Oil low sensor

[CaliforniaPhil]

My Cali is in for service and I asked them to look at the oil low sensor. Before it went in, it was low on oil but no warning had came on.

Just had an update from them and they say it's not got an oil low sensor on the van. (Ocean spec, 4motion my23 (nov 22))

Any body else have this? Should I be complaining to VW.

 

[dspuk]

Complaining about? The dealer or lack of sensor?

It’s highly unlikely to be the latter, see manual image. Maybe the dealer is just wrong (shock) and the oil just wasn’t low enough to cause a low pressure situation and trigger the sensor?

 

[colintfcolintf]

when you say low on oil, was the engine oil level checked via the dipstick when the engine was cold or warm ?

 

[andyinluton]

I can buy a Hella oil level sensor for my van from GSF so I would assume one is fitted ! but not sure if its trigger for low or high level oil.

My understanding is that normally if oil is low enough to trigger a sensor you are at the point of wrecking the engine.

My 2014 van had a massive oil leak ( about 5litres per mile) after a service & the oil level lamp flashed on for literally just a second. It took a few litres just to get the oil up to the low end of the dipstick.

 

[CaliforniaPhil]

when you say low on oil, was the engine oil level checked via the dipstick when the engine was cold or warm ?

Think they (VW) suggested it needed over 1 litre. Not sure got or cold. Though I had read on here, people would add oil when they had a low oil warning showing on the dash.

Has anybody had a low oil warning come on and if so, how much oil was needed to top it up?

I'm a bit baffled by VW saying it's not fitted. I thought they all had them on. High and low oil.

 

[CaliforniaPhil]

Looking around the forum, maybe my oil was not low enough to trigger the oil low warning light. It's still strange VW said it didn't have a low warning sensor!

 

[KevH]

Sounds you might want to use a different dealer in future.

 

[CaliforniaPhil]

Sounds you might want to use a different dealer in future.

Problem is, they are 4 miles down the road. Great not having to organise a loan van. Have to travel about an hour to Peterborough for California related stuff.

 

[colintfcolintf]

Problem is, they are 4 miles down the road. Great not having to organise a loan van. Have to travel about an hour to Peterborough for California related stuff.

Who is the dealer ?

 

[TripleBee]

Think they (VW) suggested it needed over 1 litre. Not sure got or cold. Though I had read on here, people would add oil when they had a low oil warning showing on the dash.

Has anybody had a low oil warning come on and if so, how much oil was needed to top it up?

I'm a bit baffled by VW saying it's not fitted. I thought they all had them on. High and low oil.

I have never had any oil level warning. Even when I used to do oil service every 2 years (approx. 30000km), when I checked at 15000km, the van never needed more than 0.5 liter of oil.
Now I do oil service every year, and I hardly ever check my oil level.

 

[KevH]

Problem is, they are 4 miles down the road. Great not having to organise a loan van. Have to travel about an hour to Peterborough for California related stuff.

So is it the VW dealer saying there is no sensor or your local non-VW garage?

 

[Nand0]

MIssing oil sensor on a new van from VW? I would consider finding a n

My understanding is that normally if oil is low enough to trigger a sensor you are at the point of wrecking the engine.

When I spoke to the mechanic last time about this he advised the opposite. He told me that even when the light comes on, there's still a crap ton of oil left in there and there's no real urgency to top it up. In fact he said, regarding oil, that I can just wait for the light come on, drop 0.5L in there, and get on with my life.

I still check the dip stick on occasion, worry wart in me worries that the oil sensor may fail and then I'll be f*ck3d. But if it comes on... well, just top up next time you stop

 

[CaliforniaPhil]

Who is the dealer ?

Kettering

 

[CaliforniaPhil]

So is it the VW dealer saying there is no sensor or your local non-VW garage?

Kettering VW

 

[CaliforniaPhil]

I have been running a BMW for the last 4 years and I don't think it has a dip stick. It's all on the infotainment system. You get out of the habit of checking.
I also had a company Vauxhall, it was showing low oil but it wasn't low. Vauxhall fixed it under warranty. We bought the car when the lease was up, the first service I did I noticed a wire bridge in the oil sensor connector!

