Seat Ibiza 1.2 TDI E-ecomotive - Oil consumption and what oil brand?

[zonkkk]

I've checked my oil level now at 1200miles (had the car from new) and by the looks of it I need to top it up. What oil do they put in the car at the factory?
I really need to put in the same brand, as I have had bad experiences in the past with topping up with oils of the same grade but different brands on other cars.

Does anybody else experience oil consumption with the 1.2 TDI engine?

 

[adamb87]

New cars do sometimes, use oil to begin with. It may get to 2000 and you wont see it,drop again. As for oil brand not a clue. What problems did you have out of curiosity?

 

[NetworkMan]

I doubt that you'll ever discover with certainty which brand was used to fill your car when new. It may even change from week to week or month to month. Under the bonnet it says "SEAT recommend Castrol" but that probably just means they got paid money by Castrol to say so!

Please can tell us just what were those bad experiences? In very many years of motoring I've never heard of such a problem. Problems do arise when people use oil of the wrong specification (I believe in your case it should be VW 507.00) which might even be of the same make as they used before.

Using oil of the correct specification should make it possible to mix brands since it identifies the properties which are important.

 

[zonkkk]

When topping up with a different oil brand I've experienced a yellowy/greasy kind of paste building up on the plastic thingie that the oil cap locks on to.

I've had this with 2 cars after I've bought them (second hand), and was too cheap to do a full oil change.
I've had all kind of 'professional' advice, saying water may be coming into the oil, and other kind of ideas. But after I've changed the oil, and was topping up with the same type & brand, I've not experienced that any more.

Thinking about it now, the previous owners might have not put the recommended type of oil in... and I was topping up with the 'wrong' type...

 

[NetworkMan]

When topping up with a different oil brand I've experienced a yellowy/greasy kind of paste building up on the plastic thingie that the oil cap locks on to.

That's a classic case of an oil-water emulsion. It can be due to condensation and made worse by too many short trips so that the engine doesn't get hot enough. In bad cases it can be due to water getting into the oil - perhaps due to a head gasket leak, though you can usually see oil in the cooling water in this case.

The remedy was almost certainly due to the oil change - not the make of oil.

 

[zonkkk]

That's what I was told oil-water emulsion. What I don't understand is how changing the oil made the problem go away if I was getting water/coolant in my oil - I was still driving under the same conditions (my usual 2x12 miles commute) so the condensation should have been the same.

I have just checked the oil level again. And it is close to 'full'. When I checked it last time it was on my drive which is not level, so the nose of the car is up slightly, and then the reading showed almost 'empty'. I wouldn't have thought a small ramp would give such different readings... (the car had already been stopped half an hour before each reading).

So considering my latest reading, the car did not drink any oil in the first 1200 miles.

 

[Deleted member 62899]

My 1.2 eco tdi didnt drink ANY Oil in 10k - so far

 

[NetworkMan]

What I don't understand is how changing the oil made the problem go away if I was getting water/coolant in my oil

I'm no expert but I suspect that when it gets too old, or too used, the oil loses it's detergent properties, rather like washing-up water that has done too many greasy dishes. When that happens the water comes out and makes an emulsion.

Perhaps someone with more expertise can help .....