# What oil to use in my 2001 MK4 Golf 1.4 petrol?



## veedoubleu83 (Sep 11, 2012)

Hi all,

Purchased this car about 5 months ago. It's done 97k miles.

I've done an oil and filter change and used what the original VW manual recommended - *5w40 fully synthetic.*

But I'm having to top it up every 2 weeks! At the beginning of the 2 weeks the oil will be at the top of the dipstick marker, at the end of 2 weeks it will just be approaching the bottom of the marker. 

I do not drive a lot of miles.

There is no oil leaks or blue smoke from the exhaust, etc. And there is no performance problems.


I'm assuming it's because it's an old engine with high(ish) mileage so I need to be using a different type of oil now?


Any recommendations please before I buy another load of 5w40 fully syth to keep topping it up again :laugh:


Thanks!


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## ps2375 (Aug 13, 2003)

I would have this engine checked, or at least pull the plugs to see if you can tell if one cylinder is burning more oil than the others. A non-synthetic oil will have a higher consumption than a full synthetic, so switching oils won't be much good, other than lower you cost per liter. If you truly have no leaks, then it has to be going out the tail pipe, and something is not right with the motor. How many miles/km are you averaging between quarts/ltr of oil?


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## veedoubleu83 (Sep 11, 2012)

Thanks for the reply! 

I had the spark plugs changed about a month ago and I didn't check them. :banghead:


I do about 180 miles per week, up and down the motorway. No city traffic. 


So when the dipstick marker has moved from the top to the bottom after 2 weeks, I've done about 360 miles...


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## ps2375 (Aug 13, 2003)

So a quart per 360 miles... that is what I would consider excessive oil consumption. Not what I would expect in a motor with less than 100K miles. Seems some further investigation and possibly maintenance is needed.


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## MKthreeJetta (Sep 7, 2009)

I had the same problem with my 99.5 VR. I now use 5-50, problem solved.


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## BsickPassat (May 10, 2010)

veedoubleu83 said:


> Hi all,
> 
> Purchased this car about 5 months ago. It's done 97k miles.
> 
> ...


Is your engine on fixed intervals (VW502.00) or flexible service intervals (VW503.00) ?


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