2016 Leon Cupra 290 engine oil consumption

[Wrighty123]

I’ve owned a 2016 leon cupra 290 for about a month now, and yesterday the engine oil light has come on again!
I seem to get about 600miles / 1000km per 1 litre of oil, this seems quite rubbish.

I've checked the handguide and that says 0.5ltre per 1000km. So seems i’m consuming twice as much. No visible leaks and no exhaust smoke to indicate burning.

Anyone else had something similar?

 

[H Rafiq]

My 280 is similar. I’m on almost 114k miles… I found it consumed more oil when I had a stage 1 remap, and more fuel. Is your car stock? I’m thinking of swapping to 5W40 oil at next oil change this year. It is what it is I think. I think it’s normal. I don’t have any leaks or exhaust smoke either. I do have a res delete so there’s a bit of light clear smoke/steam on cold start, but nothing attributing to oil.

 

[Wrighty123]

It’s not been mapped as far as i’m aware, the garage said it had no modifications.

However it looks like whoever owned the car previously did mod it and put all the stock kit back on before selling, so wouldn’t be surprised if it’s been mapped

 

[H Rafiq]

Do you have anyone around you with a Cupra 5f? Could compare. Or take it to a mapper to check the ECU. Serviced recently?

 

[Wrighty123]

I know someone with a cupra 300, so i’m going to get in touch with him. But i reckon he has his mapped.

think i might try taking it to a mapper to check the ECU.

suppose i could time my 0-60 and compare to stock results but that doesn’t seem like a guarantee

 

[H Rafiq]

You could speak to the garages where it’s had prev services. They should have info on the car, and may know if it’s mapped. That’s what I did with my car. Seat branches very helpful in this respect. Gave me a heads-up on faults etc they noted in prev services.

 

[SuperV8]

Check your inlet pipes - any sign of oil?
If you don't have an external leak - high oil consumption could be turbo, PCV, valve stem seals or piston rings.
Some TDIs have piston ring issues which increase oil consumption - don't know if the EA888 also suffers? I think oil consumption can be fairly common on modern engines in an effort to use low tension piston rings to reduce friction, across many manufactures.

1L per 1000km is not normal though. Even the VW 'allowance' of 0.5L per 1000km is crap and not good.

 

[NotApplicable]

I’ve owned a 2016 leon cupra 290 for about a month now, and yesterday the engine oil light has come on again!
I seem to get about 600miles / 1000km per 1 litre of oil, this seems quite rubbish.

I've checked the handguide and that says 0.5ltre per 1000km. So seems i’m consuming twice as much. No visible leaks and no exhaust smoke to indicate burning.

Anyone else had something similar?

I think whether it has been mapped or not is a red herring, i.e. not really relevant. What would be more relevant is whether the previous owners had run the car at 100% all the time.
The oil must be going "somewhere".... only two places for it to go are: on the ground, out the exhaust pipe.
If it's losing oil when out driving, you might not see the leak. Does it leave any on the ground if left standing for a day or two?
The exhaust doesn't have to be significantly blue if its leaking through the turbo bearings. The smell would be a giveaway to an experienced mechanic.
I have a 2015 cupra 280 that leaks absolutely no oil between services and it has been Stage 2 remapped most of its life of 90k miles

 

[TheSwede]

My experience is that engine EA888 gen 3, as installed in Leon Cupra mk3, doesn’t consume much oil during normal road use.
Exception could be hard track use. I had a Golf R 2014 for 4 years, which didn’t consume much during normal daily use or Autobahn use. On the other hand the Golf R could consume 1 litre on a hot track day in the summer. Did also PCV valve replacements to newer versions (two times) on this car. It had minor impact.

Statistical basis

My own:
Seat Leon Cupra R 2018 310 now 30000 km on the ODO
VW Golf Alltrack 2018 (EA 888 1.8 TSI) 180 hp now 50000 km on the ODO
My sons:
Seat Leon Cupra ST 2019 (DPF) 300 soon 70000 km on the ODO

These cars consume about 0,2 – 0,5 litre between the oil changes. I change oil every 7000-10000 km instead of every 30000 km according to Long Life schedule. And - yes I know that many cars say Oil Service before 30000 km .

I don’t think the mapping have any impact in this matter but the usage pattern have.

PS If it's a leak you for sure will detect it! 1 litre is a big volume when poured onto the ground!