Reduce oil level warning issue

Stew 2015 · Jan 10, 2015

I ordered a Golf at the end of September and took delivery of my 2015 Golf TDI SE manual with the lighting package on Dec. 22rd. At around 300 miles a "Reduce oil level" warning with the yellow triangle came on the dash. I took it to the dealer and was told it was a bad oil level sensor. They ordered the part which came in 6 days later. It was installed at 778 miles. I drove the car and the same waring light came back on at 895 miles. Has anyone heard about this problem? Thanks for the help.

meerschm · Jan 10, 2015

what does the dipstick say?

Stew 2015 · Jan 10, 2015

Dip stick level is good. The dealer had to drain the oil to replace the sensor the first time and refilled it with new oil.

Q400Pylot · Jan 10, 2015

Please keep us posted on this.

TDIowner · Jan 13, 2015

I have 2015 jetta TDI that has the same motor & I had the same issue with my vehicle. Turns out the dip stick is actually wrong for the engine & does not give the correct level reading. When I brought it to the dealer techs had to call tech line to find out that their is a TSB for the issue & they will call me when new dipstick comes in.

psd1 · Jan 14, 2015

TDIowner said:
I have 2015 jetta TDI that has the same motor & I had the same issue with my vehicle. Turns out the dip stick is actually wrong for the engine & does not give the correct level reading. When I brought it to the dealer techs had to call tech line to find out that their is a TSB for the issue & they will call me when new dipstick comes in.

If this is correct, this info should be posted in a new thread so everyone can see it.

WiszMaster · Jan 14, 2015

TDIowner said:
I have 2015 jetta TDI that has the same motor & I had the same issue with my vehicle. Turns out the dip stick is actually wrong for the engine & does not give the correct level reading. When I brought it to the dealer techs had to call tech line to find out that their is a TSB for the issue & they will call me when new dipstick comes in.

Can you please call and ask for the TSB number, and post it. If this is indeed correct and can be verified, that would be good to know.

Stew 2015 · Jan 15, 2015

A follow up on my original post. The VW dealer had the TDI for 2 days and has ordered a new instrument cluster per the VW Tech Line and the area VW QTM (Quality Technical Manager). It should arrive in 7 to 10 days. They returned the car to me and will call when the new part arrives. I'll let you know what happens.

TurnOne · Jan 18, 2015

Stew 2015 said:
A follow up on my original post. The VW dealer had the TDI for 2 days and has ordered a new instrument cluster per the VW Tech Line and the area VW QTM (Quality Technical Manager). It should arrive in 7 to 10 days. They returned the car to me and will call when the new part arrives. I'll let you know what happens.

Personally I have learned to let he dealer keep the vehicle during that time. I can live without it and it adds time to help meet lemon law requirements if it comes to that.

donh · Jan 19, 2015

Had this issue this weekend except the warning message was "reduced oil level". 2015 golf TDI with 1000 km on it. Orange triangle with an exclamation mark in it appeared with the reduced oil level message under it. The message went away after a few seconds leaving only the triangle which would not have been very helpful if the message had not been seen right away. Pulled over and checked the oil. Level on the dipstick was fine. when the car was started again there were no warning lights or messages. The car was driven for 2 hours at highway speeds. the same warning appeared again. Oil level was checked and it was fine. The message has not appeared since. Going to make a service appointment.

JASONP · Jan 19, 2015

donh said:
Had this issue this weekend except the warning message was "reduced oil level". 2015 golf TDI with 1000 km on it. Orange triangle with an exclamation mark in it appeared with the reduced oil level message under it. The message went away after a few seconds leaving only the triangle which would not have been very helpful if the message had not been seen right away. Pulled over and checked the oil. Level on the dipstick was fine. when the car was started again there were no warning lights or messages. The car was driven for 2 hours at highway speeds. the same warning appeared again. Oil level was checked and it was fine. The message has not appeared since. Going to make a service appointment.

You know you can scroll through the menu in the mfd and look at the car status to find messages right?

Sent from my SM-G900W8 using Tapatalk

donh · Jan 26, 2015

Originally no message was stored. Brought the car in last Friday. Dealer could not find any problems, stored messages or faults. They checked the oil level "multiple ways" (not sure how you do that) and it was fine. They raised he front end and back end to try and cause the message to occur without success. The car was driven over the weekend and Sunday night while driving at highway speeds the warning message appeared again only this time it said "Reduce Oil Level" and the message was stored. Perhaps my daughter misread the message originally although she says she is quite certain it said "reduced oil level" Anyway, the "reduce oil level" message has been coming on today during city driving and is being stored. Car is going back to Dealer tomorrow morning.

Stew 2015 · Jan 27, 2015

Reduce Oil Level issue solved!

Problem solved. A new instrument cluster is not needed. According to the VW dealer when new cars are delivered the service department performs a PDI (Pre Delivery Inspection). All fluids are checked and topped off if needed. Oil is topped off to the top of the safe range. When the car is at normal operating temperature the oil expands and causes the oil sensor to put out a warning. VW Technical Bulletin #2037201 states not to add oil if the level is within the safe range. A software update will be out soon to program the sensor to not give a warning when the oil is at the top of the safe range when cold and expands when warm.
I'm glad this issue has been put to rest. The dealer did a good job explaining and taking care of the situation. I love my new 2015 TDI SE and it got 52 mpg on a trip to Sacramento last week.

meerschm · Jan 28, 2015

Cool! so the car is smart enough to tell you they overfilled the oil!

as an aside, I was looking at some info related to 2015 MB Sprinter diesels, and they say the preferred method of checking oil level is to use the instrumentation. (not the dipstick)

as a follow up,
http://pics.tdiclub.com/data/517/820433_EA288.pdf

page 26 has a description of the ultrasonic oil level sensor (which also includes an oil temperature sensor.)

