My 2003 Jetta is consuming oil
kristinew
Member Posts: 6
I have a 2003 Jetta with about 8800 miles on it. It keeps consuming oil. It strange because it seems to use oil at the drop of a hat. The dealer told me to have the oil changed every 5,000 miles. (I was a bit skeptical about this) It seems that my car cannot go that long because it uses a quart of oil in between. It seems to do it at about 3,500 to 4,000 miles. I have brought it back to the dealer who told me that it is normal for the car to use oil in between. Anyone have advice.
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They are the only manufacturer selling in the US that says "using a quart every 1,000 miles is normal", when most others say a quart in 2,000-3,000 is normal.
Push the issue.
Mr Shiftright: What exactly do you do with the WD40/silocone spray. I will try anything at this point.
Krzys
Krzys
I had one annoying rattle in my Porsche that turned out to be a 10 mm socket someone dropped in the front cowl during bodywork. I found it only after taking out the windshield.
There's nothing wrong with that. That's fine.
the sludge is probably the usual glop that builds on short drives, excess moisture from the cylinders, etc. blah blah. it won't kill the car.
Yeah, a quart every 1,000 miles is troublesome if that's actually what is being consumed.
But 1/2 pint every 4,000 miles is fine, even beneficial.
There have indeed been oil consumption problems with some Jetta engines. This is a known issue and relates to rather excessive and obvious consumption.
The point of the topic is, I think, HOW MUCH oil consumption are we talking about. To use a crude analogy, drinking a quart of water a day is good for you, drinking 4 gallons a day is no good. So it's like that. The issue is not oil-burning per se, but the quantity, and a small quantity of oil burning definitely does not mean a problem is developing for later on in the engine's life. This is a misconception and is cause only for needless worry and complaint.
If your engine is burning 8 ounces every 4,000 miles, relax your car in fine.
Honestly, if I owned a Jetta, I'd keep an eye on it, sure, but I wouldn't regard it as a problem at this point, and it may very well amount to ZILCH during the car's lifetime.
If $150,000 exotic cars and $1 million dollar race cars can burn oil, I don't see why your Jetta can't burn a little with no great consequence.
Remember, too, the harder you drive the more you will burn. I can make any car burn some oil if I push it hard enough.
I currently own a 2001 Beetle with a 2.0 engine, 5 speed manual, with about 45k miles. I found that the oil consumption dropped substantially when I started using 5W-40 oil. My Beetle uses 1 qt per 5000 miles. I have been using Texaco Havoline Synthetic 5W-40 oil.
I am very curious to know what oil is being used in your car during the oil consumption test. If they are using 5W-40 oil, then the car may have lower oil consumption than when you had 5W-30 (I am assuming) oil.
Anyways, if you look at adding oil to the car as a problem, you will be unhappy with the car and you will suffer. Consider the checking of the motor oil as part of the VW ownership experience; a bonding time if you will. If you do not want to look at it like that, then you have two choices I can see; you either continue feeling angry and hurt about having this car, or you sell it and get something else. I suspect that your car will not be consuming enough oil for VW to rebuild the engine with new piston rings, but I definitely could be wrong.
If you complain enough and high enough in the corporation, you may get the engine rebuilt.
if VW says you are within limits after the consumption test, and the consumption of oil doesn't change, congratulations, you have a VW. concentrate on enjoying the ride, secure in the knowledge that all those white-coated engineers in the ads meant it to be, and nobody is dying because of it.
I started poking around and, quite by accident found the source. The rattle comes from the door of the fuse panel. You have to open the passenger door to get at this but the fix it super easy. Take some electrical tape and just tape the edges of the door to the car body. Rattle fixed!
Well, I can see them wanting to change the oil; in fact, they could legitimately demand this, I think. If they are paying the bill, they get to set the parameters of the test. Seems fair enough.
Heavier oil won't hinder the test. Once the oil heats up, it's pretty much all the same.
If merely adding heavy oil could subsantially alter oil consumption, this would be a ready solution for people--but it isn't, so.....
LMAO!!! And they don't make mistakes?
dealers are like that, too, when they aren't lying
It doesn't matter where you take your car, there is always going to be the chance that something will get screwed up. Dealerships want you to believe that some super knowledgeable and experienced master technician is going to be doing the oil change on your car. Wrong! It's going to be the same kind of punk kid that works at Jiffy Lube, etc. and he/she is capable of making the same mistakes that someone who doesn't work at a dealership would make.
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
That's understandable. I do my own oil changes though and where you take your car to do an oil change shouldn't affect the outcome of the oil consumption test. If it were me, I wouldn't let the dealer change my oil. I'd still do it myself and they'd still do the oil consumption test, because they still have to regardless of where the car is serviced. You don't need to get your oil changes at the dealer in order to have warranty work performed, even if the warranty work concerns oil consumption.
I'm totally on the dealer's side on this one (rare but it happens!)
Think of going to your own boss and asking him to pay off a big bill based on the customer's test results unsupervised by your company.
You have to allow it. There is nothing that says the dealer needs to change the oil in order for a warranty to be honored. If it were me, I'd still want to change my own oil. I don't see how there's anything wrong with that. The dealer can still do a consumption test. It's pretty simple, you bring your car in and it's full on the dipstick and a technician verifies this, then you start the consumption test. If the dealer is really paranoid, they can put some tamper seal on the drain plug.
in fact, if I was writing the rules, I'd have a monitoring logger clipped to the OBD-II port to insure the engine is not being spiked to the redline, where extra oil usage would occur.
you can have your sainted grandmother changing oil and filter, as long as it's done with the right grade and API spec and an equivalent filter is used, and those records are documentable in case of a warranty claim. fair-trade laws say that.
nobody says VW has to have seventeen folks they don't know at various times they don't know look at something and decide that VW has to pony up five grand in profits to put a warranty engine in a car. that's their guarantee, their rules, and I don't have much of a problem with that.
I was under the impression that the dealer was going to charge that person for an oil change and that was the only way that VW would perform their oil consumption test.
You could always ask Jiffy Lube to replace your engine, but I'm thinking they'd say "no".
I'm a former service manager and my guys have conducted several oil consumption tests. The way we've done is to change the oil, photographing or drawing the oil dipstick after adding oil. Additionally, a small paint mark is placed on the oil pan drain plug and oil filter, to ensure tampering would be noticed.
When the oil is checked, we know EXACTLY where WE started, not where the vehicle owner or the invoice from Jiffy Lube SAYS we started. If I'm going to ask the manufacturer to pony up for an engine ($2-8K), I should have my ducks in a row.
Of course, the owner could just suck some oil out the dipstick, but...presuming good faith on all sides, the dealer should be allowed to verify that the test starts accurately.