New 2013... 1/2 quart oil burned at 1200 miles

nullsignature · Jul 5, 2013

Just got a new 2013 Jetta TDI and checked the oil. After 1200 miles, half a quart has been burned. I asked my old man, who is a "car guy," and he was surprised that it hadn't burned more, stating that new cars can burn a lot of oil during the break in. This was also given the history of my MKV GTI, which burned oil like a mofo.

I've never had a brand new car and I haven't heard this before. When I bought the car I also asked the VW dealer if I needed to add oil in between changes and they said no (I asked the manager this after the sale had been made, so there was really no reason to lie).

Is this an issue I need to bring to the dealer or is this an expected phenomenon?

740GLE · Jul 5, 2013

how long did you wait after shut down before checking the oil? car level? was the car up to NOT?

If you didn't follow the procedure, it'll show 1/2qt low.

shepi1 · Jul 5, 2013

The "break in period" is a thing of the past. Stringent manufacturing requirements for engine components means that you don't have the old problems where if you drove faster than 50 mph in the first 500 miles you'd blow your rings or worse. I wouldn't be expecting you to be burning any oil at this point.

nullsignature · Jul 5, 2013

Meh, just checked the manual. Says a quart every 1200 miles would not be abnormal. Phooey.

Softrockrenegade · Jul 5, 2013

Shouldn't burn oil like that . Neither my 2011 golf or 2013 passat burned a drop in between any oil changes. That is in the manual to cover their ass when you complain. Only my 94 Mazda 626 with 200k miles on it burns that much oil.

JSWTDI09 · Jul 5, 2013

Oil consumption can (and probably will) go down as the engine breaks-in. My car (a 2009) burned about half a liter in the first 10k miles. It then burned about a quarter of a liter in the second 10k miles. I have not added any oil between changes since the 30k service. I am now over 60k miles and the dip stick always shows full. I am not sure how this relates to your issue, but in my case oil consumption definitely has dropped as things worn in a bit.

Have Fun!

Don

40X40 · Jul 5, 2013

Check the oil every time you fuel up. It probably won't ever need any between oil changes, but you still need to check each and every time you fill up. Keep a bottle of the correct oil type on hand.

Expect the oil usage to stabilize soon.
EDIT to add: Stick your foot in it and build some boost (BOOST, not RPM) to help seat the rings.
Most TDIs do not make up oil between the scheduled 10,000 mile oil changes.

Bill

skinnyb · Jul 5, 2013

Question is how much did it have in it when you picked it up? Mine was about halfway down the hatch marks when I drove it home right after PDI. Both my Passat and JSW. I would say it might have been under filled slightly since day one. Watch closely (at least every fill up) which you should be doing anyway.

nullsignature · Jul 5, 2013

Softrockrenegade said:
Shouldn't burn oil like that . Neither my 2011 golf or 2013 passat burned a drop in between any oil changes. That is in the manual to cover their ass when you complain. Only my 94 Mazda 626 with 200k miles on it burns that much oil.

Don't believe that. Turbocharged vehicles burn low viscosity oil. It's going to happen.

TDiSkater · Jul 5, 2013

43000 miles and never added a drop of oil between my 10k changes.

OP you didn't answer the most important question asked yet. Did you check the oil when the engine was FULLY up to temp and then follow the oil checking procedure in the manual? It matters!

Rickstah · Jul 5, 2013

skinnyb said:
Question is how much did it have in it when you picked it up? Mine was about halfway down the hatch marks when I drove it home right after PDI. Both my Passat and JSW. I would say it might have been under filled slightly since day one. Watch closely (at least every fill up) which you should be doing anyway.

I would do a reset on your expectations after you get it to a known topped-off location on your dipstick, then check it every week or so on level ground, after enough time has elapsed to drain into the pan sufficiently.

With regard to your stmt about turbocharged engines, I've had three, and the only one that did burn oil between changes was Christine, and that was only around town driving, 1/2 qt or so during my 10k intervals. On trips, with stout driving on the flats and in mtns packed to the hilt, it didn't burn any oil of note. After I had the head overhauled (new valve guides, etc), it no longer burns around town, either.

I'd do a level-set and just wait before you come to another conclusion, hopefully it was just not filled to the line, good luck.

crash2365 · Jul 6, 2013

Almost every new VW is delivered to the dealer slightly low on oil, usually anywhere between a half and a full quart, something easy for a bright eyed newbie tech to miss...

nullsignature · Jul 6, 2013

TDiSkater said:
OP you didn't answer the most important question asked yet. Did you check the oil when the engine was FULLY up to temp and then follow the oil checking procedure in the manual? It matters!

Yes.

5char

PressEnter[] · Jul 6, 2013

I should probably check more often, but at 2,500 miles mine was exactly at the top of the "full" marking when warm.

Softrockrenegade · Jul 6, 2013

nullsignature said:
Don't believe that. Turbocharged vehicles burn low viscosity oil. It's going to happen.

Believe what you want .... Ok maybe it burned a drop but my oil level never changes between OCI's . If yours is burning a noticeable amount of oil this early in its life perhaps you didn't break it in correctly or you have a problem.

CDN TDI · Jul 6, 2013

Unless your oil level was low to begin with, there is something wrong with your vehicle.

