VW needs one quart of oil every 3,000 miles??? Why???

Unless, of course, he means a three-year old beetle.

My VR6 has used a quart every 2500 miles for almost 100K miles.

If it is a three year old Beetle, known as the NB (New Beetle) it is at the short end of normal. BTW most current cars of all makes consider one quart in 3K normal oil usage.

If it is the old (air cooled) Beetles Type I's?) they should have their oil changed every 3K anyway.

Nutin' wrong with that oil usage. VW considers a problem if you are using more than 1 qt in about 1500miles!

Normal. My Golf burns 1qt every 1k miles. That's a whole $1.89usd every 1k miles. My '03 Honda Accord burns 1qt every 3k miles.

3,000 | miles. | | Can anyone shed some light on this, and if so, is there any recourse for my | friend to take with the company? | | | | | |

Thanks for all your advice here. My friends car is THE NEW BETTLE, a 2001 with 40,000 miles. I'll relay this info. to him.

Thanks.

Steve S.

It's the design of the 2.0L engine. My dad just got that engine in his 2003 Golf, and I told him to watch the oil in it just as he did our old 1.8L 1991 Golf... of course the old car lost it due to leaking, more then burning.

Something with the seals in the 2.0 engine causes it to burn a little bit of oil. Or so I am told.

Oh well, my 1999.5 TDI doesn't seem to burn any of its expensive sythetic so I'm happy...

This is what I was told as well...but when I asked why my 95 Golf with the 2.0 never needed oil between 5K changes, and my 02 Jetta also with the 2.0 needs a quart every 1000 to 1500 miles they didn't have an answer. The Jetta now has

35,000 miles and the oil burning/using remains constant. Never had a car that used oil at this rate...and I have had a lot...from 35HP beetles to vehicles with massive big block V8's. I'd say VW's normal is different from normal normal.

Agreed...although adding oil ain't all that interesting. Love the car though!!

Strangely...01 Eurovan, with 24valve V6 needs no oil betrween 5k changes

I've heard its just the newer 2.0L's...

Yep, it's the newer(99.5 up) engine which use oil. The other engines use very little oil between oil changes, but then again the 1.8t, VR6, 2.8 share nothing in common with the 2.0 other than the VW name. Interesting fact is my 99 GLX passat used no oil from when I purchased it with 40,000 to

45,000miles with Dino oil. But during the last 5,000miles with synthetic it used 1/2 qt. Next oil change I'm going back to Dino and see what happens.

so basically they screwed up the design?

Probably... I've heard they are getting rid of the engine anyways. How old is its design now? 20 years or so... isn't is basically the same engine from the Golf Mk1 from 1974? Just with modern technology behind it, instead of carbs or mechanical FI. And a few displacement increases.

I haven't looked the specs up in some time but it's not the same as the older 2.0's. The newer ones are considered "long stroke" from what I remember... so maybe someone here could check the bore and stroke of the 2 engines. As for oil usage, I have heard it's could be caused from very hard piston rings which don't seat in especially if the owner changes the oil before the 5K time. Too... the rings don't have enough tension to seal against the walls. Personally since we don't do that many ring jobs I tend to lean to the first choice. But I don't fully know because that information isn't shared with me.

Just my $.02 worth. First I respect all of the information that Woodchuck and many others offer here, it has been priceless over the years. With that said, I have to take exception with the statement that 1 qt of oil in 3000 mile is normal. It may be common but is certainly not normal (at least not correct) , regardless of what VW says. My daughter has a 2001 NB which uses about a quart every 4 - 5 K miles, and this has been a pet pieve of mine for some time. Her last car was a 88 Cabriolet with 210,000 miles on it when I sold it to a friend and to this day it does not use a quart between oil changes. I really think that VW has screwed up somwhere in the design of this newer 2.0 and will not admit it.

I have been rebuilding engines for more than 35 years, anything from VW aircooled to 800 HP blown Big Block Chevy drag boat engines, and if any of mine were to require a quart in 3000 miles, something was wrong and it was comming apart again. I have owned a 70 Plymouth 426 HEMI since new with over 150,000 miles since the last rebuild and that may use a quart in 3000 miles, but it isn't being treated like a baby either when I drive it and somewhat expected. Out of the 5 cars that I own, none except for the NB uses this kind of oil. I truly believe that there is a problem in the design.

Although its not the end of the world, it just ticks me off knowing that its not correct, other than that it's a pretty nice car and I am thinking about getting a TDI myself. I have noticed that it seens to be getting better, maybe they just take a long time for the rings to seat as Woodchuck said, but its

45,000 miles which is a long time for Break In. Sorry to ramble on, just that you hit a sore spot with me on the oil usage on the 2.0.

Happy New Year, Thanks, Butch