Polo GTI High Oil Usage - Discussion Thread

[Guest001]

Hey Guys

I'm getting very confused with what oil is required for new engines, for bedding in etc

I am no mechanic in any shape or form so thanks for all your input, its starting to make sense to me now.

I'm just gonna go with the flow and do whatever the dealer suggests as they are the ones dealing with my warranty.

All I know is that it's losing 1.2 litres of oil in every 1,000kms and this definitely is not considered normal!

I will see how this mineral base oil (which still meets VW specifications) goes and if it doesn't help, I will do what you suggested Brad.

Thanks again for the input.

Mineral oil will hardly meet VW specs if they specify Full synthetic, would it????????

They specify 502/505 synthetic for petrol in timed service and 504/507 full synthetic for Diesel and longlife services of petrol. Also only those on the long list of VW APPROVED oils

Use an unapproved oil at your peril if something goes wrong.

[brad]

Get it in writing what they are doing.

To the best of my knowledge, there is no mineral oil that will meet the minimum VW spec (502.00) for that engine.

If they do change the oil, get written instructions on how they want the car driven to facilitate the bedding-in process & also when they want you back for an oil change.

There is no way any mineral oil will be good for 15,000km or even 7500km in that engine - I would go 3000km at the very maximum.

Tell them straight that you've lost confidence in the product & the dealerships ability to provide a permanent solution to the oil usage issue.

[nomadx38]

I will see how this mineral base oil (which still meets VW specifications) goes and if it doesn't help, I will do what you suggested Brad.

Haha that's a good one! Mineral oil that meets VW specs. Sorry couldn't help but laugh.

I know 504/507 is fully synthetic and can only be fully synthetic in 5w30 grade.

502/505 as far as I know can be a blend of mineral and synthetic oil or full synthetic in various grade but never heard of a VW spec oil made from pure mineral oil - specially with Europes strict emissions regs and Europes weather.

By all means do what the dealer says after all they are doing your warrantee work but I would be asking for a officiall letter like brad said - again I don't expect them to give one to you.

[brad]

I don't mind admitting when I'm wrong.

Penrite HPR30 20w60 is 502.00 & full mineral. I wouldn't run anything that thick in a modern, unworn engine

HPR Diesel5 5w-40 is 502.00 & semisynth You could get away with this.

There must be others

[skoobysGTI]

I don't mind admitting when I'm wrong.

Penrite HPR30 20w60 is 502.00 & full mineral. I wouldn't run anything that thick in a modern, unworn engine

HPR Diesel5 5w-40 is 502.00 & semisynth You could get away with this.

There must be others

So are you saying that they are correct in implying that they have a mineral base oil at the right specifications?

Anyway, I have it all in writing. The correspondences are all via emails.

[Guest001]

So are you saying that they are correct in implying that they have a mineral base oil at the right specifications?

Anyway, I have it all in writing. The correspondences are all via emails.

Neither of those two are on the list of APPROVED oils I have. Buy some Penrite Enviro+ And never be wrong About $69-$79 at Supercrap

[Diesel_vert]

Was also told that it is a high possibility that my engine is burning oil due to the oil specified by VGA to be used is a fully synthetic oil, which wouldn’t allow the engine to bed in due to its high lubrication within the engine.

Why did they put synthetic in it in the first place then?

All engines from VW are most likely filled with synthetic oil from the factory - but for whatever reason, the engine fitted in the Polo GTI seems to have oil consumption issues above and beyond what other VW engines normally experience.

In addition, reports in this very thread, of different owners using different running-in procedures but still experiencing elevated levels of oil consumption, suggests to me that there is some sort of fundamental design flaw with this engine (and not for the first time for VW).

They would like to get my car back in and change the engine oil completely to a mineral base oil which still meets VW oil specifications but will allow the engine to bed in easier.

Oils approved to VW standard 501.01 can be met using a mineral base and often have viscosity grades of 10W-XX, 15W-XX or 20W-50.

However, VW stipulates that engine oils approved to VW standard 502.00 or 504.00 are to be used for the engine in the Polo GTI.

If the dealer goes ahead with its plan, they would be overriding the original factory recommendation.

My car has already done 4000kms since the engine replacement and it looks as though they used fully synthetic oil instead of a mineral based oil. There's no way the engine would have bedded in properly now and my new engine is properly screwed again...no mountain climbing is going to help it now I reckon.

