Losing oil

Homebrew01

Active member
Joined
Jan 21, 2018
Location
Washington
TDI
01 Beetle TDI
01 Beetle ALH 190k miles. I currently have just shy of 7k miles on the current oil change. I just checked my oil level and it appears to be approx 1 quart low. The car doesn't smoke and there aren't any significant leaks as far as I can tell. How much oil consumption should there be and at what point should I be concerned?
 

Nevada_TDI

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 17, 2008
Location
Reno, sort of...
TDI
2001 Jetta TDI
So the oil level is below the end of the dipstick? A quart or so every 7k miles isn't terrible, but less would be better. Do you have significant oil in your intercooler?
 
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Homebrew01

Active member
Joined
Jan 21, 2018
Location
Washington
TDI
01 Beetle TDI
the oil level is right at the tip of the dipstick. I haven't checked the intercooler since the oil change and TB was completed but when I did there wasn't a significant amount that came out.
 

maxmoo

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 19, 2011
Location
Lakefield, Ontario, Canada
TDI
2000 golf, 2001 golf, 2000 beetle, 2003 wagon, 2004 golf, 2004 jetta, all diesels
FWIW
We have 6 or so higher milage alh's on the road.
I find most of them go through about a qt every 10k miles or so.
A couple of small leaks will add up over time, also the turbo may be starting to show it's age too.
 

oilhammer

Certified Volkswagen Nut & Vendor
Joined
Dec 11, 2001
Location
outside St Louis, MO
TDI
There are just too many to list....
Top it up, check it regularly. If there is a trend it may be something to worry about. It is not out of the ordinary for an engine to use some oil, although the ALH is not particularly bad about it.

I wouldn't overthink it too much at this point.
 
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