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How much oil to put in ?

andy15star

Full Member
Apr 17, 2005
825
0
Durham
Hello,

Probably a simple question,

My car is a 52 reg Seat Leon Cupra.

Once the oil warning light comes on the dash, how much oil can i put in ? Does 2 litres sound about right, or can i put in more ?

I keep putting oil in and keep meaning to check the dip-stick, but always end up forgetting to check by the time i give the oil time to settle !

Regards,
Andy
 
exactly what you've said
once its come on car on flat ground, stone cold, check oil and fill as needed.

you shouldnt be getting the oil light or using that much oil to really need to do this.
should never get the light between the 10k services either though mate
 
I put in about a litre every couple of months (probably 2400 miles). I did query this with the SEAT garage and they said that was quite normal !. They even got on to SEAT tech and they confirmed that it was quite normal to use up around a litre every couple of thousand miles !.

Seemed odd to me, but there are no puddles of oil on the garage floor or the parking space at work, because i do check. Also, there's no black plumes coming out the exhaust, no smells etc. So it must be normal. Mind having said that, when the light warning comes on i only stick half a litre in and keep the other half a litre in the boot just incase the light comes on while i'm in the middle of Timbuctoo. So that's probably why it "seems" as if i'm forever putting oil in.

Maybe if i stuck 2 litres in then it would last much longer !

I do about 15k a year

Regards,
Andy
 
Some engines do eat a bit of oil, and there doesn't seem to be a hard fast rule as to which ones. Some say if you rag an engine harder in its early life it seals better (from warm, not cold of course), but as long as you can't see any discernable oil leaks under the car, and your not getting and light oil film residue over the back of the car then I'd say your ok.
 
Sounds like you've got a leak somewhere, I've got an 02 Leon Cupra and never had to put a drop in between services for 3 years and 40,000 miles.
 
Our 2ltr Petrol Audi A3 used to be exactly the same. 1 or 2 litres every 2-3,000 miles. No leaks, no smoke, nothing. Just had a healthy appetite for the gold stuff! lol.

Used to be annoying though, and usually warning light came on when you were in the middle of nowhere. Hence we traded it in......
 
My old Leon Cupra used to be similar. The oil light would come on at least once between services and required at least a litre to top up every 3k or so miles. I thought it was odd as my previous cars had never used a drop of oil, so I had it checked out and was told there was nothing to worry about, there were no leaks, no smoke, nothing. It was like this for 2 or 3 years.
 
Got an 03 LCR, just short of 40,000 miles. I find it takes around a Litre of oil every 5000 miles roughly. Did think it to be a problem myself, but as above, I've got no leaks, no smoke.

Just have to remember to check oil regularly and always keep a Litre in the boot for any emergencies.
 
mine took 2 ltrs with no oil light on dash...
only checked it after i was going on a long journey to find no oil on dip stick at all...
and like i said it took 2 ltrs.
 
On my Leon Cupra the orange light comes on when the oil needs topping up, also a beep. That's when i put more oil in. I've just bought a litre of 10W/40 Magnatec, so i'll put that in tonight and see what the level is in the morning.

Regards,
Andy
 
andy it is oil pressure warning

but fundamentally the two are linked, less oil there is the lower the pressure the sensor reads setting off the light. So it is oil pressure, but the low pressure is caused by low oil level.
 
andy15star wrote

On my Leon Cupra the orange light comes on when the oil needs topping up, also a beep. That's when i put more oil in. I've just bought a litre of 10W/40 Magnatec, so i'll put that in tonight and see what the level is in the morning.

That orange light is a low level indicator. The low pressure indicator is a red light at the same location on the idiot board.

The orange light means stop and add oil now, not when you get home. The red light means stop immediately, add oil, drive home slowly and plan to get the bearings renewed.

You should

NEVER

wait for the light to come on to tell you to add oil By the time the light comes on you have lost enough to begin damaging the bearings, seals, turbo and everything else that needs lubrication.

You have a long stick which tells you exactly what the oil level is and how much to add. The idiot lights on the dash only come on when you're about to seize the engine through wilful negligence.
 
Last edited:
Well the mechanic from SEAT said it's okay to leave it till the orange light comes on, but i MUST fill the oil level up within a few miles after it comes on. He says there's an in-built margin to compensate with the fact that some people won't top up their oil till the beep sounds !

Regards,
Andy
 
I find this thread scary!!!!

Both my LCR and previous LC would take max 0.5 ltr between oil changes, and that would be 0.25ltr at a time if I check the oil level every month or two.

Waiting til the oil light comes on and adding 2 ltrs at a time sounds both like sloppy maintenance and somethings sh*gged to me :-o
 
Been running like this for 2 years with no problems at all !!! - no oil on the ground, no smells, no noises/bells/whistles, just loves the juice !! - many others have the same thing happening so it cannot be a problem with all of them !

Regards,
Andy
 
I always have a quick check under the bonnet when I wash the car once a fortnight (more often if I can), quick top up of screenwash, check the oil level & coolant etc.

It's going in for a 30k service next week... in total, I've topped up about 0.8 litres since the last service.

One thing I have noticed though...

From new until the 10k service, I topped up about 0.9 litres (mostly short trips, around 20 miles or so each way to work & back, and the occasional motorway journey).

Between the first & second service, I topped up around 1.5 litres (same short trips to work & back, but I was also doing about 400 motorway miles at weekends for 6 months)

Since my second service I'm back to short trips again with the occasional motorway journey, and as I said, only topped up 0.8 litres.

I always carry a spare litre of oil in the boot, since one of the lads at work gave me an Audi zip up case with rubber gloves, dip stick wipes, 'Audi' hand wipes & a litre of oil from his TT after he part ex'd it :p Didn't get the Audi first aid kit though :(
 
andy15star said:
On my Leon Cupra the orange light comes on when the oil needs topping up, also a beep. That's when i put more oil in. I've just bought a litre of 10W/40 Magnatec, so i'll put that in tonight and see what the level is in the morning.

Regards,
Andy
Click to expand...

ive owned two leons, neither have ever dropped below minimum level between services.

However i do know that the oil can be way below the minimum level, even off the dipstick prior to the orange light and warning coming on.
As said above, this is low oil pressure and you should not get anywhere near this with basic maintenance.

Sounds like its using alot of oil!
 
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