QuestionOn the last oil change, my wife's 99 beetle only had 1 quart of oil left. this was only a little over 3,000 miles since the last oil change. There's no visible sign of a leak nor is the car smoking. last night the oil light came on for a little while and then went off. I checked the oil and it was full. I'm running 10w30 quarker state. someone suggested getting the oil system flushed and running a heavier oil. Any suggestions. Also, coolant ligght is coming on but there plenty of water in resovior. No other major problems withb the car. it runs fine, plenty of get up and go.
thanks, scott
AnswerScott, thank you for your question. Flushing the oil and cooling systems would be a very good idea. Additionally I did find this: “VW has for many years stated that burning one quart per thousand miles or so is within their engines' normal range. There is nothing inherently bad about this, as long as consumers keep an eye on the oil and top it off as needed.” (http://www.consumeraffairs.com/automotive/vw_beetle.html) Now you ask, “Do I Buy this explanation” He$$, NO!
But the root of the problem sounds very much like the leak is from the oil galleys in the engine into the cooling system. To verify this, the coolant in the radiator will have a very dark or almost black color to it. There is also the possibility that the oil is leaking or burning (from heat) into the intake or (and much more likely) into the transmission housing (in the case of transverse engines (front wheel drive)). If oil is getting in to the transmission, and I think this is highly likely, when you check it, you will see not just Red Fluid but also black fluid too. Any black in a transmission is a sign of trouble and also needs to be checked. Unfortunately, no matter where if leak is or how the burning of oil (in very low level oil burning you will get almost no smoke but that is very rare!), the cure for this situation is inevitably an engine overhaul and possibly a transmission rebuild. Sometimes a shop will do what is called a seal replacement but that will only buy trouble later on and not gain much except higher cost of a rebuild. Unless you have a fully equipped shop, I don't advise doing work like this on your own. The average engine overhaul will be from $1,500 to $3,500 (worst case). A transmission rebuild will cost anywhere from $1,500 to $4,000 depending on the amount of damage and how many parts can be salvaged. If you don't have that kind of money (and who among us does), to prolong the engine before a rebuild you will have to keep checking the oil level every 500 miles (what a pain) and adding more oil each time. But in any case loosing that much oil in 3,000 miles is very serious problem. Even with losing this much oil you will still need to replace the filter every 3,000 miles. But try this first, I can't guarantee this will do much, but switch to Castrol GTX 10w40 (and, in some cases, 20w50 in the Desert southwest) in the summer and 10w30 in the winter (you may have to check the owner's manual for the recommended grade of oil). You can try to run the 20w50 but do not mix with 10w40 or 10w30.
The reason you are getting the coolant light is because the engine is getting too hot due to a lack of oil.
Hope that helps
