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Coolant and oil levels
Posted: Wed Sep 11, 2019 9:17 pm
by Simmo
Just wondering if anybody has had cause to top-up their coolant or oil between services?
I didn't check the coolant level when I collected my car from new but after having done just over 700 miles, the coolant is hovering just above minimum. No leaks are present, or noticeable staining anywhere.
My last car was a petrol 1.8 YFSI Audi A3, which had a serious oil issue where I had top pour a litre into the engine every few hundred miles. I'm hoping that the oil consumption on this new Polo is significantly less.
I'd be interested to hear of your experiences so far?
Re: Coolant and oil levels
Posted: Wed Sep 11, 2019 9:26 pm
by OomStu_ZA
My last 6c 1.0L required top-up oil every 7000 - 10000 km's but my current 2019 GTI (on ±9000 km's) seems fine so far. That said I'll double check the coolant level tomorrow.
Re: Coolant and oil levels
Posted: Wed Sep 11, 2019 9:30 pm
by SRGTD
Quite a few instances reported on golfgtiforum.co.uk and vwroc.com by owners of new Golfs experiencing a drop in coolant level.
The usual cause is air being left in the cooling system when it’s filled at the factory. This air then works its way out of the system over the first few weeks / months of use, and the space occupied by the air is replaced by coolant which results in a drop in coolant level in the expansion tank.
I also had this happen in my previous generation Polo GTI. I topped it up with G13 coolant and the coolant level has been stable ever since.
Ive not read of any excessive oil consumption issues, but will leave owners of the current generation Polo to comment on their experiences.
Re: Coolant and oil levels
Posted: Wed Sep 11, 2019 9:38 pm
by Simmo
OomStu_ZA wrote: ↑Wed Sep 11, 2019 9:26 pm
My last 6c 1.0L required top-up oil every 7000 - 10000 km's but my current 2019 GTI (on ±9000 km's) seems fine so far. That said I'll double check the coolant level tomorrow.
Hi OomStu_ZA, thanks for replying.
Sounds like a decent amount of mileage between oil top-ups. Would be good to hear if your coolant level is normal.
Re: Coolant and oil levels
Posted: Wed Sep 11, 2019 9:47 pm
by Simmo
SRGTD wrote: ↑Wed Sep 11, 2019 9:30 pm
Quite a few instances reported on golfgtiforum.co.uk and vwroc.com by owners of new Golfs experiencing a drop in coolant level.
The usual cause is air being left in the cooling system when it’s filled at the factory. This air then works its way out of the system over the first few weeks / months of use, and the space occupied by the air is replaced by coolant which results in a drop in coolant level in the expansion tank.
I also had this happen in my previous generation Polo GTI. I topped it up with G13 coolant and the coolant level has been stable ever since.
Ive not read of any excessive oil consumption issues, but will leave owners of the current generation Polo to comment on their experiences.
Hi SRGTD, thanks for replying.
A really interesting post, I hadn't realised that air could be in the system and over a short period of time will work its way out but sounds so plausible now you've mentioned it.
I've got some G13 but I think I'll get a bottle of VW mixing fluid too - cheap enough at just under £5 for 5litres. Distilled water is almost impossible to find locally, Amazon seems to be the obvious choice but yet de-ionised water is easy to buy, although not quite the same).
Re: Coolant and oil levels
Posted: Thu Sep 12, 2019 4:02 am
by Dark_cze
Simmo wrote: ↑Wed Sep 11, 2019 9:17 pm
Just wondering if anybody has had cause to top-up their coolant or oil between services?
I didn't check the coolant level when I collected my car from new but after having done just over 700 miles, the coolant is hovering just above minimum. No leaks are present, or noticeable staining anywhere.
My last car was a petrol 1.8 YFSI Audi A3, which had a serious oil issue where I had top pour a litre into the engine every few hundred miles. I'm hoping that the oil consumption on this new Polo is significantly less.
I'd be interested to hear of your experiences so far?
My GTI was build in Spain. I have around 20 000km on my GTI and made 2 changes of oil already (at 5 000 and 17 000). No need to top up anything and there was no consumption between changes.
Re: Coolant and oil levels
Posted: Thu Sep 12, 2019 7:16 am
by monkeyhanger
My 2018 GTI+ got its first service in August and hadn't needed an oil top up between 0 and 8500 miles.
Re: Coolant and oil levels
Posted: Thu Sep 12, 2019 10:27 am
by RUM4MO
Simmo wrote: ↑Wed Sep 11, 2019 9:47 pm
Hi SRGTD, thanks for replying.
A really interesting post, I hadn't realised that air could be in the system and over a short period of time will work its way out but sounds so plausible now you've mentioned it.
