Oil usage T5 hybrid

[dannyfoster87]

Evening all,

We've had our T5 hybrid for just about 10 weeks now having covered approximately 2000 miles. It was 9 month old at the time of purchase and had a Service the day before we collected also.

Tonight, the low oil light has come on. Checked the digital dipstick and it shows about 10-15% oil remaining.

Seems high usage for a new car?
Has anyone else had similar?

[eugen61]

We've had our T5 hybrid for just about 10 weeks now having covered approximately 2000 miles. It was 9 month old at the time of purchase and had a Service the day before we collected also. Tonight, the low oil light has come on. Checked the digital dipstick and it shows about 10-15%

Loosing 90% of engine oil in just 10 weeks covering only 2000 miles is worrisome. Check this thread on oil leakage in the Hybrid/ Recharge / Twin Engine models: viewtopic.php?f=8&t=2163

[Greggspies]

I could be wrong here, but I recall reading low oil causes a message on the driver's display and instructions to add a litre. Is the gauge showing the total oil level or just the percentage of the one litre required to be added when the screen message occurs? In fact, has there been a screen message?

[Greggspies]

Very interesting thread eugen61, but related to transmission oil, not engine oil it seems.

[eugen61]

Very interesting thread eugen61, but related to transmission oil, not engine oil it seems.

Indeed, but there are also comments related to dannyfoster87 question, like the post from Travisthedog viewtopic.php?f=8&t=2163&p=19779#p19779

[Greggspies]

Thinking about this further, it seems to me the oil level indicator shows the max and min as would a dipstick. It doesn't show the engine only has 10-15% oil remaining, but (just like on a dipstick) that the oil level is not full but approaching the point when it needs topping up. There would be a driver's display message once the level dropped enough to need a litre added. If it was full at the start then it looks like the car consumed something under a litre in 2000 miles, which is not great, but maybe not a fault. Without knowledge of what the gauge showed 2000 miles ago, it's not possible to know. The mystery is the oil light coming on which relates to the oil pressure, not oil level as such. If it stays on it needs to be investigated.

The oil light aside, I would be inclined to run the car until the topping up message comes on, add oil, and start measuring oil consumption from there.

[eugen61]

The oil light aside, I would be inclined to run the car until the topping up message comes on, add oil, and start measuring oil consumption from there.

Since low oil light message / signal is already on, running the car without adding oil is at the owner’s risk. If there’s an engine breakdown warranty might be void, the board computer will show exactly how many miles was the car driven from the moment low oil message warning appeared on the dashboard.

[Greggspies]

We don't know from the OP what was on. There are two options. One the drivers display message to top up which is accompanied by a triangle warning light which should be responded to by topping up. Two an oil can shape warning light which indicates low oil pressure. If the latter remains on that needs investigating as I said and obviously the engine shouldn't be run until it is.

Until the OP comes back, it's all just speculation. His question was about oil consumption.

[Deleted User 3629]

Brings me back to a previous post and "running-in" engines - in my opinion a new engine with just 2k miles should not use that much oil unless its got a leak or burning excessive oil internally - and, again only my opinion, if run-in correctly should not use any oil at all - and for those who may argue that new "tight" engines always burn a little oil - out of all the new engines I have gently run-in over the years none have used any oil, including up to the service intervals!! I have always been dubious of an ex-demo???

[Greggspies]

Agree, Oldie. I don't recall having to add oil to any car I've had since an Alfa in the late 90s which needed a litre between services. I had an S-type Jaguar Sport a while after that which did 135,000 miles in 3 years. Each service I was given a litre of top-up oil. I still have them all...