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2.0 TDI Using oil?

3K views 24 replies 16 participants last post by  mac7 
#1 ·
I've had my 2.0 TDI for 7 months now and have only covered 3400 miles so far (only use it at weekends). On Saturday I was on my way to the father in laws when the oil warning light came on. I stopped at a Mazda dealers in Berkhamstead to ask them if they could help me out with what oil I need to top up with as the ever helpful VW hand book just lists a VW part number for the oil. The very helpful ample cleaveaged blonde at the Mazda dealer called the nearest VW deaer to find out (Mobil 1 long life Diesel). I topped up with just over half a litre.

Now is it normal for the TDI to use its oil that quickly? There is deffinately no leak as there is not a drop on the groud where the car is always parked? The salesman did make a point of telling me to watch the oil in the first year but I didnt think he really was that serious!

Any thoughts guys?
 
#5 ·
Diesels take up to 20-30 thousand miles to run in properly. During this period they use more oil much (more than a petrol car). To get it run in properly follow the manual running in process after this period don't granny it too much (after its warmed up).
 
#6 ·
My 2003 MK4 PD150 uses oil, infact most PD engines will drink a fair amount, & the harder/faster you drive them, the more they seem to use, well this is what a VW grease monkey told me when I questioned it.

I would say inbetween service I use about 1ltr for topping up, being on longlife servie schedule, I also found, the more topped up you keep the oil, the longer interval between services.

My car has 82k on the clock now & I topped up the oil last saturday, it was about 1/2 way down the marker, that was the 1st time since the last service, which was at 75k.

[:)]
 
#9 ·
Just to add my experience - I have used  between 1.5 &  2 litres since new and I'm now on 18.5k. (Just had the "Service Now" message flash up for the first time.) My dealer told me much the same as yours; they drink a bit more oil than you might expect for the first 10k or so while they bed in, then use hardly any. My "low oil" light came on ~5k AFAIR, put a 3/4 litre in then,  then topped up with rest of bottle a few hundred miles later. Only recently needed to top up again at ~15k mark - about 3/4 litre again. I agree re: black dipstick tip - have to walk out of garage into sunlight to check it! Idjuts!
 
#13 ·
Thanks for putting my mind at rest guys. I only put in half a litre as I was not parked on level ground at the time and didnt want to over fill by mistake. I will put some more in this wekend now its been sitting level on my drive all week. The dip stick was designed but its names sake. The top "ball" scrapes up oil as its withdrawn which makes it even more difficult to read properly! Whats more anoying is that the manual doesnt tell you what oils to use, but instead gives you a VW part number, thats why I didnt go to the nearest garage to get any old diesel oil, as I'm planing on the long life services (18k or 2 years if I'm correct?). I was reccomended mobil1 long life by citygate VW in Hemel (I think) which the ample cleaveged Mazda employee called, but couldnt get any anywhere. I found a motoring shop in Tring who reccommended millers super high performance oil ?29.99 for 5 litres. Not sure if this would make any improvement to the mpg, but on the return journey I was in a lot of stop start M25 traffic but averaged 2 mpg more even though the journey there was completely clear. What oil do you guys use?
 
#14 ·
Your Golf will require oil meeting VW 505.01 if its fixed service interval or VW 506.01 if its variable interval. U have to stick to VW approved oils as your car (like most modern VW diesels) uses unit injectors run off the camshaft - non approved oil will shear very quickly and that doesn't bear thinking about!!!
 
#18 ·
I was reccomended mobil1 long life by citygate VW in Hemel (I think)
Mobil 1 does not meet the official VW spec for Longlife oil (but meets the Porsche and BMW specs). I find it hard to believe that his top premium product would do any harm in a Golf up to 18,000 miles but officially it only achieves the time/distance service regime oil spec.
 
#20 ·
I would read the article in this months VW driver, I could explain but not better than how its written in the article. The oil you buy from the parts desk might be branded as Quantum or VW but its made by Castrol. From Halfords Castrol edge offer two types of diesel oil - one of those is a PD type. Millers oils offers a 505.01 oil. Just get the oil from the VW parts desk thats what I do.

If your car is on variable then mixing the wrong oil can artifically shorten the distance to your service. I've read an oil engineer from Castrol explain that not using 505.01 (or 505.06) oil in PD deisels is like a time bomb - normal oil shears very quickly. The camshafts are used to pressurise the injectors - they produce about 25,000 bar (much more than common rail) so I guess they are quite hard to depress and the oil needs to protect these two parts.

But topping up a little is not going to have much effect.
 
#21 ·
My PD140 uses around 1 litre of oil every 10k or so......i got 27.5k on the clock now.

It's on variable service.

I use Castrol SLX II

There is a new series of "edge" oils being released by Castrol (as has been said) - there's one specifically blended for the PD TDi's on long life service regime.

There's also a Castrol SLX III which supersedes and is entirely compatible with the "II" version.

Don't even think of using anything but the recommended oil.........if your engine goes west - they WILL know......they know everything ! lol
 
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