I've got some G13 but I think I'll get a bottle of VW mixing fluid too - cheap enough at just under £5 for 5litres. Distilled water is almost impossible to find locally, Amazon seems to be the obvious choice but yet de-ionised water is easy to buy, although not quite the same).
All these sealed cooling systems have built in self purging, it is achieved by allowing a small quantity of coolant to return to the reservoir - you should notice that there is a small "return" pipe at the top of the reservoir ad the large "make up" pipe at the bottom.
VW mixing fluid, I did not know that dealerships sold that, I'd be very surprised if bulk mixing fluid is anything other than deionised water, using distillation as a method to clean up/purify water is very energy intensive as heating and lowering its pressure will be needed to cause boiling, passing mains water through a deionising unit should be all that is needed and saves a serious amount of energy.
Re: Coolant and oil levels
Posted: Thu Sep 12, 2019 10:09 pm
by Simmo
RUM4MO wrote: ↑Thu Sep 12, 2019 10:27 am
Simmo wrote: ↑Wed Sep 11, 2019 9:47 pm
Hi SRGTD, thanks for replying.
A really interesting post, I hadn't realised that air could be in the system and over a short period of time will work its way out but sounds so plausible now you've mentioned it.
I've got some G13 but I think I'll get a bottle of VW mixing fluid too - cheap enough at just under £5 for 5litres. Distilled water is almost impossible to find locally, Amazon seems to be the obvious choice but yet de-ionised water is easy to buy, although not quite the same).
All these sealed cooling systems have built in self purging, it is achieved by allowing a small quantity of coolant to return to the reservoir - you should notice that there is a small "return" pipe at the top of the reservoir ad the large "make up" pipe at the bottom.
VW mixing fluid, I did not know that dealerships sold that, I'd be very surprised if bulk mixing fluid is anything other than deionised water, using distillation as a method to clean up/purify water is very energy intensive as heating and lowering its pressure will be needed to cause boiling, passing mains water through a deionising unit should be all that is needed and saves a serious amount of energy.
Apologies for being a numpty, but what is a self purging cooling system - what does that do?
Yes, the mixing fluid is either distilled or deionised water (probably the latter) to add to the G13 coolant.
I may have had a bit of air in the system that has resulted in a small drop in the reservoir.
Re: Coolant and oil levels
Posted: Thu Sep 12, 2019 10:17 pm
by RUM4MO
Any air in the system will finally make its way to the highest point in the system and so it will get carried onwards into the reservoir by that small hose - by design.
Re: Coolant and oil levels
Posted: Thu Sep 12, 2019 10:55 pm
by Simmo
RUM4MO wrote: ↑Thu Sep 12, 2019 10:17 pm
Any air in the system will finally make its way to the highest point in the system and so it will get carried onwards into the reservoir by that small hose - by design.
So, does that mean that when the factory filled up the car with coolant, there might have been air in the system, which over the last 6 weeks (since owning the car) has resulted in the small drop in coolant level?
Re: Coolant and oil levels
Posted: Fri Sep 13, 2019 3:59 pm
by OomStu_ZA
Simmo wrote: ↑Wed Sep 11, 2019 9:38 pm
OomStu_ZA wrote: ↑Wed Sep 11, 2019 9:26 pm
My last 6c 1.0L required top-up oil every 7000 - 10000 km's but my current 2019 GTI (on ±9000 km's) seems fine so far. That said I'll double check the coolant level tomorrow.
Hi OomStu_ZA, thanks for replying.
Sounds like a decent amount of mileage between oil top-ups. Would be good to hear if your coolant level is normal.
So took my vehicle to VW today to confirm coolant levels as I was unable to confirm if it was filled because of the discolouring of the container/bottle. That said all in order and also bought some ready mix (cement
) coolant and a litre of oil for spares. As an old Boy Scout our motto was "Be prepared."
Re: Coolant and oil levels
Posted: Fri Sep 13, 2019 8:38 pm
by green justin
I had too top up small amount of coolant. No visible leaks.
Even had the dealer check it out.
Re: Coolant and oil levels
Posted: Fri Sep 20, 2019 10:26 am
by Adam_013
I've had to put just over a litre of oil in mine between pickup and first service.
Next service due in 500 miles and only down to half way on the dipstick.
Sent from my LYA-L29 using Tapatalk
Re: Coolant and oil levels
Posted: Fri Sep 20, 2019 12:03 pm
by Steve_2019
Does the Polo come with a free 1 litre bottle of oil for top ups?
Last new VW i bought few years ago had free bottle in the boot.
For the first few thousand miles suppose you expect to top up the oil and coolant why the Engine is running in.