a look under there.
I've also checked the dipstick and under the oil cap and i cant see any of the mayonaise type gunk round there so hopefully it isnt the head gasket.

The only other problem im having is that the car seems to be using a lot of pertrol (about 260 miles per full tank of normal unleaded), but i assumed that this was the lambda sensor. Could these problems be related???

Thanks in advance,
Dan

 

[Saul]

quite possibly, any smoke on acceleration or idle?

what year/mileage?

any warnging lights on the dash?

 

[alb]

No smoke that ive noticed, seems to run ok aswell. its a 1999 1.4, about 75k at the minute. The only warning light ive ever seen is the oil light when its running a bit low. any ideas??

Dan

 

[goble]

these older motors are prone to piston slap on cold startup so wouldnt surprise me if it was burning it off SLOWLY.
the problem of it burning too much fuel is probably caused by the above as the car is probably in limp mode which is caused by as you say lambda probe, which by now is totally contaminated and no longer reading anything. get in plugged in to get diagnosed correctly and carry out an oil consumtion test. i.e fill to the correct mark note the mileage and recheck it in 1,000 miles

 

[alb]

I checked tonight and i cant see any smoke coming from the engine or exhaust on acceleration or idle.

these older motors are prone to piston slap on cold startup so wouldnt surprise me if it was burning it off SLOWLY.
the problem of it burning too much fuel is probably caused by the above as the car is probably in limp mode which is caused by as you say lambda probe, which by now is totally contaminated and no longer reading anything. get in plugged in to get diagnosed correctly and carry out an oil consumtion test. i.e fill to the correct mark note the mileage and recheck it in 1,000 miles

Thanks for the replies!
Ok, so if the lambda sensor is knackered, would changing it likely fix the oil consumption aswell, or are they 2 separate problems?
If i am going to get it diagnosed, would it need the specialist VAG system, or would any garage be able to plug it in via the connector behind the drivers side glove box?
Also, is there any way i can prevent the piston slap? tbh im not really sure what that is im a bit of a novice when it comes to engines

thanks again,
Dan

 

[goble]

no oil will still burn

 

[alb]

so there is likely to be no way to stop it using so much oil?
Will the oil be burning as appose to leaking? as i cant see any smoke from the engine/exhaust (but then again i cant see any leaks either)

thanks,
Dan

 

[goble]

yer it will be burning it off slowly

 

[crezz]

rub you finger inside the exhaust tip, if it smells like oil, your burning it. my old ibiza was like it. i think it was the valve stem oil seals. i used a slightly higher rated oil. went from 10-40 to a 15-40, seem to help a bit