Question about oil change and 4 wheel realignment

[dshipp]

I've just hand my 54 Ibiza TDi FR in for its 40k service and there were a couple of things that concerned me when it came back. It's my first diesel and I was hoping someone here could give me their advice.

Obviously the oil should have been changed during the service and the bill tells me they did. However, 100 miles after I got the car back I checked the oil level and noticed the oil was black. I was expecting it to be far clearer and lighter so soon after the change. I rang the garage to check that the oil had been changed and they said it was perfectly normal for the oil to be black so quickly on a diesel car. Can someone confirm this is true please? Like I said it's my first diesel car and I wasn't expecting this.

Also I had to have my tyres changed because they had worn down to illegal levels on the inside edge. I paid just under £100 to have them do a full 4 wheel realignment in the hope that that would sort the problem out (fingers crosses). However on the print out sheet from the SPACE Active Aligner machine they used the vehicle is listed as "IBIZA II (1989 - 1993)". I suspect that they've used the wrong ibiza setting. Does anyone know if the Mk2 and Mk4 Ibizas are likely to need different settings and whether if they've aligned it using the Mk2 setting then they've probably misaligned it.

Many thanks.

Dave

 

[st10587]

id be taking it straight back to get realigned if i was you

 

[muddyboots]

Yes it's normal for new oil to be black in a TDI. Even if you check it without having restarted the engine it will be black.
You're not the first to ask and won't be the last


I would strongly suspect Mk2 and Mk4 to use different suspension geometry though, take it back.

 

[dshipp]

The technician at Nidd Vale who did the realignment work has checked for me and says that the Mk2, Mk3 and Mk4 Ibiza all have exactly the same nominal values for all the alignment variables.

Is there anyone who can confirm this for me as I'm still not particularly inclined to believe them. Perhaps someone who works for a company that does alignments too?

Or is there any way to contact SEAT themselves and get them to confirm this?

Thanks,

Dave

 

[st10587]

phone your local dealer and ask them! i find it hard to believe to

 

[DEAN0]

according to my elsawin manual - the 130 TDi sports and Cupras should be set to 0deg toe with a tollerance of + or - 10 minutes.
I would guess that the later FR's are the same setting.

After changing my wishbone bushes to cupra ones - I had mine set to just toe in slightly.

Front tyres ( uniroyal rainsports ) have now done 10k and are looking evenly worn across the tyre.

Looks like they should be good for 15k or more.