A few issues, temperature/oil

[methodman]

Right been meaning to get to work on this for a while. Basically my Gti drinks oil, from full to minimum about 2 weeks.

I have also had some temperature issues, it never warms up barely ever gets onto N on gauge. I suspect either there's no thermostat/its faulty/the housing is cracked inside. Consequently sitting in traffic it overheats i suspect the fan is not kicking in.

My main question is, would the cooling/heating issue contribute to the drinking of oil as its not heating up enough?

 

The engine is also on 105k miles which may not help thanks in advance people

[Gage]

One of the things I found when I did my last oil change was the old filter was loose, which ment I had a small leak, nothing noticable on the ground. Very similar to you really seems to go through it quicker than it should. Doesn't anymore. Also temp thing, if you look at my thermostat thread, that goes through my issue with heating. Such a fking pain in the ass, sounds a lot like you have no thermostat and the fan isnt kicking in. New thermostat and fan switch should do it.

 

One other tip with oil, use 10w40 oil when your engine gets over 100k seems to quiten down the engine, makes up for the wear over the years.

Edited April 3, 2009 by Gage

[SteveB]

Are you using a lot of fuel as well? Could be that an over rich mixture is washing oil off of the bores causing the high oil use, but you don't say what milage you do. Deffo sort out the water problem first - from what you say I would suspect water pump failure. You might find that the oil consumption drops once you've done that.

[methodman]

filters been replaced and problem was there before that so maybe not that.

 

Going to try new switch and at some point new thermostat.

 

10w40 is this because its thicker?, surprisingly the engines quiet for the miles until its running low on oil that is!

 

I am not using too much fuel, do about 100 miles per week average. Water pump failure? surely the car would not run so cool all the time if the pump had died though? When it does sit in traffic it raises fairly slowly, but will eventually get too hot especially if i don't put the heaters on!

 

thanks for the advice so far people

[Gage]

Yeah that sounds a hell of a lot like mine. Probably got no thermostat. A few quick checks it test it. Turn your engine on and wait until your engine is just about to come out of the black range and grab your rad top hose, its should still be cold, if its hot you either have no thermostat or one that is stuck open. If it never gets hot its stuck closed.

 

To check your water pump - the return pipe (goes into the top of the tank were you put the water) unclip it and place it over the hole you use to fill it up. Start your engine, when its hot and your thermostat opens there should be a strong flow of water coming from that, if not its the pump.

 

Its more than likely the fan switch 90% of cooling problems are fan switches. easy and cheap to do. Just be careful you dont brake your top hose whilst replacing it.

 

Hope this helps

 

Gage