Check your oil level !

[Tam]

I know its been said before, but hopefully this will be a reminder for all.

Check your oil once in a while.!!

I've been quite slack checking my oil, mainly because its only 10,000 miles (or around 3 months usually!) between services and I've always been used to cars, which once the oil has reached the bottom of the dipstick, the oil light came on.

However .....
Oil light comes on, go check oil. Find no oil on dipstick at all,was expecting it to be at the bottom of it, fill up litre of oil, wait 30 mins, check dipstick, still nothing! Add another 1 litre wait 30 mins, still nothing!.. Drive it round the block a few times to warm it up, leave for 20 mins or so, check again, still no oil!
3rd litre gets it half way up the dipstick..


Yep thats right 3 litres of oil to get it back onto the dipstick!!!! The oil light isn't so much as a check oil as a "panic theres none left light!!"



Let this be a reminder to those who are slack in checking!.

 

[Ninja]

i know my cupra drinks a little oil so do tend to check regularly.. Worst ive seen (when i hadnt checked for months) was just over the minimum..

Cant beileve yours was off the stick though hope its not caused any other problems!

 

[daveyonthemove]

Out of interest, why did you wait 30 mins?

 

[Big_daddy]

It takes abit of time for the oil to sink into oil filter and turbo oil line i think

 

[Tam]

Out of interest, why did you wait 30 mins?

Dunno Just one of those things i was told as a kid that i've always kept to..

Stick the oil in, wait for it to pass through the engine to the sump. The dipstick is to measure the amount of oil in the sump, therefore wait for it to get there before measuring it.

it could of course be bollocks, but thats what i've kept to for the past 12 years or so

 

[Ninja]

i think when ive been checking and re-filling with oil it only takes like 5 minutes to register on the dipstick

 

[rpmleon]

Peeps.

It may sound anorakish but in the long run it can save you a "LOT" of money. Spend 5 minutes each week to cjeck the following:

1. ALL fluid levels. Oil, coolent, windscreen wash etc. Especially with the onset of winter. If the low Oil Warning light comes on it means that the car has already been running on levels which could damage the car (As I think proved by Tams experience with the amount of oil he had to put in before it registered on the dipstick again!).

2 Check all lights. Head, dip, side, brake and indicators. You may find the comment "It was working when I left the house officer" may not be believed every time.

3. Check tyre pressures and for signs of tyre damage or uneven wear. The ealier you find a problem the cheaper it can be to fix.

NEVER check the oil level immediately the car has stopped. Allow the oil to "settle" back in the sump first. ALWAYS check oil levels when the car is on a level surface!

5 minute weekly checks SAVE MONEY!!!!!

OK................... Anorack off now!!

RPM

 

[DanGB]

I found this on my TFSI last week, went to check it, and it was at the bottom of the dipstick, put a litre of oil in, and the dipstick is now 3/4 of the way up.

Check it quite regularly as well.

 

[Fishy]

Speaking with a service dept. when I bought my last batch of oil, they said that they expect about 1ltr of oil per 2500 miles on the TDI's.

I guess it all depends on how hard you drive it.

Fish

PS. Dont forget the cars will take longer to get up to normal working temp at this time of year.

 

[BanziBarn]

My TDI drinks oil. It wouldn't start the other day so I called green flag. While I was waiting for him I tried to start it again and that was when the oil light came on.

The guy got the car started and put it down to the low oil..... Is this a safety feature of the car?

Anyway, it only took 1L to get back up to the max mark - not 3L like mentioned above. So I don't think that oil light is very accurate, it appears that the point at which it comes on varies.

Trying to find the oil quoted in the manual is also very hard - there some kind of weird VW standard code? Anyway, I found some Castrol 10w40 with a VW code on the back although the manual says this code is for the 2.0tdi NON PDF. But all seems fine.

 

[Deleted member 23024]

If i remeber correctly the oil light is not an oil low light it actually refers to oil pressure low in which case the heads will not be getting enough oil to valves cams ect.

Thier are a couple of things that cause this.
1.) No oil for the pump to pick up
2.) Broken Pump
3.) Broken oil releif valve used when engine is cold.
4.) Wrong grade of oil ie to thin the the type of engine.

I would never recommend anyone waiting for the light to come on before filling up as the damage will probably started to happen

 

[johnbev]

Banzibarn, You should really put vw507 00 in a fr tdi dpf, its castrol edge 5w30, sold in halfords under petrol oils,for £13.99 but is correct suitable for petrol and diesel. most dealers use this too(including audi), also known as longlife. there are others like fuchs titan gti.

 

[alx_chung]

Checked the oil the other day in my car and I didn't need a top up yet (done 3K so far) but does anyone find it hard to read the markings on the dipstick as its black or is that just me?
Alex

 

[Havok316]

When i had my oil change it was 4.6 litres to put it on the max!

 

[Tam]

When i had my oil change it was 4.6 litres to put it on the max!

1.6 litres in it then

 

[BanziBarn]

Banzibarn, You should really put vw507 00 in a fr tdi dpf, its castrol edge 5w30, sold in halfords under petrol oils,for £13.99 but is correct suitable for petrol and diesel. most dealers use this too(including audi), also known as longlife. there are others like fuchs titan gti.

Thanks for this. When I bought the car they told me 10w40 which is what the oil I got was, so thought it was ok.

Why does the PDF and non PDF model use different oil, and what exactly is the difference?

 

[johnbev]

Dunno, I think its a bit of a scam personally. Its mentions dpf on castrol edge 5/30.
The cars at work (mod) astras/focus tdci/cdti`s are supposed to use special oils but we never use them they just use standard mineral oil, the same as trucks/coaches/tanks etc.
The cars are always overfull with oil but do in excess of 140k before we get em replaced(lex- leased) without any issues at all as far as I am aware.

 

[Jace]

My weekly checks are water, washer & oil, do it when I've washed her.

My Golf used to use more oil if I'd been doing long high speed runs, Leon hasnt moved yet........

 

[rpmleon]

When i had my oil change it was 4.6 litres to put it on the max!

Yup! Does take a "little" bit more when you have an "OIL CHANGE"

RPM

 

[rpmleon]

My weekly checks are water, washer & oil, do it when I've washed her.

My Golf used to use more oil if I'd been doing long high speed runs, Leon hasnt moved yet........

Bit of advice my friend. Include all lights and tyres in your weekly check

RPM