15 Golf SEL 67,000 miles and eating oil

bought the car with 60,574 miles first week of September, had the low oil light come on around 63k once and did an oil change at 64,750. Then this week at 66,984 had the low oil light come on again so i added more oil.

since this has the DPF i can't tell if it's burning it but where i park has no oil spots so that can only mean one thing. Burning it.


is this something the warranty covers and worth even talking to a dealer as i really don't use them for anything or care to, however if my turbo seals are bad already i'd kind of like a new one. i also do not feel like working on the car at all myself so i figured i could get them to at least find the issue

Following..... I honestly dont like the idea of your issue....


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How much oil are you adding?

The figure I remember was 1 quart per 1,000 miles is what VW deemed acceptable, I could be wrong. Seems excessive nonetheless when the majority of these cars go from interval to interval on a quart or less.

My 2015 Golf with the CRUA used a quart the first 10,000 miles, which is not abnormal for a new engine, and then about 1/3 quart every 5000 miles. My 2015 Passat TDI was similar in oil burn. I never received a low oil indication or had a drastic loss.

I have had three Gen1 cars with the CJAA that rarely used any oil, I might add a 1/4 to 1/2 quart per 10,000 miles to my current 2013.

You are under warranty, I would contact the dealer. If your turbo seals are leaking it should be covered under the extended warranty. But start documenting your oil consumption and what you are adding between changes....dealing with an oil consumption issue and a dealer seems like it would be a pain.

They should consume ZERO oil. I never lost any in the 80k I had my 20148 bought new then sold back. My brother had a 14 as well, when the buy back was announced he drove it 35k on the same oil. Still right on the full line the day he turned it in.

So something is wrong on mine.

I just wish it didn’t have the DPF crap so I could see how bad it really is.

I also noticed my car seems to be doing a regen a lot. Probably because burnt oil is clogging up the DPF faster than normal driving?

It is a somewhat common thing with the CVCA and CRUA (2015 only) engines. Just be thankful you do not have one the VAG gas engines that eat twice as much, LOL.

Just keep it topped up. Time will tell if it becomes an issue or not. But you are not alone.

I do not get enough through here to provide much beyond anecdotal evidence, but I check the oil of every engine that comes through the door, and I too have noticed these are often low on oil prior to service. Dipsticks work. Use 'em!

BTW, the "official" acceptable oil consumption is .5 quarts per 600 miles, or .5 liter per 100 kilometers. If it falls within that range, they will tell you that is acceptable (there is even a TSB about this).

Yeah, I wouldn't worry about it yet. Top it off and keep an eye on it. Every internal combustion engine ever made consumes some oil.

sardo_67 said:

I also noticed my car seems to be doing a regen a lot. Probably because burnt oil is clogging up the DPF faster than normal driving?

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I think that is just another benefit of the "fix". Lots and lots of regens.

I wonder if this is a failing turbo or oil consumption in the engine. If it's a failing turbo it'll probably get worse. And it's covered under the emissions warranty.

oilhammer said:

BTW, the "official" acceptable oil consumption is .5 quarts per 600 miles, or .5 liter per 100 kilometers.

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I maybe a stupid american and not great with my conversion factors but those two numbers don't seem to equate to the same consumption

740GLE said:

I maybe a stupid american and not great with my conversion factors but those two numbers don't seem to equate to the same consumption

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They are approximate, and verbatim from the TSB.

600 miles = 965.608 km (so, rounded up to an even 1000)

.5 quart = .473 liters (so round up to .5 liters)

OR

1000 km = 621 miles (so, rounded down to an even 600)

.5 liter = .528 quarts (so rounded down to an even half quart)

Seems pretty legit to me. *shrug*

I'm at 66,600 miles and a "Check Oil" warning popped up for the first time that I've seen. Previous oil change was at 60,000. Checking the dipstick, it was borderline. So I put in half a quart and that put it exactly halfway in the green.

From Googling, it seems pretty common on the CRUA. I have zero doubt that the 2015's burn a bit of oil.

so..... eating 4 quarts of oil in 10,000 miles is normal?

don't i have the EA288 motor?
(edited.... i realize i do not have that in my 2015 so never mind)

KITEWAGON said:

I think that is just another benefit of the "fix". Lots and lots of regens.

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that's what i was thinking, i want to do a tune/delete on it but i am being cheap since i am well a wear that any money spent on the car is the same as lighting it on fire


would using a different engine oil possibly limit the oil consumption?

sardo_67 said:

so..... eating 4 quarts of oil in 10,000 miles is normal?

don't i have the EA288 motor?

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It falls within the range of normalcy, yes. Your local dealer can print the TSB out if you like, they also have an oil consumption regimen they can go though on your car to verify, then they'll point to the TSB and say "acceptable".

It sucks, and again, you should see what some of the gas engines consume. They'll chomp through 6 liters easily in 10k miles. Which is, again, well within the limits they deem as normal.

Pretty much every manufacturer has similar criteria.

Subarus do this all the time. My ALH engine at 110K used about 4 oz. in the last 10,000 miles. And it was worked pretty hard during that service interval. I wonder what's different about the newer engines.

IndigoBlueWagon said:

Subarus do this all the time. My ALH engine at 110K used about 4 oz. in the last 10,000 miles. And it was worked pretty hard during that service interval. I wonder what's different about the newer engines.

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loser tolerances for cheaper parts

oilhammer said:

It falls within the range of normalcy, yes. Your local dealer can print the TSB out if you like, they also have an oil consumption regimen they can go though on your car to verify, then they'll point to the TSB and say "acceptable".
It sucks, and again, you should see what some of the gas engines consume. They'll chomp through 6 liters easily in 10k miles. Which is, again, well within the limits they deem as normal.
Pretty much every manufacturer has similar criteria.

