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Burning about 1 quart every 500 miles

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fradd

New member
TLDR in title.



Bought this 2012 Mk6 GTI in early March this year. I've since had to top up with about 8-10 quarts of oil total, in 5000 miles. I have changed the oil myself once, probably about 2000 miles ago.


I also had mechanic change the oil once, two weeks/500 miles ago. Dipstick reading is near minimum (bottom of hash marks) now.


I haven't been able to see leaks, nor have I smelled burnt oil or anything. The car runs well, although I wouldn't be surprised if whatever is causing the oil consumption has been decreasing the performance of the car since before I bought it, because the car might be less responsive/accelerates slower than I imagined.



All I know is that there was quite a bit of oil crusted along the front of the engine before I bought it. I have replaced cam position sensor so I don't think it was the o-ring on it leaking.


Any ideas what it could be?
 
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Wascally Wabbit1

Drag Racing Champion
Check your PCV. If the PCV goes it will consume a ton of oil through the intake. With that amount of oil and no smoke or ill effects the PCV would be the first thing I would check.
 
zrickety

zrickety

The Fixer
If you're sure it's not leaking, I would suspect the turbo. That's a lot of oil.
 
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Allchokedup

Autocross Champion
I was going through a quart every 200 miles. I'm fairly certain my rings were gone. At 150k I just decided to put a rebuilt block in it. That fixed it, lol
Before buying new stuff see if there are ways to test a part before throwing money at it. There is a way to check the pcv without taking it off. I had also replaced my turbo as that could have been the culprit, but was really just a way to get wife to say yes to ko4.
 
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fradd

New member
Wascally Wabbit said:
Check your PCV. If the PCV goes it will consume a ton of oil through the intake. With that amount of oil and no smoke or ill effects the PCV would be the first thing I would check.
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Allchokedup said:
I was going through a quart every 200 miles. I'm fairly certain my rings were gone. At 150k I just decided to put a rebuilt block in it. That fixed it, lol
Before buying new stuff see if there are ways to test a part before throwing money at it. There is a way to check the pcv without taking it off. I had also replaced my turbo as that could have been the culprit, but was really just a way to get wife to say yes to ko4.
Click to expand...


For checking the PCV, are you talking about the test where you take out the dipstick/oil cap while it's running, etc.? I tried that, and the engine made a weird noise for a few seconds before I replaced the cap. Felt terrible to do so I didn't leave the cap off for long.



zrickety said:
If you're sure it's not leaking, I would suspect the turbo. That's a lot of oil.
Click to expand...


Where around the turbo should I be checking?
 
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fradd

New member
Brought it to the (VW/Audi/Porsche) mechanic today. About 20 minutes after they drove it into the garage, he came out and explained that with "TFSI" engines (not even my engine), some factory installed piston rings badly on certain car models, etc. And he mentioned that I'd have to replace the engine for a whopping $9000.


Sooo, since they probably didn't even check the PCV or the turbo, I think I'll either bring it to another mechanic, or just replace the PCV and see if that changes anything. Or I'll live with having to fill up my oil every time I get gas.
 
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Wascally Wabbit1

Drag Racing Champion
fradd said:
Brought it to the (VW/Audi/Porsche) mechanic today. About 20 minutes after they drove it into the garage, he came out and explained that with "TFSI" engines (not even my engine), some factory installed piston rings badly on certain car models, etc. And he mentioned that I'd have to replace the engine for a whopping $9000.


Sooo, since they probably didn't even check the PCV or the turbo, I think I'll either bring it to another mechanic, or just replace the PCV and see if that changes anything. Or I'll live with having to fill up my oil every time I get gas.
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That's a bullshit answer. It may not be wrong but without some tests it's just bullshit worse case scenario. Shit replacing the engine could be the solution for every engine problem.

You could look in the tubing going from the PCV to the intake manifold and check for oil but even then there may not be a lot in there as the manifold will just suck it out. i would just replace it as it's pretty cheap. The dipstick/oilcap method is not very reliable because it is checking for vacuum leaks with the PCV not a bad PCV valve. The fact that your engine ran crappy says that you likly don't have a vacuum leak as by removing those you introduced one and it caused it to run poorly as it should. But a bad PCV valve will still have vacuum but now is no longer regulating the amount of flow between the crankcase vent and your intake. Imagine sucking in through a straw vs using a shopvac.

If the turbo was eating it up that would be concerning. The turbo needs oil to live but not that much and that would be a sign of bad things about to come if not dealt with sooner than later.

If it's the rings then a leak down test would prove that to be true. That's why some asshole mechanic determining the engine is shot with nothing, not even a simple leak down test, to back it up is just aggravating.

Check the PCV tubing, or replace it (very common to fail). No luck, then leak down test (pretty cheap), if that is good then look at the turbo. If it's rings with that much oil I would think a broken ring as opposed to worn rings. Surprisingly a broken ring doesn't always cause the engine to run crappy...just use a lot of oil.

I am running with no PCV currently, but I am naturally aspirated, and running the crackcase vent back to the intake pre-throttle body so I am under very low vacuum and I use about a qaurt every 2000 miles or so but that is expected given my setup. I had run this setup to the intake manifold to test and it was loosing crazy amounts of oil (1 qt in 100 miles) with that much vacuum so even a small leak in the PCV under vacuum can lead to very excessive oil consumption.
 
