MK3 VR6 - Dry dip stick, ~3.5L oil top up...

[greens_tuf]

Hey guys,

I noticed some oil on some mounts/cross member which lead me to check the oil level...

I wiped the dip stick clean, put it back in, nothing did it again, and again, nothing.

How could this be? I haven't noticed any oil leaks on the ground, the car doesn't smoke...

I topped it up, it took around 3.5L to get it back to the normal level on the dip stick...

More examination and I found that it looked like there was some oil seeping around the valve cover gasket (rocker cover gasket).

Car details:

• 1996 Golf Mk3 VR6
• 125 000K's on the clock
• Oil changed every 5000Km's
• Serviced religiously at a VW specialist...
• Last service was around 8000K's ago (I was overseas for a couple of months) but anyway an extra 3000K's shouldn't make a difference...

No oil lights flashed
I actually drive the with instrument cluster on the oil temp always (I like to monitor the temp), and oil temp hasn't gone over 102 degrees C lately.

My mechanic usually runs Mobil semi-synthetic (not sure of the specifics), I supplied Shell ultra 5W-40 at the last service.

Could this be the cause?

Not happy!

[VOLKSMAN]

jesus, that pretty much left you with only 1.5l of oil only.
they say vr's burn oil,depending on variables.

i suggest go over the thead covered

http://www.vwwatercooled.org.au/newforum/upload/archive/index.php/t-3157.html

and start eleminating factors

[The_Hawk]

How often do you check the oil?

I was in a very similar boat when I used to run Fuchs Titan Super GTO 10W-40, which is a fully synthetic oil and the VR6 was burning through lots of it. I did have a *tiny* leak from the crank vent, although theoreticaly that oil was on it's way out of the engine anyway, otherwise she's leak free.

Long story short it was suggested that as an older engine running a fully synthetic oil wasn't a great idea and it was also pointed out how damn hot these engines run.

So I switched to Castrol GTX2 20W50 and BAM, it seems to like the heavier oil and not burn it as quickly (although it still does). I was always taught to check the oil when you fill the car up, so I check the oil every fill up and top up when required.

For reference, the lowest point on the dipstick to the highest point on the Dipstick is 1L of oil, so if your *just* on the bottom, 500ml will put you roughly in the middle of the range.

Also for reference, the owners handbook says:

The oil consumption depends to a great extent on the engine load and speed. Depending on the style of driving the consumption can be as much as 1.0 litres/1,000 km.

[Golf Loon]

^^ Yup VR6s burn synthetic oil.

And the solution will save you money.

I recommend a Castrol Magnatec for your car, it will run quieter and not burn so much oil. And its cheaper!.

[greens_tuf]

Ok cool, I'll be honest with you, I haven't checked the oil in between.

Yes, the owners manual does say to check the oil level every time you fill up petrol... I never had this problem with the semi synthetic, I guess I will just go back to it...

But what about the oil seeping around the valve cover gasket? Obviously this is a sign that the gasket has seen better days, but would a semi synthetic oil resolve this too? as I never had that before the full synthetic.

Is it costly to have these changed on the VR6 engine, $20 gasket, but what about labour? how hard?

[Mrk_Mickey]

The gasket took me two hours to do and I wasn't working very fast...shouldn't be expensive.

[The_Hawk]

I recall reading the seeping is a possible side effect of moving from non synthetic to synthetic... Of course on a 10+ year old car it's very likely it just needs to be replaced.

[MattyT]

I've run 2 diff synthetic oils in mine, 1 burnt up heaps and the other was just fine. Fuchs Titan SuperUltraLightingPunch 10w-40 and Penrite Sin 15w-40. The penrite was AWESOME stuff but pretty expensive.

Got motul 4100 turbolight 10w-40 in atm. It seems pretty good. Zero burning! Magnatec would be just fine but I have an inflated belief that my dub needs sooper dooper oil

[radio8tiv]

But what about the oil seeping around the valve cover gasket? Obviously this is a sign that the gasket has seen better days, but would a semi synthetic oil resolve this too? as I never had that before the full synthetic.

Is it costly to have these changed on the VR6 engine, $20 gasket, but what about labour? how hard?

Not too hard to do yourself I just did this on my daughters vr6 in a couple of hours, most of my time was spent cleaning everything.