Tremulant · Feb 12, 2015

Just hit 2700km on my Golf TDI, and this just came up. Checked the Dipstick - everything seems fine. Have to wait a week to get into the dealership

donh · Feb 19, 2015

Finally getting around to an update. Dealer removed 250 ml. of oil and the problem has disappeared. originally the dipstick showed at the top of the safe level. Dealer was vague about the problem stating only that VW will do something about it in the future. It looks like the explanation Stew 2015 got fits. Now lets wait for the software update.

Tremulant · Feb 20, 2015

donh said:
Finally getting around to an update. Dealer removed 250 ml. of oil and the problem has disappeared. originally the dipstick showed at the top of the safe level. Dealer was vague about the problem stating only that VW will do something about it in the future. It looks like the explanation Stew 2015 got fits. Now lets wait for the software update.

Good to know. Mine's currently in the shop - Dropped it off this morning and will report back with what they've found.

Tremulant · Feb 23, 2015

Update -

They took oil out as well. Said there was nothing wrong with the sensor or the ECU.

But...

This morning, on my way to work it happened again. I called the dealer and it's being dropped off at noon. Not impressed.

TDI73 · Sep 23, 2015

Hi Tremulant,

what was the resolution? It happened to my 2015 Golf as well.... "reduce oil level" message after 15,000 KM service
Thanks

no-blue-screen · Sep 23, 2015

Check your work order. 5.5L or 5.8 quarts . The oil is overfilled.

Smokn337 · Sep 23, 2015

TDI73 said:
Hi Tremulant,

what was the resolution? It happened to my 2015 Golf as well.... "reduce oil level" message after 15,000 KM service
Thanks

From reading the thread, sounds like too much oil was put in and you need some removed to reduce the oil level.

Matt927 · Sep 23, 2015

How long after the service did the message appear?

ddorrer · Dec 3, 2015

Same Here

After my first oil change, I too, have the "Reduce Oil Level" MIL. 6500 miles

dieseldorf · Dec 3, 2015

I've seen this problem on our Audis immediately following an oil change. Oil level is correct, not over-filled. Warning message disappears within a day or so.

ddorrer · Dec 4, 2015

Update

Update: Took my VW to the dealer. They actually removed some oil and cleared the CEL. Doesn't sound good for a car with 6500 miles.

jemccoytx · Dec 28, 2015

I am having a similar issue with my 2015 Jetta TDI SEL where warning light comes on and "oil change needed" stated in MFI. Oil might have been filled a little high within the past 2000 miles after a oil pan gasket replacement, but no warning until a few days ago at 8400 mi and the orange light oil light came on. I thought the oil might be a little high after reading above posts so I removed some today and light still comes on. I checked on VCDS but no faults codes were found. I now think that it is just counting down to the 10,000 mi scheduled oil change since it gives the miles to 10,000 after the warning upon startup, but the owners manual does not say the oil light comes on for that. Does this sound like a faulty sensor?

meerschm · Dec 28, 2015

"oil change needed" sounds to me like a service interval was not reset.

Try the oil reminder resets as explained in your owners manual.

Where does the oil level on your dipstick read?

When do you plan to change the oil?

jemccoytx · Dec 29, 2015

I reset the service interval today but warning was still there. Yesterday the oil on dipstick was on the high side so I lowered it a little but no difference.

However, I took it to the dealer today and according to them the dipstick was not fully seated (or in all the way) and that somehow caused the warning. I find that hard to believe with all the level checking that I did but they seemed to have solved it quickly. There must have been some type of blockage keeping me from it snapping in place. Problem solved for now.

gingerbarry62 · Feb 9, 2016

The "Reduce oil level" warning triangle popped up on my GSW TDi 2015 on 5 separate occasion over the past weekend.
Just hit 15000km and had it serviced 3 days ago...
Was driving on a road trip and as it was the long weekend, so I didn't stop by a dealer, but will be dropping it off at the dealer this week.
A couple things to note:
If I stopped and let it cool for 5/10 minutes and simply restarted, the warning would pop right back on, however if I pulled out the dipstick, wiped it and put it back in with minimal "cooling" period, the warning light was gone.

There was no rhyme or reason to the warning coming on. Was coasting at one point, driving up an extended hill, driving on flat area for miles, no consistency with the warning.
Oil was never hot.

Maybe it was that the oil was actually "overfilled", guess I'll find out soon enough.

dmarsingill · Feb 10, 2016

A dipstick is just a reference. It should hold 4.3 Liters(4.5 Quarts)

After an oil change (with the correct amount), check your dipstick level. This should be your "normal" level. If you are having the dealer do it, make sure they are only putting in 4.3 Liters.....not 4.8 like their computer might say.

Donald

Reduce oil level warning issue

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