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NewGuy1

NewGuy1

Go Kart Champion
Like others have mentioned PCV would probably be the first culprit (with this much oil loss it may be a few different things).
What model PCV does your car have?
You can pull the tubing from the PCV to the stage 2 intake pipe and see if there is a lot of oil there. That's usually a sign.
Do you have any smoke coming from your exhaust? (A sign of oil getting into the turbo)
 
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fradd

New member
Wascally Wabbit said:
That's a bullshit answer. If that were the case you would have quite a bit of smoking going on. You could look in the tubing going from the PCV to the intake manifold and check for oil or just replace it as it's pretty cheap.

If the turbo was eating it up that would be concerning. The turbo needs oil to live but not that much and that would be a sign of bad things about to come.

If it's the rings then a leak down test would prove that to be true. That's why some asshole mechanic determining the engine is shot with nothing, not even a simple leak down test, to back it up is just aggravating.

Check the PCV tubing, or replace it (very common to fail). No luck, then leak down test (pretty cheap), if that is good then look at the turbo. If it's rings with that much oil I would think a broken ring as opposed ro worn rings.

I am running with nl PCV currently, but K am naturally aspirated, and runnjng the crackcase vent back to the intake pre-throttle body so I am under very low vacuum and J use about a qaurt every 2000 miles or so. I had run this setup to the intake manifold to test and it was loosing crazy amounts of oil (1 qt in 100 miles) with that much vacuum so even a small leak in the PCV under vacuum can lead to very excessive oil consumption.
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I'll check all of that for sure, thanks! Weirdly good to know that vacuum/PCV leak could potentially cause this much oil loss, cause most threads I've read are people concerned about burning 1 qt in 2000+ miles.

It was pretty aggravating at the mechanic, especially since I'd already come before and all they did was an oil change. I don't know how I can possibly find a VW mechanic that would take me seriously if I'm not a regular or some shit, because I've been to two highly rated ones so far and it hasn't helped at all.

Also, found this messiness looking under the car.
Would replacing the DV help with oil consumption? Probably gonna do it anyway if that's where the oil is coming from.


NewGuy said:
Like others have mentioned PCV would probably be the first culprit (with this much oil loss it may be a few different things).
What model PCV does your car have?
You can pull the tubing from the PCV to the stage 2 intake pipe and see if there is a lot of oil there. That's usually a sign.
Do you have any smoke coming from your exhaust? (A sign of oil getting into the turbo)
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I've never seen smoke from the exhaust so far, nor have I had misfire codes (I hear that's another faulty PCV symptom). I'll check the model, but as far as I know it isn't revised. EDIT: PCV is Valco (oof) V10-2595 987072658. Where it normally has the VW/Audi logos, all it has is "PA6-6F30".
 
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NewGuy1

NewGuy1

Go Kart Champion
fradd said:
Also, found this messiness looking under the car.
Would replacing the DV help with oil consumption? Probably gonna do it anyway if that's where the oil is coming from.


I've never seen smoke from the exhaust so far, nor have I had misfire codes (I hear that's another faulty PCV symptom). I'll check the model, but as far as I know it isn't revised.
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Misfires are not always present.
My failed PCV never misfired nor threw any code but was putting a good amount of oil into my intake. (Not as much as your losing tho)

That picture honestly doesn't look that bad.
I would wipe down the area first and make sure that oil is coming from DV and not somewhere farther up like upper timing cover before replacing things.

If your using an rubber diaphragm DV might as well upgrade it anyways tho.
 
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gijoewoz

Go Kart Champion
Start by giving the engine a good cleaning. The problem could become obvious very quickly if you start with a clean engine block, and keep an eye on it for any leaks. It'll also win you points with the mechanic, if it's clean for them to work on, and easy to inspect things visually, it makes their job easier, and tells them that you care enough about your possessions to take care of them, so they'll be more likely to do the same.
 
NewGuy1

NewGuy1

Go Kart Champion
Wascally Wabbit said:
Just a heads up you don't need to replace the whole pcv unit you can just replace the diaphram and cap as long as you are very carefull to not crack the valve housing when prying off the original cap. So you can replace the PCV for like $15 and a half an hour of work.

Dorman 917-064 PCV Diaphragm Repair Kit for Volkswagen https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CFJT6AE/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_s7R9CbT6SD9PF
Click to expand...

Thats only one of the way some of these PCVs fail tho.
May not fix every PCV
 
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Wascally Wabbit1

Drag Racing Champion
NewGuy said:
Thats only one of the way some of these PCVs fail tho.
May not fix every PCV
Click to expand...

Not following you. The diaphram is effectively the PCV and replacing the PCV will fix any issue caused by the PCV. If you're talking about another issue causing the PCV to not work properly that is not a PCV issue. That is a PCV symptom. Example, PCV not operating properly because of a vacuum leak. That is not a PCV issue that is a vacuum issue where the symptom is a PCV not functioning correctly. In the case of oil cosumption it would likey be an issue with the PCV diaphram itself as they ofter tear and oil consumption would definitely be a problem at that point as the PCV would not close at idle (max vacuum) and you'd be sucking in crankcase vapor like crazy. Also a diaphram failure would cause you to suck copious amounts of oil durring any spirited driving. It is possible that there is a slight vacuum leak causing the PCV to not fully close but with still enough vacuum to suck oil. In this case however there would likely be a code thrown whereas a torn diaphram would not throw any codes until a sensor got oily from it or something. If there was an issue not allowing the PCV to open at all then you would likely start blowing seals as the crankcase vapor has nowhere to go. Then you would also start losing oil as well but it would be showing up on your garage floor.

Not saying replacing the PCV will fix the issue but for $15 it's a start and given the issue the diaphragm is a strong candidate for the culprit.
 
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fradd

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