Engine oil for an 03 Golf

j2u

Ho he light has come on my 03 volkswagon golf .My boss drove it down to the garage and put a bottle of oil in the engine for me as of course according to the symbol that popped up is what the car requires.Trouble is that the light is still on and i have my Nct again next this friday so im anxious to get it sorted ASAP.So i need to try putting in some more engine oil and hopefully that will do it but what kind of oil do i use?i know im not to use diesal oil but is there anything else i should know?Thanks

_Kaiser_

My Passat did the same thing (yellow light, right?) - turned out it was a sensor problem.

crosstownk

Those oil level sensors do give bother with VWs. Do NOT overfill with oil - if the dipstick indicates 'full' then leave it at that. I don't think you'll fail the NCT with the light on.

Tanabe

Use 5/40 synthetic oil. The light on the dash is there because your lamba sensor is gone. Costs €200 for a new one, you can get the light on the dash de-activated if you get the car run on the diagnostics.

Either way, whether you choose to get the new lamba sensor or not, this will not harm the car (just that the light on dash will remain), this shouldn't be of any concern for NCT.

crosstownk

Tanabe wrote:

Use 5/40 synthetic oil. The light on the dash is there because your lamba sensor is gone. Costs €200 for a new one, you can get the light on the dash de-activated if you get the car run on the diagnostics.

Either way, whether you choose to get the new lamba sensor or not, this will not harm the car (just that the light on dash will remain), this shouldn't be of any concern for NCT.

I don't think the light is related to the oxygen sensor.......

j2u wrote:

My boss drove it down to the garage and put a bottle of oil in the engine for me as of course according to the symbol that popped up is what the car requires.

My guess says it's the yellow 'oil can' light.

Tanabe

crosstownk wrote:

I don't think the light is related to the oxygen sensor.......

I had my GTi serviced yesterday & that's what the mechanic told me

crosstownk wrote:

My guess says it's the yellow 'oil can' light.

Correct.

crosstownk

If that's what your mechanic told you then he's way off the mark. Can you post a pic of the light - just to be sure?

Esel

Definitely do not overfill with oil!

patrickc

well ive passed the nct with lights on before, mainly airbags. but they check the oil level so imagine they wouldnt care

craichoe

Isnt that oil can for temp and not level ?

I'd go with the dipstick tbh.. overfilling is as bad as not enough !

crosstownk

craichoe wrote:

Isnt that oil can for temp and not level ?

I'd go with the dipstick tbh.. overfilling is as bad as not enough !

The lamp has two functions - if it is yellow it indicates low oil level. If it is red it indicates low oil pressure.

When checking oil level, the dipstick is the only method as the yellow light only indicates when oil level drops below the minimum aceptable level.

Tanabe

crosstownk wrote:

If that's what your mechanic told you then he's way off the mark. Can you post a pic of the light - just to be sure?

Apologies! I misread the OP. You are perfectly correct in what you said. What threw me off was that my GTi did have the 'yellow oil can light' on the dash once or twice, but after topping up with fresh oil, it always disappeared.

However, what I did have constantly displayed on my dash was a yellow 'engine' symbol. It is this the mechanic told me as to do with the lamba sensor. Does that still sound correct?

It has since disappeared after the service, but this has been the case previously, only for it to reappear over time.

Cheers.

Mr.Diagnostic

Tanabe wrote:

Apologies! I misread the OP. You are perfectly correct in what you said. What threw me off was that my GTi did have the 'yellow oil can light' on the dash once or twice, but after topping up with fresh oil, it always disappeared.

However, what I did have constantly displayed on my dash was a yellow 'engine' symbol. It is this the mechanic told me as to do with the lamba sensor. Does that still sound correct?

It has since disappeared after the service, but this has been the case previously, only for it to reappear over time.

Cheers.

The yellow engine symbol that you mention is the engine management warning light. This comes on to inform the driver that there is a fault in the management system. This can be one of hundreds of faults not just the lambda sensor.

If the fault code that caused the light to come on is cleared with a scan tool then the light will not return until the fault does. So the fault has to be fixed not just reset.
If the fault in your case is the lambda sensor then it will cause further problems unless fixed.

Tanabe

Mr.Diagnostic wrote:

......If the fault in your case is the lambda sensor then it will cause further problems unless fixed.

Would this be best fixed immediately? What further problems may occur? I had planned on doing it, when I could afford it better.

The mechanic said it wouldn't do any harm, just that the light would come on the dash again!?

Mr.Diagnostic

Tanabe wrote:

Would this be best fixed immediately? What further problems may occur? I had planned on doing it, when I could afford it better.

The mechanic said it wouldn't do any harm, just that the light would come on the dash again!?

If the Lambda sensor is the fault then the car most likely default to running rich. Running rich means unburnt fuel entering the exhaust which, over a period of time, will lead to Catalytic Converter damage.

If the fault is the Lambda sensor signal out of spec it could be caused by a misfire (bad coil etc). Something like this could cause ECU damage. That is probably an extreme example.

There are lots of possible causes. Basically the light is telling you that it needs attention. In general, VW do not want warning lights on the dash for no reason so they design the system to put the light on when the cause is important enough.

crosstownk

Tanabe wrote:

Would this be best fixed immediately? What further problems may occur? I had planned on doing it, when I could afford it better.

The mechanic said it wouldn't do any harm, just that the light would come on the dash again!?

It really depends on what fault is causing the light to come on. If it is due to a faulty lambda sensor, then it's possible that the catalytic converter will be damaged due to raw fuel entering the exhaust. It may also cause the engine to run rough and/or cut out. You may also be consuming too much fuel.

Your best bet is to have the fault memory read to determine exactly what is wrong.

Tanabe

Thanks lads for your words of wisdom. I'll have to investigate it further. Nothing on the dash at the moment (just after the service), so we'll see how it goes for sure.

I did notice yesterday that it took around €4 less to fill the tank (& the price of petrol certainly hasn't dropped as you all know).

Wonder could there be any relation there?

Esel

Tanabe wrote:

I did notice yesterday that it took around €4 less to fill the tank (& the price of petrol certainly hasn't dropped as you all know).

Wonder could there be any relation there?

If you are refilling after a set number of miles, then maybe. Otherwise, can't see a link.