I have done two oil changes already and have never lost any oil at all between oil changes. Softrockrenegade, JSWTDI09, and TDiSkater also report no loss of oil.

Cooperdb · Jul 7, 2013

Almost 4k on my 2013 , oil level right where it was when I took deliver ......

IFRCFI · Jul 7, 2013

Lost 1 liter in total first 10,000 miles (2010). No loss after 1st change. Watch it. Doubtful anything is wrong.

R-1150-RS · Jul 10, 2013

I needed about 0.75 litre in the first 16,000 km. Don't think that is unusual in a new engine breaking in, as a freshly honed cylinder block WILL burn more oil than an engine that has broken in.

Don't believe ANYONE who tells you it is expected that a brand new engine will not burn oil.......

At 22,000 km now and almost no oil consumption since 16,000-km oil change.

Give it some time and stop fretting over stuff that is SUPPOSED to happen.

You have enough to worry about that isn't supposed to happen, but very well just might....

Gary

TDI_Dan · Jul 10, 2013

I'm approaching my 20k service. Checked cold, the level has never really changed even at 10k. I did that one myself. I followed DBW's break in process in the FAQ for the most part. I did expect some loss but was pleasantly surprised to not see any. Mostly city driving, which is optimal for the break in period anyway.

travislipe · Jul 11, 2013

Interesting, I guess I should check mine, I just rolled 6K & haven't even looked at it yet

Softrockrenegade · Jul 12, 2013

travislipe said:
Interesting, I guess I should check mine, I just rolled 6K & haven't even looked at it yet

Why bother ? The oil light will come on when its low and remind you to add some

R-1150-RS · Jul 14, 2013

TDI_Dan said:
I'm approaching my 20k service. Checked cold, the level has never really changed even at 10k. I did that one myself. I followed DBW's break in process in the FAQ for the most part. I did expect some loss but was pleasantly surprised to not see any. Mostly city driving, which is optimal for the break in period anyway.

Or maybe all that short-run city driving didn't boil off the unburned fuel that blew by the rings, and gave you a false oil level reading that was actually due to the fuel making up for the oil that actually was burned....?

I think some regular highway driving at varying speeds and throttle settings is better for break-in than mostly running the engine in short low-speed city commutes where the engine barely gets to operating temperature for long.

Gary

elconquistador · Jul 14, 2013

Seems high to me if it actually burnt it. I've had to add maybe a 1/2 a liter around 5-7K of my first couple oil intervals but not really anything since. Just cracked 50k.

Samcar222 · Jul 14, 2013

51k miles, not a drop burned (no *visible* changes on dipstick) - always checked warm on level surface with 15 min to drain into the pan. Car was broken in properly from 0 miles. Like others have said, get in boost 2-3k rpm to seat the rings.

LarBear · Jul 14, 2013

Just checked the oil, and at ~2400 miles the oil's right at the full mark on the dipstick, been sitting for about 40 minutes after a little run that got everything up to full operating temps.

Have a liter of Castrol SLX that'll likely never be opened, but just in case.

AlcoC420 · Jul 14, 2013

JSWTDI09 said:
Oil consumption can (and probably will) go down as the engine breaks-in. My car (a 2009) burned about half a liter in the first 10k miles. It then burned about a quarter of a liter in the second 10k miles. I have not added any oil between changes since the 30k service. I am now over 60k miles and the dip stick always shows full. I am not sure how this relates to your issue, but in my case oil consumption definitely has dropped as things worn in a bit. ... Don

Our case was similar to yours Don; today our JSW consumes virtually nothing. I still carry a Liter of it's special engine oil on long trips just in case.

travislipe · Jul 19, 2013

Softrockrenegade said:
Why bother ? The oil light will come on when its low and remind you to add some

Sweet, that's what im talking about!! I said the same thing to the service people also about waiting till 10k for the first service & they didn't seem a bit worried so I said shoot guess i'm not then lol!

CDN TDI · Jul 19, 2013

Softrockrenegade said:
Why bother ? The oil light will come on when its low and remind you to add some

That is very bad misinformation. Contrary to common belief, the oil warning light has nothing to do with oil level. Rather, the red light comes on when the oil pressure drops too low as determined by an oil pressure switch installed on the engine. Your VW does not have an oil level indicator, just a low oil pressure warning light. If the light comes on and you continue to run the engine, you can destroy it.

You can have proper oil level, but no oil pressure for a number of reasons. Continuing to run the engine when the oil light comes on could be a very bad thing.

This is off topic, but it needed to be addressed.

IFRCFI · Jul 19, 2013

CDN TDI said:
This is off topic, but it needed to be addressed.
[/SIZE]

It would appear that sarcasm is lost on you........

His reply was in jest.....

New 2013... 1/2 quart oil burned at 1200 miles

Veteran Member

Top Post Dawg

Active member

Veteran Member

Veteran Member

Top Post Dawg

Experienced

Veteran Member

Veteran Member

Veteran Member

Veteran Member

Member

Veteran Member

Veteran Member

Veteran Member

Veteran Member

Active member

Veteran Member

Veteran Member

Veteran Member

Active member

Veteran Member

Veteran Member

Veteran Member

Veteran Member

Veteran Member

Veteran Member

Active member

Veteran Member

Veteran Member