Spoke to my brother on the phone yesterday and he mentioned his SIL's (who was visiting for Xmas) new Passat diesel had required 36 quids worth of oil from the local dealer to top it up after the low oil level warning light had come on, and that the vehicle has only done just under 5000 miles. The guy in the parts department said 'they all do that'. If so, what's the point in using 'long life' oil?
The service interval is roughly doubled. The primary advantage is "loss of use" costs whilst being serviced for company cars.
If the owner does lowish annual milage, it may be better to switch to the milage based service schedule.
Oil consumption should improve significantly after 10-15k miles.
Chris
Some vauxhall engines drink oil, it's just accepted. Some cars don't use any oil. Maybe the passat engine is just a crap design. Long life means something will last a longer than average time compared to similar products. What you might need is a "retain oil for a long time" engine if you don't want to keep filling up. Drivers are meant to check the oil regularly and not leave it until a warning light shows. They should read the handbook supplied.
A litre in 5000miles on a new engine isn't that bad.
£36 in one go? That's possibly 1 litre at Dealer prices.
My father has an Audi which asks for servicing every 20,000+ miles in long life mode. The dealer seems to compensate for not seeing it very often by charging £90 an hour and charging for oil per litre what
4litres costs in Halfords for the same spec.
Do f*ck off. A low oil warning light is there so that you don't need to bother checking the dipstick every day. Certainly makes life easier of a cold morning and means that my bird doesn't run her car low on oil.
Indeed- but if it's using 3 litres every 5000 miles it's having an extra oil change between services. ;-)
He's quite a heavy business user. But self employed.
That's what my brother expected, but the guy in the garage said it didn't.
Not much point in fitting a low oil level warning if you're going to check it manually regularly.
Exactly. On my Renault Premium, there's not even a dipstick so I can't check it with one anyway. Instead, when I turn on the ignition, the oil level is displayed on the driver info panel.
I assume that the lack of a dipstick suggests the technology is sufficiently reliable as to not need one.
My engine low oil light has come on twice in 18 months, once in London, when car was at a steep angle sidways parked, then last in Nov at E Midlands airport, same thing...between that, i had done 2 Euro trips and driving all over...so about 10k.
Im thinking it burns oil...its nearly at 300,000 miles...so thats a top up (i overfilled it, so took some out) after 10k miles...
Im pissed...why cant i take a leak in the fuel tank, then it would be full of rocket fuel!
I'm sure you realise that's not really the case!
I've owned cars powered by Ford Zetec engines for the last 13 years; I've never used one litre of oil in that time in any of them.
Correct oil grade is critical on current VAG engines BTW; it depends amongst other things if a DPF is fitted.
OK. The long life servicing will save him money in the long run then.
The parts guy? OK...
My brother-in-law is a fairly high milage business driver. He is on his third Passat diesel. Oil consumption on each of them has always improved after first service. He specifically asked if the oil used at manufacture was of a different type to that used at service, but was assured that is not the case. It's simply that around that time the rings are fully bedded in.
Allegedly, these engines benefit from hard use in their early miles. Driving gently extends the high oil consumption period. YMMV!
Chris
They all do that, when new. But it'll settle down. I haven't had to top mine up for a long time now - I think it was February, the last time I did it.
It's on 73k miles, now and would have been on 35k when I topped it up.
Indeed- instruct him to drive it hard from day one -like he stole it-. They will usually calm down in fairly short order once exercised vigourously. It is important to do it as early on as possible- not after 2000miles!
Tim..
My experience is that a VAG TDI will use very little oil once it has 20k on the clock. Performance and economy improve too.
Do I do the obvious joke about there being no dipstick because it's soon remedied when someone gets in the cab?
Naaah :-P
Peter
I know main dealers can charge a lot for stuff, but oil for a Passat isn't really 36 quid a litre, is it?
Peter
Perhaps I didn't say but it was 3 litres.
Your posts remind me of a relative who babbles stories but never quite gets to the point, then deviates to something else.
Rocket fuel....indeed son.
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