OIL loss 750ml over 6500 miles. Emissions passed by brink

seatbeltnoob

Hi

My banger (14 year old golf) just scraped it's emissions. But it's losing fluids in every area, power steering, engine oil, coolant (thankfully not brake)

I like the car, but since it's such a common car, its age and condition makes it worthless. So I am very reluctant to spend anything on the car and just drive it until it goes bang. Currently its on 132000 miles (want to get it to 150000 and scrap it).

So the oil leak is concerning me, it could be loss through sump seals, oil sensor. There is a chronic oil stain on sump that I see every oil change, dont know if its fresh oil leaking down or just oil oil.

I want to rule out leaking of oil into combustion chamber which would indicate a very expensive and critical issue. I was wondering if it is possible to test for this? I had a block test on it 20K miles ago (related to coolant loss and wanted to know if the coolant was leaking into the block). Mechanic tested it and said there's no block leak. I was wondering whether it's worth looking into the cylinders usiing a cheap chinese lit up endescope to see inside, Would it tell me anything?

I thought if I can see sut in it, it might point to oil leaking into the combustion chamber.

seatbeltnoob

I am currently using fully synthetic 5w40 oil. I heard that you can prevent the loss by using thicker oil. It it worthwhile considering this? if so what do I go for?

gilbert_and_sullivan

I wouldn't worry about it, 750ml every 6500 miles, and you want it to last to 150k which is 18000 miles away, so roughly 2.5 litres of oil at the present rate, currently under £15 for 5 litres of 5w40 full synthetic (a good all round oil grade that would do 90% of us) on CP4L, so roughly £7/8 worth of oil will be needed.
Just keep it topped up with fluids and worry about it if it gets much worse.
Its probably using a bit and losing a bit, if it was putting too much into the combustion chambers you would be laying smoke like a wartime battleship.

Iceweasel

As said 750ml over 6500miles is not a lot and is within many manufacturers tolerances - Don't know about VWs but some BMWs, Audis, & M-Benzs can easily use that from new - and more.

Looking inside the cylinders will likely reveal nothing conclusive.

If it's a petrol engine whip out the plugs and compare them - if one has darker deposits than the others then you might be able to say that there is a split/crack - but again not 100% reliable.

My advice - forget about it.

EdGasket

One of my cars uses that every two weeks; don't worry about it but make sure you top up as necessary. If you think it might be burning it, use a slightly thicker oil like 10w/40 and switch to semi-synth which won't leak so much.

seatbeltnoob

EdGasket wrote: »

One of my cars uses that every two weeks; don't worry about it but make sure you top up as necessary. If you think it might be burning it, use a slightly thicker oil like 10w/40 and switch to semi-synth which won't leak so much.

wow, how is it doing with emissions? close to the limit or sails through?

It's a VW, fixing emissions is like brain surgery, one electrical probe goes wrong and it just wreaks havoc everywhere. The only way to know for sure is to take it to a speicalist who can check all the sensors via OBD.

But like I said, the car is worth so little and it's near the end the reduction in fuel economy is cheaper than a specialist repair.

A specialist may be able to diagnose it and find a £30 part that needs fixing which sorts the car out. Or he could turn around and say there are 5 things that need fixing and it's going to be beyond economical repair in which case I wasted me hard earned money on a diagnosis.

motorguy

seatbeltnoob wrote: »

A specialist may be able to diagnose it and find a £30 part that needs fixing which sorts the car out. Or he could turn around and say there are 5 things that need fixing and it's going to be beyond economical repair in which case I wasted me hard earned money on a diagnosis.

I would say with that miles its predominantly oil use rather than losing it.

As such its not worth repairing. Just keep topping it up.

Dont spend ANY money on diagnosis or trying to fix it.

EdGasket

Emissions are fine so long as the car is taken for a good run before the test. I used to just rev it up lots but last MoT it needed 30 mins on the motorway so maybe being under actual load gets the cat hotter than just revving.

BTW it was CO that was the problem, not hydrocarbons.

facade

That will be the catalyst clogging a bit from the oil smoke and running around town, they also work less well as they age. Just give it the thrash down the motorway before the MOT

seatbeltnoob

EdGasket wrote: »

Emissions are fine so long as the car is taken for a good run before the test. I used to just rev it up lots but last MoT it needed 30 mins on the motorway so maybe being under actual load gets the cat hotter than just revving.

BTW it was CO that was the problem, not hydrocarbons.

mine is HC too (as evidence of low fuel economy). Which is why I'm reluctant to get this looked at as I'm sure it is a multitude of problems.

If the car was a rare triumph, GB or some other car that could be a classic and collectable rare car then I would spend the money on it. As it's a ridiculously popular car it is very disposable makes no sense to have it looked into.