By the way, VW say it's upto 1 litre per 600 miles. VW are covering themselves, that a top up every time you stop for fuel.

 

[Nand0]

same mechanic I mentioned above also told me that a well running engine will not burn 1L of oil in 10,000Km, if that. And he runs a fleet of Californias that he rents out, so he should know.

Sounds hard to believe based on what I read in this forum, but to be fair to him, my previous car was written off at 13yrs of age and ~125,000Km, and I didn't have to top up oil once in between services.

VW is taking the mickey with these engines.

But to come back on topic, a VW out of the factory with a missing oil sensor sounds very very unlikely

 

[andyinluton]

When I spoke to the mechanic last time about this he advised the opposite. He told me that even when the light comes on, there's still a crap ton of oil left in there and there's no real urgency to top it up. In fact he said, regarding oil, that I can just wait for the light come on, drop 0.5L in there, and get on with my life.

I would find a new mechanic - if the low oil level warning light is on, from my experience with a leaky engine, the level is something like 2 litres below minimum on the dipstick add on another half litre as an assumption as to the fill level when the van was serviced & that light is warning that you've lost or used 2.5 litres of oil.

Thats 2.5 litres since you last checked the dipstick, it's a huge amount however infrequently you check the level. If that light comes on I would be stopping at the first possible opportunity & checking for a leak.

 

[Nand0]

My experience contradicts this 2L obvervation of yours. I had the low oil level light come on once, I put about half a liter in and I could see that, as measured with the dip stick, level was about half way, which agrees with what the mechanic is telling me.

This is on a T6 204. Other engines may behave differently

 

[scottk]

I have been running a BMW for the last 4 years and I don't think it has a dip stick. It's all on the infotainment system. You get out of the habit of checking.
I also had a company Vauxhall, it was showing low oil but it wasn't low. Vauxhall fixed it under warranty. We bought the car when the lease was up, the first service I did I noticed a wire bridge in the oil sensor connector!

By the way, VW say it's upto 1 litre per 600 miles. VW are covering themselves, that a top up every time you stop for fuel.

I think you are getting mixed up. VW say that 1l of oil every 600miles is acceptable for the oil usage test they use for the EGR test.

 

[Edsr]

Did this dealer sell you the van? And is it a BiTurbo engine? As alluded to by others, if it’s using lots of oil between services, then BS about not having an oil sensor could be a red flag for the EGR issue. The newer models aren’t exempt from this occurring.

I’ve been lied to (or at best misinformed) several times by VW dealers, and it’s always been to cover something up that would cost them under warranty.

Is the DPF doing a lot of regens and does it smell strongly when it does? Could be worth getting it looked at independently and doing a compression test? And perhaps writing to the dealer expressing concerns about being told it doesn’t have a sensor, the oil consumption etc - get it on record early.

 

[CaliforniaPhil]

Did this dealer sell you the van? And is it a BiTurbo engine? As alluded to by others, if it’s using lots of oil between services, then BS about not having an oil sensor could be a red flag for the EGR issue. The newer models aren’t exempt from this occurring.

I’ve been lied to (or at best misinformed) several times by VW dealers, and it’s always been to cover something up that would cost them under warranty.

Is the DPF doing a lot of regens and does it smell strongly when it does? Could be worth getting it looked at independently and doing a compression test? And perhaps writing to the dealer expressing concerns about being told it doesn’t have a sensor, the oil consumption etc - get it on record early.

This vw service centre is close to me, I got it from another dealer. It's a 204 bhp, bi turbo. It's not using a huge amount of oil, just got to keep an eye on it over the next year to see how much. VW said that they can use upto 1 litre per 1000 miles. Then this dealer said about the 1 litre per 600 miles, which sound ridiculous, but as #scottk said it could have been the egr test. The van had done nearly 8000 miles when services, it's only had the 1 top up. So not too worried about it. Saying that, if it had used 8 litres, vw wouldn't want to know anyway.

I was thinking of getting a obd reader/software to have a look at what's going on with egr regens and code some of the warning buzzers off.