Scirocco Central

panhandle wrote:I'm 1500 miles in; and gave it some near red line action in that time. I always let the oil heat up to about 90 beforehand and have given it a good mix of short/long distance and low/high revs - surely this is the best way to give the engine some balance without thrashing it everywhere.

I came from a BMW that used to tell me when to top the engine oil and would of expected the same with my Roc, but havent seen any warnings as yet - should I top up?

Cheers

If you open that thing at the front of the car that has an engine inside... you'll see a little thing called a dipstick - it's directly linked to your oil level, albeit somewhat archaicly by means of a number of lines.

If it's below the line marked minimum then yes, you should top it up, if it's between minimum and maximum you're good to go.

If the oil level drops below the end of the dipstick, a recommendation comes on to "check oil level" in the highline display (if you have it) it's more of an amber alert than a red warning. For those that check their oil at least every fortnight (some wouuld say weekly), it should never come to this. Based upon how I have run in my last 4 VWs, oil consumption seems to vary a lot. Varied short distance journeys have resulted in the lowest oil consumption for me. I have had to add approx 1/2 a litre of oil over 15k miles in my Roc, but a 2.0TDI PD Golf I ran in via a 700 mile round trip on the motorway used a litre every 2k miles.

Maybe BMW includes the warning because the average BMW driver doesn't like getting their hands dirty?

maisbitt wrote:If the oil level drops below the end of the dipstick, a recommendation comes on to "check oil level" in the highline display (if you have it) it's more of an amber alert than a red warning. For those that check their oil at least every fortnight (some wouuld say weekly), it should never come to this. Based upon how I have run in my last 4 VWs, oil consumption seems to vary a lot. Varied short distance journeys have resulted in the lowest oil consumption for me. I have had to add approx 1/2 a litre of oil over 15k miles in my Roc, but a 2.0TDI PD Golf I ran in via a 700 mile round trip on the motorway used a litre every 2k miles.

Maybe BMW includes the warning because the average BMW driver doesn't like getting their hands dirty?

Seeing the number of people at my work who have NEVER checked anything in their car... be it air pressure, let alone oil level - it does worry me about buying second hand cars.

They teach oil level checks in the driving test these days!

Cheers, I feel I must point out Im not a total halfwit! I should maybe clear it up that you could check everything from the idrive system; engine oil, washer fluid levels, brake fluids, whether your rear lights were working etc etc etc etc so you never needed to actually have a look. On the odd occasion I didnt use the system to check the oil levels an alert (albeit an amber alert rather than a warning like you say maisbitt) flashed up to add some - My BMW didnt have a dipstick (besides the driver). Of course you could manually check if you were to prod around.

2.5k miles in and oil level is at 3/4s.

I must say I was a little disappointed to have to actually prop the bonnet up with the stick rather than beemers pneumatic system though

panhandle wrote:Cheers, I feel I must point out Im not a total halfwit! I should maybe clear it up that you could check everything from the idrive system; engine oil, washer fluid levels, brake fluids, whether your rear lights were working etc etc etc etc so you never needed to actually have a look. On the odd occasion I didnt use the system to check the oil levels an alert (albeit an amber alert rather than a warning like you say maisbitt) flashed up to add some - My BMW didnt have a dipstick (besides the driver). Of course you could manually check if you were to prod around.

2.5k miles in and oil level is at 3/4s.

I must say I was a little disappointed to have to actually prop the bonnet up with the stick rather than beemers pneumatic system though

Thank you for taking that in the manner it was intended!

Engines do use a little oil at early stages.... just keep an eye on it.

Buy a longer dipstick. Worked for my Volvo.