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ya that's just companies lowering standards so things are acceptable.

You think? I would think that the new, automated Mexico plant would build a better product.

One would only hope ?

sardo_67 said:

so..... eating 4 quarts of oil in 10,000 miles is normal?

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It's a feature! Oil becomes a consumable like every other fluid so you only have to change the filter every 15K.

4 quarts every 10k miles to me a huge amount. I have a 2015 GSW, sitting in the waiting room while the dealer is changing my oil for me cause I am lazy, and over 10K I have not received any oil level low messages. I have put almost 30k on my car since I got it, so 4 quarts every 10k when I have put none in over the last 10k is astounding to me... If it is burning oil, it could affect the regens. How often are you regening? I do a lot of highway speeds (60+) and I believe I regen once every 250-350 miles or so, and I have the phase 2 fix done on mine as well.

oilhammer said:

BTW, the "official" acceptable oil consumption is .5 quarts per 600 miles, or .5 liter per 1000 kilometers (supposed to be 1000). If it falls within that range, they will tell you that is acceptable (there is even a TSB about this).

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Typo above, oilhammer. 600miles = ~1000km.

So, burn rate of 0.5L/1000km would be acceptable by VW's standards.

I just changed my oil at 14500km, and the oil level was maybe 0.5L down from where I'd filled it last change.

As for sardo_67's oil consumption, though, I'm curious as to what kind of driving the car gets; if it's lots of short trips where it doesn't reach operating temp, I can see a lot of regens being done (and possibly adding to oil churn). But if it's a freeway hauler almost exclusively, I'd be asking questions, too.

sardo_67 said:

ya that's just companies lowering standards so things are acceptable.

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BMW manuals listed consumption of 1L/500miles being normal as far back as the 70s through the 90s. I don't know about their earlier or later models but it's not a new thing.

Please remember diesel engines are oil burners. Same with old ww2 warships, oil burners.


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calimustang said:

Please remember diesel engines are oil burners. Same with old ww2 warships, oil burners.


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I don't think you can make a general assumption that all diesels are oil burners, that is if you are referring to crankcase oil. I have had 4 diesel vehicles since 1997, one burned oil because it had worn valve stems, the other 3 including the GSW that I have now do not burn any detectable oil between changes.

The VE TDIs are not notorious for excessive oil consumption. The PDs seem to use a wee bit but still not much. Lots of engines use some oil. It varies a lot.

calimustang said:

Please remember diesel engines are oil burners. Same with old ww2 warships, oil burners.


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hahahaha no, just no. a 4 stroke motor shouldn't burn any oil if it's built correctly, does the roof on your house leak an expected amount of water or gas tank leak a certain amount of fuel?

i was just asking here to know if these are known to have bad turbo seals like the PD has cam issues.

It's by design. I considered it an anti-rust feature by BMW.

sardo_67 said:

hahahaha no, just no. a 4 stroke motor shouldn't burn any oil if it's built correctly, does the roof on your house leak an expected amount of water or gas tank leak a certain amount of fuel?
i was just asking here to know if these are known to have bad turbo seals like the PD has cam issues.

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I hate to tell you, but oil consumption happens to some degree on ALL piston engines. Some are worse than others, patterns emerge and we see the common culprits (Subarus, anything with a Mitsubishi engine, older non-Ford powered Mazdas, the GM Ecotec DI 2.4L) as well as others.

And some are less common, but variable, like a lot of Toyota engines where one person's 1ZZ-FE Corolla will consume a quart every 1000 miles like clockwork and another person's same year 1ZZ-FE Corolla will go the full 5k mile interval and only be down a half quart.

Also, in many cases, once oil consumption starts, it can have a slight snowball effect where it worsens but perhaps plateaus at a certain point. The driving conditions can play a role here as well.

As I have stated earlier in this thread, you are not the only one that has noted some higher-than-expected oil consumption with a 2015 CR 4 cyl TDI engine. And you will not be the last. It may just be some specific characteristic of this particular engine assembly that lends itself to this, but it still falls within what Volkswagen deems "acceptable". All manufacturers have these pretty lenient allowances for oil consumption. All of them. We recently had a customer "shocked" to hear his new BMW was allowed a 2.5 liter per 1000 miles. And that is almost lock step what it did. It was one of the high performance models.

Some manufacturers have identified and instituted a fix for some excessive oil consumption, but this often involves major repairs or changes to the engine. Subaru has revised cylinder heads with improved valve guide holes in the casting. Toyota has improved piston rings. Isuzu had improved pistons for their V6 engines back when Isuzu was actually selling light duty stuff here. But outside of warranty, virtually NOBODY is going to buck up for these kinds of repairs.

My advice is: keep a stash of oil in your garage, along with a roll of paper towels, and institute a regimen of checking/topping up the oil. It is not a huge deal. I took a Mazda past 400k miles on its original engine, I know what oil use is (1 quart every 100 miles, yes, you read that right). It was running along just fine at 404k miles when I hit a deer at highway speeds.

My beechcraft burned 1 qt/ hour till I changed over to Shell areoshellW, then I got three hours per qt. Ferrari's were sometimes at qt/100 miles and considered that normal.

oilhammer said:

They are approximate, and verbatim from the TSB.

600 miles = 965.608 km (so, rounded up to an even 1000)

.5 quart = .473 liters (so round up to .5 liters)

OR

1000 km = 621 miles (so, rounded down to an even 600)

.5 liter = .528 quarts (so rounded down to an even half quart)

Seems pretty legit to me. *shrug*

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Agreed with what you're saying but in the original statement you said .5L in 100 km not 1000 km