Lupo oil loss

My neighbour came to see me today: his son's 1.0 Lupo, around 70k miles, had given the lad a fright with the low oil pressure warning. When he checked the oil, it didn't even register on the dipstick.

Thing is, I know that it was up to the full mark about 3 weeks ago, because I gave him oil for it then. The lad's mileage has gone up a bit lately, but he's not doing starship miles and doesn't thrash it.

In the meantime, about a week ago, it also had a bad misfire on no.2, (both recording a code and running very rough) and the plugs were changed: No.2 looked a mess, very little electrode left, and a bit oily, but others looked OK. With the plugs changed and the codes cleared it ran well, though it's had a longstanding sticky EGR valve (with a rounded-out bolt securing it....)

When he appeared today, we fetched no.2 plug out, expecting an oily mess, perhaps from dodgy rings or valve stem seals but no, it's a normal, light brown colour, as was no.4, which we checked for comparison. Coolant level/colour is normal.

It has a small engine oil leak, (from where I can't tell) but nothing huge, and there's no huge oil stain on the drive- just a small patch, but clearly, over 2 litres of oil has gone *somewhere*, and surely that would make a big mess.

There's no visible smoke from the exhaust- but can a catalyst mask that?

Any thoughts?

Reply to
Chris Bartram
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Yes, a good cat can hide heavy oil burning, but it won't until it gets hot, so see what the exhaust looks like first thing in the morning and for the first mile or so. Eventually the cat will get clogged, but that could take quite a while.

Reply to
Mrcheerful

You don't mention coolant at all...?

Reply to
Adrian

I did:

Coolant level/colour is normal.

One of the first things I checked. They're not overly fastidious on maintenance, as you might guess.

Reply to
Chris Bartram

So you did.

Reply to
Adrian

Normal plug colour for a fuel injected cat equipped engine is almost white.

I suggest you do a proper oil consumption test with the dipstick level and mileage verified before and after and see what you find. There may be less to panic about than he thinks.

Reply to
Dave Baker

Cheers. This is single-point injection, presumably still apllies? They're certainly quite pale, but with a brownish tinge. Definitely not oil-fouled, however.

I'm still wondering why then original No.2 plug was in such bad condition compared to the others. All were worn, but 2 was *f***ed*. Black, a bit oily, and the gap was several millimetres.

That's what I've done. We filled it to the max, and we'll check it again tonight after he's used it. It runs smoothly, doesn't trigger the CEL (unless the EGR sticks *again*), and goes as well as you could expect for a 1 litre car with around 50bhp when new.

Reply to
Chris Bartram
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With a gap of several millimetres I doubt it was sparking under compression much, so it would be oily.

Chris

Reply to
Chris Whelan

It didn't get changed last time.

Reply to
Adrian

Most manufacturers have a figure for acceptable oil consumption of something like 1 litre per 1,000 miles. If your 'about 3 weeks' was nearer four, and he does a not-unlikely 250 miles a week, his oil consumption may be OK.

A couple of other points; when was the oil last changed? 'Old' oil tends to get burnt more quickly. What oil is being added? VW's are fussy about the correct grade.

Chris

Reply to
Chris Whelan

Heh. You never know. Came out easily enough and not cross-threaded though.

Reply to
Chris Bartram

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