How many miles should a litre of oil last?

[Sir Brixalot]

Just wondering a I put a litre in 500 miles ago and I need to top up

[Ralf85]

If you mean another litre is needed, then you have a leak somewhere - or less likely a knackered engine, but you would see blue smoke from the exhaust if that was the problem. You should be able to see where it's leaking from by the oil on the ground underneath after parking overnight.

[Smosh]

Unless you have one of those oil leaks like mine... where the whole underside of the engine is oily...

[Sir Brixalot]

Yes it needed another litre. No blue smoke but no obvious oil leak either. Ill put some card down tonight and see if I can track it down, Engine hasn't been in long so shouldn't have any major leaks.

[what2do]

My bet is someone's siphoning it off.........

[CovKid]

If the chips in the local chippy aren't what they used to be - avoid.

Also, hate to tell you, that wasn't gravy last time you had roast beef.....

Seriously though, I don't lose any oil between changes, and I'm not a fanatical mileage oil changer either. A new engine will tend to burn more oil (even if not obvious) than one that is fully run in.

[California Dreamin]

Manufacturers quote oil (maximum) consumption for fault diagnosis. I'm not entirely sure what is is for a wasserboxer engine but a figure of 1 litre per 1000 miles is quite common.
However, even that amount is quite alarming...I would certainly be worried if I were using half of that.

Obviously when checking you have to follow a strict regime....completely flat surface, cold engine, run for 30 seconds, stand for 1 minute then dip.
Otherwise other factors come into play like expansion/ tilt of the engine etc.

Martin

[dave friday]

I just checked the oil,...cold; inbetween the two pips,run the engine for 30 seconds( from cold ) check oil level after 1 Minuit ,oil level below the low mark ( pip) .
Mine is a 1.6 td with a golf oil filter stand!
What does the team think?

[Ralf85]

Yes it needed another litre. No blue smoke but no obvious oil leak either. Ill put some card down tonight and see if I can track it down, Engine hasn't been in long so shouldn't have any major leaks.

Newly installed engines can leak it they haven't been tightened up properly or a new seal is faulty. Was the oil filter tightened up enough? Any news?

[kevtherev]

My 2.1 absolutely refuses to be run at the max oil level
If I top up to the max it drops to just over half way within 500 miles.
So I left it at half way
It hasn't moved in a 1000.

I am not making this up.

[itchyfeet]

I read this years ago^^^^ so leave mine at just above half, never uses any thats noticeable.

need to dip in exactly the same parking spot every time, flat engine reads very different with a slight incline change.

[Mocki]

All the WBX s I have owned have done this. Fill to top mark, 1000 miles later, it has disposed of the top 1/3 of the distance tween the marks. I soon gave up fill past the 2/3 of the way up mark, couldn't see the point. It's perfectly normal inmy experience .
Now I always change my oil every 3500 miles and I have never had to top up in be tween apart from when I had a leak going on with the last van.

[petethefeet]

need to dip in exactly the same parking spot every time, flat engine reads very different with a slight incline change.

I have found this with the CU engine, very critical to how level it is, I have even been know to use my leveling wedges to get it flat

[California Dreamin]

Carry out an oil consumption test......as described earlier.....just make sure the level doesn't drop below minimum.

Martin

[Ian Hulley]

All the WBX s I have owned have done this. Fill to top mark, 1000 miles later, it has disposed of the top 1/3 of the distance tween the marks. I soon gave up fill past the 2/3 of the way up mark, couldn't see the point. It's perfectly normal in my experience .

^^ And mine.

Ian