For the record, the owners manual for most VW vehicles suggests driving at moderate revs and loads during the first few thousand km - even for the Audi R8, with its 309 kW 4.2 L V8 using either 502.00 or 504.00 oil.

Man! This absolutely sucks!

This nightmare is getting from bad to worse..only had the car for a year and a half and its been back to the dealer about 15 times now..sick of it!

Never again in my life will I purchase a VW! Should have kept the wife's 2004 Holden Barina (which we traded in for)...it didn't have a single problem with it!!

I imagine so.

This is also the reason some of the new direct injection engine also have multi point injection - becuase they found that under constant running direct injection creatures lots of particulate from poor mixing of the air in the cylinder - MPEFI doesn't. This particulate if left to sit in the exhaust tract will start to wear at the exhaust valves.

I'm not saying the GTI's oil consumption is good, trust me it's worse than a lot of other cars but I can name quite a few new cars which are having oil consumption issues and all for the same reason

Holden commodore (Direct injection)
Subaru XV (Driect injection)
Hyundai GDI engines (i30/i40)

All direct injection - with low viscosity / SAPS oil

Some manufacturers have got their heads around petrol direct-injection, others haven't - but it doesn't explain why other engines from VW don't suffer to the same extent as the engine in the Polo GTI does.

I think this particular engine's penchant for drinking oil goes deeper than just its fuel delivery system.

All I know is that it's losing 1.2 litres of oil in every 1,000kms and this definitely is not considered normal!

After 5000 km, the engine may use up to 0.5 l per 1000 km before it is considered excessive.

The owners manual should also state that the oil consumption rates can be higher until then.

I don't mind admitting when I'm wrong.

Penrite HPR30 20w60 is 502.00 & full mineral. I wouldn't run anything that thick in a modern, unworn engine

HPR Diesel5 5w-40 is 502.00 & semisynth You could get away with this.

There must be others

Penrite claims that both products are able to meet 502.00, but neither product has been tested by VW for approval - so your claim that there are no mineral 502.00 oils can still stand.

There are three semi-synthetic engine oils approved to VW standard 502.00 that I know of which are sold in Australia:

Caltex Havoline Synthetic Blend 10W-40
Motul 6100 Synergie+ 10W-40
Shell Helix HX7 10W-40

So are you saying that they are correct in implying that they have a mineral base oil at the right specifications?

To my knowledge, no engine oil that has VW 502.00 approval is made from a mineral base (in contrast to VW 501.01)

I'm just gonna go with the flow and do whatever the dealer suggests as they are the ones dealing with my warranty.

Do they mention at what distance the mineral oil should be drained and what it should be replaced with?

Anyway, I have it all in writing. The correspondences are all via emails.

Yep, it's all on the dealer now - so let's see what eventuates.

[kevinctr]

Not all 1.4TSI engines and PGTI have high oil consumption issues am I right? It has to be more than just luck. Happy to report my MY12 PGTI has done hard run in before 500km, changing my oil early and only drive the car hard when oil temp shows 80 degrees has shaped my engine into a gem. I also use engine flush from Amsoil and VW engine flush once each. 5000km or 3 months drain interval after the run in is completed. I only get oil lost of around 100ml every 5000km. I used to have higher oil lost of 200-300ml with other types of oil. My previous Hondas all started burned oil after 20,000km as I was ignorant about warming up the oil temp and uses water gauge as an indicator just for info.

[Transporter]

Not all 1.4TSI engines and PGTI have high oil consumption issues am I right? It has to be more than just luck. Happy to report my MY12 PGTI has done hard run in before 500km, changing my oil early and only drive the car hard when oil temp shows 80 degrees has shaped my engine into a gem. I also use engine flush from Amsoil and VW engine flush once each. 5000km or 3 months drain interval after the run in is completed. I only get oil lost of around 100ml every 5000km. I used to have higher oil lost of 200-300ml with other types of oil. My previous Hondas all started burned oil after 20,000km as I was ignorant about warming up the oil temp and uses water gauge as an indicator just for info.

Yes you are.
As everyone is different, they maybe/probably pushed their engines too hard to soon during the run in period, which would explain it to me, as I also see many Polo GTIs that have normal oil consumption. The early oil changes are important to me too. I've always drained the factory oil at 1000-2000km and changed oil again at 5000km and 10,000km and then every 7,500km or every 6months whichever come first. The VW and other car manufacturers were wrong with their service recommendation so may times, so why on earth I would take their word for it that the engine will be fine when it gets the first oil after 15,000km/12months? You can't save the planet while changing the oil once a year or even every 2 years, you will just pollute it more because more engine/parts/cars needs to be made. Just look what's going on with the transmissions/gearboxes that are filled for life?

