Fuel in Oil?

reddevil

Member
Joined
Sep 14, 2004
Location
Pennsylvania
TDI
2003 Jetta Wagon Desert Sand
In checking my oil today, the dipstick read way overfilled and I noticed the oil seemed diluted.

engine is a 2003 ALH with 277k miles.I am out of town but luckily there is a diesel shop nearby. Dropped it off and awaiting diagnosis.

would appreciate your thoughts on what likely problem is and approx cost for shop to repair. Everything is original on engine except timing belt and egr valve.
Love this car. Use it 4 months a year during summer but am concerned the money pit imay be starting to open up.

thank you
 

Lightflyer1

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Sep 13, 2005
Location
Round Rock, Texas
TDI
2015 Beetle tdi dsg
Are you running biodiesel at all? Is it running okay except for this? Does the oil smell like it has diesel in it? Any codes or lights showing? Was the oil filled properly before you checked this time? Leaking injector maybe.
 

reddevil

Member
Joined
Sep 14, 2004
Location
Pennsylvania
TDI
2003 Jetta Wagon Desert Sand
Thanks for the reply. No on biodiesel. It is running fine, not smoking, no power loss. I did not smell it and should have but it was very “thin” and paper towel I wiped dipstick with wicked a light colored liquid apart from the oil.Check engine light is lit. I know it has a p401 code active, just had it in shop for that. They cleaned egr etc but code remained and theysaid not to worry about it as it’s non critical, to bring it back in and they can investigate further. I had the oil changed by shop and did not check it after they did so.

if it is a bad injector should they all be changed?
 

Vince Waldon

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Apr 25, 2009
Location
Edmonton AB Canada
TDI
2001 ALH Jetta, 2003 ALH Wagon, 2005 BEW Wagon
I had the oil changed by shop and did not check it after they did so.
Could this be a simple over-fill? Pretty common for shops to put the full 5 litres in.

If this is possible, it might be worth draining it down to the proper level and see if it changes much. If you had injectors leaking so bad they were filling the oil pan up right after an oil change I'd expect other symptoms, lots of smoke, etc.
 

bmwM5power

Veteran Member
Joined
May 3, 2007
Location
Rochester NY
TDI
15 GSW TDI S 6MT 02 JETTA TDI GLS 5MT 15 GOLF TDI SE 6MT 15 GOLF TDI SEL DSG
instead of guessing just drain it and refill with the proper level fresh oil, and keep an eye on it, and put the new filter too, its not that difficult on the MK4
 

reddevil

Member
Joined
Sep 14, 2004
Location
Pennsylvania
TDI
2003 Jetta Wagon Desert Sand
Update: Garage feels oil is just overfilled. They recommend oil/filter change with sampling for lab analysis. I gave them the go ahead on this and so we will see how it goes. I will post an update when lab analysis comes back. thanks all for your input.
 

reddevil

Member
Joined
Sep 14, 2004
Location
Pennsylvania
TDI
2003 Jetta Wagon Desert Sand
apology for the tardy update but wanted to let you know the results of the oil analysis. turns out the oil was fine with no evidence of contamination. I dug further and found the invoice for the last oil change and I was charged for 6 quarts, wish I had seen this earlier. Shop must have simply overfilled the engine but hard to believe they put that much in. Thank you all for your input, much appreciated.
 
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