Car losing oil, Cant figure out why

bongi69

Right have a 99 1.4 Golf, 95K, and she was got with an FSH, a major service being done at 90K, and a basic oil change, filters etc. at 92500

I've noticed over the last few months that she's been OD'ing on oil. Over the last 2000 miles I've used a full 5 litre bottle of the stuff.

She's not burning it, there's no smoke or smell from the exhaust, and its not leaking, theres no puddles on the drive. There's also no apparent loss of power. There is one issue that has presented itself over the last week: When coming to a complete stop after shifting down, the engine will sometimes idle at 4-500 RPM, with alot of fuss and chugging. A quick tap of the accelerator sorts this out, and it'll return to the normal idle of 900rpm.

She is due another basic service, which I fully intend on doing myself. I'm no ferrari pit crew member, but can do more than just the basics. The old man is a retired forklift mechanic, so can assist with the basic stuff.

Is there anything that I should look out for while doing this to try and find out what is going on? Or does anyone have an inkling of what we're looking at here?

Any help appreciated lads.

martinr5232

If its not leaking it has to be going somewhere and these engines are notorious for burning oil im afraid!

Get rid of it its not going to get any better and at eleven years old it is not really worth rebconditiong the engine and a second hand one is a gamble as I said it is a known fault.

bongi69

martinr5232 wrote: »

If its not leaking it has to be going somewhere and these engines are notorious for burning oil im afraid!

Get rid of it its not going to get any better and at eleven years old it is not really worth rebconditiong the engine and a second hand one is a gamble as I said it is a known fault.

Its not really an option replacing it at this stage unfortunately. I'm one the unemployed masses

barryfitz

just keep her topped up, now that you know its slurping it dont get caught out.

techie

What spec oil are you using, older engines need thicker oil as the miles creep up.

Atlantic Dawn

techie wrote: »

What spec oil are you using, older engines need thicker oil as the miles creep up.

Mine used to need a good 2 litres or so between services but found myself that cheap oil was burnt off in the Golf but the premium stuff needed no top up whatsoever, found castrol edge 5w30 the best, pricey enough but if your doing it yourself well worth it.

Theta

techie wrote: »

What spec oil are you using, older engines need thicker oil as the miles creep up.

Why is this now?

me_right_one

She's burning it. Thats why the engine revs on a bit. You just dont notice when you're driving.

Saab Ed

Dump a bottle of engine restorer into the engine with the oil. This will reduce the oil consumption and help prevent it smoking from the exhaust. Ask advice in a good motor factors for which one to use in your car

Atomic Pineapple

Theta wrote: »

Why is this now?

As a car gets older the rings in the engine get worn allowing oil to seep through, thicker oil wont be able to seep through as much as thinner oil

trad

It's worth checking that the crankcase breather is not blocked. I mentioned this to a neighbour golf 1.4 owner and his was blocked solid. Oil consumption has reduced since replacing the breather.

bonzodog2

Not a solution, but on the brightside, if you have to keep adding oil, its going to be cleaner oil in the engine. I'd go for a big drum of a cheap brand of a thicker grade.

tred

Keep topping it up. Check it weekly. Some engines are designed to burn oil!, neighbour has a 2005 5 series and its regulalry needs a top up, allthough it does remind him!.

bongi69

Thanks all for the replies:

techie wrote: »

What spec oil are you using, older engines need thicker oil as the miles creep up.

Currently 15W40. The oil light came on when the oil issue first surfaced when I was just pulling into a shopping centre, and Argos was the only place that had oil, and this was the most suitable they had.

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

Mine used to need a good 2 litres or so between services but found myself that cheap oil was burnt off in the Golf but the premium stuff needed no top up whatsoever, found castrol edge 5w30 the best, pricey enough but if your doing it yourself well worth it.

Will look into it. Can you get it in halfrauds (its the closest place)

me_right_one wrote: »

She's burning it. Thats why the engine revs on a bit. You just dont notice when you're driving.

Saab Ed wrote: »

Dump a bottle of engine restorer into the engine with the oil. This will reduce the oil consumption and help prevent it smoking from the exhaust. Ask advice in a good motor factors for which one to use in your car

Classic symptoms of burning oil are not there though (smoke, smell etc.). Thats not to say she's not burning it, if she was hooked up to an emmissions tester it would probably show up. I will look into the engine restorer stuff though

trad wrote: »

It's worth checking that the crankcase breather is not blocked. I mentioned this to a neighbour golf 1.4 owner and his was blocked solid. Oil consumption has reduced since replacing the breather.

Will check when I'm doing the service. Do you know the general area that this is located?

As I've stated, its not an option replacing the car. There's still 18 months NCT on it, so the oil burning won't become an issue until then, and its not smoking, so at this stage I'm willing to keep topping it up, and taking measures to try reduce consumption

JimmyCrackCorn

I had the same engine. Same issue.
car got to 100,000miles and oil just disappeared. Knew dam well it was burning it.

I tried using oil thickening stuff to slow it down a little while i shopped for another car. It lasted another 7-8 months before water began to disappear two and i scrapped it.

I did drive the car quite hard but it was well maintained and regularly serviced since the 30k i bought it at.

Nissan doctor

A couple of things to check.
On the golfs its very common for the crank breather(as someone said above) to clock up with oil residue(usually whitich sludge) and this is the most common cause of poor idling on golfs.

As for the oil usage, just because you don't see much smoke doesn't mean its not burning it, modern exhaust had a cat and 2 silencers which will filter out most of the smoke.

The head gasket is a common problem which would cause the issue(a sniff test would diagnose this) but if it is left as is, and you just kep topping up as has been said, your cat will be next to go due to the contamination, and thats another 300-400 to put right.

Manuel

Don't mean to hijack the thread, but I have the same problem with my '98 Fiesta. Thing is, there's 140K miles on her and she's due NCT. Would a mechanic be likely to be able to diagnose the problem on inspection and rectify cheaply? I know, stupid question. I just don't want to spend too much money on her at this stage ...
Thanks.

Nonoperational

Any gunk under the oil filler cap? My money would be on the head gasket, seen a few go on old fiestas. Hopefuly Im wrong though.

bongi69

Well jacked up the car yesterday to have a ganzy at the outside temp sensor (connector came loose and car was telling me it was -45), and the rear of the sump, the subframe, part of the exhaust pipe, and the front of one of the silencers were absolutely caked in sludgy oil (not grease).

The opionions have been floating around in the house that either the sump gasket is bollixed, and when the engine heats up it expands letting oil out, or its a tiny crack that opens up a little when the engine heats up. So the car loses oil while driving along, and not onto the drive. Dunno how true this might be.

I cleaned it all off and will check under the car in a week to see if there's some more oil floating around there. Also got some oil additive crap in halfrauds that supposedly seals up cracks in the rubber seals o-rings etc. so will see if that makes a difference.