[brad]

So are you saying that they are correct in implying that they have a mineral base oil at the right specifications?

Anyway, I have it all in writing. The correspondences are all via emails.

The others have answered for me.

[skoobysGTI]

All engines from VW are most likely filled with synthetic oil from the factory - but for whatever reason, the engine fitted in the Polo GTI seems to have oil consumption issues above and beyond what other VW engines normally experience.

In addition, reports in this very thread, of different owners using different running-in procedures but still experiencing elevated levels of oil consumption, suggests to me that there is some sort of fundamental design flaw with this engine (and not for the first time for VW).



Oils approved to VW standard 501.01 can be met using a mineral base and often have viscosity grades of 10W-XX, 15W-XX or 20W-50.

However, VW stipulates that engine oils approved to VW standard 502.00 or 504.00 are to be used for the engine in the Polo GTI.

If the dealer goes ahead with its plan, they would be overriding the original factory recommendation.



For the record, the owners manual for most VW vehicles suggests driving at moderate revs and loads during the first few thousand km - even for the Audi R8, with its 309 kW 4.2 L V8 using either 502.00 or 504.00 oil.



I imagine so.



Some manufacturers have got their heads around petrol direct-injection, others haven't - but it doesn't explain why other engines from VW don't suffer to the same extent as the engine in the Polo GTI does.

I think this particular engine's penchant for drinking oil goes deeper than just its fuel delivery system.



After 5000 km, the engine may use up to 0.5 l per 1000 km before it is considered excessive.

The owners manual should also state that the oil consumption rates can be higher until then.



Penrite claims that both products are able to meet 502.00, but neither product has been tested by VW for approval - so your claim that there are no mineral 502.00 oils can still stand.

There are three semi-synthetic engine oils approved to VW standard 502.00 that I know of which are sold in Australia:

Caltex Havoline Synthetic Blend 10W-40
Motul 6100 Synergie+ 10W-40
Shell Helix HX7 10W-40



To my knowledge, no engine oil that has VW 502.00 approval is made from a mineral base (in contrast to VW 501.01)



Do they mention at what distance the mineral oil should be drained and what it should be replaced with?



Yep, it's all on the dealer now - so let's see what eventuates.

Thanks for the advice and help

Just contacted the dealer and they say they want to leave the mineral based oil in my new engine for 15,000kms!!! That is ridiculous!

I have declined their plan and have written to VWA to see what they suggest.

[k0e1]

ok so if someone had to give me a dumb proof run down of what i should do to run in the engine, I would

1. take the car to the mountains drive in sports mode within 500km?
2. continue driving the car daily in manual or sports mode?
3. drain factory oil and change between 1000-2000km
4. If so which oil should I change to?
5. monitor oil consumption and fingers crossed

Since when was buying a new car such a headache sigh

[AndrewBurns]

Those things may or may not help, I don't think there has been any statistical correlation between running-in method and oil consumption for the polo, it seems to be more dependent on how the engine is manufactured (and is thus just random chance to the buyer).

My car's oil light just came on for the first time which means it's using ~130mL/1000km. Not a great number but nowhere near the point where you start asking for new engines, and maybe that consumption will reduce now that the engine is almost completely bedded in.

When running in my car I:

- Avoided staying at a constant RPM for long periods of time (no cruise control)
- Slowly work up to higher RPM's (stay under 4000 for a while, then slowly ramp up to redline over ~2000km)
- Give the engine varying load at different RPM's and use engine braking to slow the car down from time to time
- I still haven't changed the oil, I will do that soon though as I'm at 7500km now

All of those things basically happen normally when driving in city traffic, you only have to be conscious of varying RPM's and loads if you do a lot of highway driving. Also learn to get the MDF to display oil temp and don't go too hard on the car until it's reached 90.

[POW]

Guys,just want to know when is your dealer perform oil consumption test for your polo?i ask mine and said wont do it until car 5-7000km. I heard some even wont do it til 10000km?

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk

[k0e1]

Guys,just want to know when is your dealer perform oil consumption test for your polo?i ask mine and said wont do it until car 5-7000km. I heard some even wont do it til 10000km?

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk

no oil consumption test was performed for me till i reached 10k. they kept on saying VW wont accept results anytime before. blah blah blah. the usual BS