No oil in engine

[amdby]

Just buying my first cali. Waiting to collect it, but just browsing the online mot history. This one, back at 23000 miles failed the mot as they couldn't do the emissions test as it had "no oil in the engine". However it has passed every year since then and has now done 65000 miles. It drives perfect. Just a bit concerned that the engine was dry at some point. Am I being overly worried? I've already paid!

 

[jts46]

What year is it ?
What engine does it have ?
Previous owner most probably waited for engine oil light to come instead of checking regularly. Some m****** on this forum do this.

 

[AlanC]

I would be very surprised if the engine had no oil at all in it, if so the engine would have seized on the way to the MOT centre.

Probably no oil was showing on the dipstick, that means the oil is low and needs topping up urgently, but the engine will still have around 6 litres of oil remaining in the sump and still be drivable, but not very far...

Alan

 

[motacyclist]

Just buying my first cali. Waiting to collect it, but just browsing the online mot history. This one, back at 23000 miles failed the mot as they couldn't do the emissions test as it had "no oil in the engine". However it has passed every year since then and has now done 65000 miles. It drives perfect. Just a bit concerned that the engine was dry at some point. Am I being overly worried? I've already paid!

Some of the earlier 180bhp engines apparently have heavy oil usage. I think 2010 - 2012 mainly. Do a search on this forum and others.

If that fits your Cali it could be affected, but hopefully VW may have sorted early in it’s life.

Hope it’s ok.

We’re not far from you so maybe see you on the road. Post some pics up when you get it!

 

[westfalia]

Some m****** on this forum do this.

Mad people
motherf+++*rs
maniacs
muppets?
Give us a bit more of a clue John

 

[TripleBee]

mindfull people?
medicals
mean machines

 

[amdby]

What year is it ?
What engine does it have ?
Previous owner most probably waited for engine oil light to come instead of checking regularly. Some m****** on this forum do this.

It's a 2012, 62 plate. It's the biTdi 180 engine.

 

[Volkywagen]

Does it bang bang knock knock when you put your foot down?!

 

[TripleBee]

It's a 2012, 62 plate. It's the biTdi 180 engine.

Hopefully they put in a new engine, or repaired it very well.
Just make sure you watch out for the oil light in the cluster if you drive it.
Once you have driven 3000 miles without the light coming on, you will be safe. Or as safe as can be for the oil consumption.

 

[amdby]

Hopefully they put in a new engine, or repaired it very well.
Just make sure you watch out for the oil light in the cluster if you drive it.
Once you have driven 3000 miles without the light coming on, you will be safe. Or as safe as can be for the oil consumption.

Oh, you're worrying me now. Its done 40 000 miles since this happened. I took it for a decent test drive when I bought it, it ran beautifully. Havent collected it yet.

 

[TripleBee]

I didn't want to worry you but the first 180 hp engines were a bad series.
Are you buying private or from a dealer?
If not private, in Belgium they need to give you 18 months of warranty on second hand vehicles. Make sure they put on paper that at least the engine is covered for that 18 months and try to drive as much miles as you can when you collect the van.
And take a bottle of engine oil with you for sure.

 

[amdby]

I didn't want to worry you but the first 180 hp engines were a bad series.
Are you buying private or from a dealer?
If not private, in Belgium they need to give you 18 months of warranty on second hand vehicles. Make sure they put on paper that at least the engine is covered for that 18 months and try to drive as much miles as you can when you collect the van.
And take a bottle of engine oil with you for sure.

Ugh, a bad series? It's a private uk sale, and it has a full vw service history.

 

[Jabberwocky]

Mothers?

 

[westfalia]

It used to be that when they did the emissions test they
revved the bollöx off it.
A good test station would check the oil first.
If that van had lowish oil then that could be the reason why
they didn't do the test.
23 thou and now 65,000.....
You could be worrying about nothing.

 

[andyinluton]

Do you just need a longer dipstick to reach the oil?

 

[westfalia]

Do you just need a longer dipstick to reach the oil?

Never had a problem with my dipstick
How long is yours?

 

[motacyclist]

Never had a problem with my dipstick
How long is yours?

Mine's a bit limp these days

 

[amdby]

Mine's a bit limp these days

Vwiagra?

 

[westfalia]

Mine's a bit limp these days

Yeah but how many miles has it done?
mines just running in although a jump start is nice
sometimes

 

[TripleBee]

It used to be that when they did the emissions test they
revved the bollöx off it.
A good test station would check the oil first.
If that van had lowish oil then that could be the reason why
they didn't do the test.
23 thou and now 65,000.....
You could be worrying about nothing.

Tell me how you revv the bollx out of an engine that is limited in rpm when staionary?
I can flat out stationary, and the engine climbs up to 2500 rpm and then stays there.
Finally they did something good to prevent damage from undergoing the most useless MOT test ever.
The worst thing you can do with a diesel engine is revving it to the redline when not driving. And even when driving 3500 is already more than enough.

 

[westfalia]

Tell me how you revv the bollx out of an engine that is limited in rpm when staionary?

Easy, connect the emissions testing trickery up to the tail pipe, start the car and then
give it full throttle.
Thats how it used to be tested and i´ve seen it, end of.

 

[TripleBee]

Easy, connect the emissions testing trickery up to the tail pipe, start the car and then
give it full throttle.
Thats how it used to be tested and i´ve seen it, end of.

I see you have the T5. Those aren't limited in rpm stationary.
My Golf 4 could go up to 5500 rpm, but as from the T5.1, they limited the rpm.

 

[AlanC]

Ugh, a bad series? It's a private uk sale, and it has a full vw service history.

It is well known that the VW engine plant manufactured an early batch of T5 180bhp BiTurbo engines which had a new design of EGR cooler. This was made of aluminium which corroded internally and caused wear in the cylinders which in turn increased the oil consumption drastically. These engines were manufactured from 2010-2011. Following that, the EGR was modified a number of times, eventually with a special coating inside which prevented this corrosion.

My 2010 van suffered from this issue resulting in a new engine eventually having to be fitted. Since then it hasn't used any oil so the EGR problem has been resolved.

As your van is 2012, it should have been fitted originally with an improved EGR Cooler (probably 'A' suffix) which, from your description, has subsequently been replaced with presumably the latest 'D' suffix model.

It is slightly worrying that the MOT test spotted a lack of oil on the dipstick as while back, but since the van has traveled 40k miles since then and been serviced by a VW dealer I should think there shouldn't be any serious issues to worry about.

Alan

 

[amdby]

It is well known that the VW engine plant manufactured an early batch of T5 180bhp BiTurbo engines which had a new design of EGR cooler. This was made of aluminium which corroded internally and caused wear in the cylinders which in turn increased the oil consumption drastically. These engines were manufactured from 2010-2011. Following that, the EGR was modified a number of times, eventually with a special coating inside which prevented this corrosion.

My 2010 van suffered from this issue resulting in a new engine eventually having to be fitted. Since then it hasn't used any oil so the EGR problem has been resolved.

As your van is 2012, it should have been fitted originally with an improved EGR Cooler (probably 'A' suffix) which, from your description, has subsequently been replaced with presumably the latest 'D' suffix model.

It is slightly worrying that the MOT test spotted a lack of oil on the dipstick as while back, but since the van has traveled 40k miles since then and been serviced by a VW dealer I should think there shouldn't be any serious issues to worry about.

Alan

Thank you

 

[briwy]

Re the MOT test our MOT guy told me that it is impossible to fail on emmisions on later diesels because as already stated they are rev limited so can't get up to the required revs.