oil & cover on exhaust
Asked by Getch357 Jun 15, 2010 at 10:58 AM about the 2001 Volkswagen Jetta
Question type: Maintenance & Repair
can anyone help me?? I have a 2001 v.w jetta bought it used 31,000 and since ive had it i have noticed it goes thru about 1/4 a quart of oil a month.... never any on ground cant see any spots where it can be leaking cannot see blue smoke??? could this be because of not using synthetic oil and using regular oil? also need to know there is a cover in the middle of the exhaust that just came off it is approximately half way under car in midle and has grooves in it . looks like it just bolts back on does any-one know if it needs to be welded back and approximately how much this costs........... all help appreciated THANKS..
5 Answers
switch to synthetic, especially if you have that low mileage. what motor do you have? i ran 15w50 in my vr6 and 0w40 in my 1.8t. it might not fix you problem but a car w/ 31k on it shouldn't be burning or leaking oil. a for the cover... its probably just a heat shield. like super thin metal? just leave it off. if it fell off it probably just bolts back on. leave it for some day when you feel like trying something new and jacking your car up but don't pay someone to do it. and try changing your oil yourself too. a synthetic change can cost you like $35 or so but going to a jiffylube or something will cost around $65.
David, thanks for replying........ the car is a 1.8 turbo and now has 75,000 miles on it . do u think that the synthetic would stop it from burning.in other words is it burning it because i'm not using the recommended synthetic oil? and yes it was just a heat sheild and it will have to have the old bolts drilled out in order to replace soo it can wait for now........... thanks for the reply
well, synthetic alone may not be the reason it is burning oil, but it isn't going to hurt. you may just have the wrong oil in it. those turbos run super hot, just take the car out one night for a "spirited" drive then open the hood in a dark place. you'll see that turbo glowing red. now figure when you shut the car off some of your oil is just sitting in that turbo getting pretty hot. so choosing the right oil might help you too. also switching to synthetic is going to reduce the likelihood of sludge formation in your motor. the 1.8t tend to be an engine that can produce sludge if not maintained properly. nothing to worry about, just keep it in mind in a couple years. you can prevent it with a product call motor x or something like it. oh, and if you haven't changed your timing belt... DO IT NOW. waiting too long cam be very bad. if your belt breaks you won't be driving your car for a while. you might as well use it as a paperweight and get on cars.com. the vw dealer is going to tell you not to worry until 100k or so but any vw enthusiast will say 60k on the 1.8t.
and i just realized you said "1/4 of a quart".. switch to synthetic and don't worry about the 1/4 quart. it's fairly normal.
Important info would include how far you drive per quart burned. 1/4 of a qt a month is nothing when you're driving 3k miles a month but if you're only driving 200 miles, that can be a problem. With a turbo car (especially that one), I would always us synthetic oil. As David said in his posts, that engine is known to sludge if not properly maintained regularly with the correct oil..........an oil that is VAG (Volkswagen/Audi Group) 502.00/505.00 approved.....it'll say on the bottle. Good luck with it!
