Hello folks, I'm new here and hoping someone can help me out. I'm a take-the-bus-or-train kinda guy and thus my knowledge of cars is seriously lacking, my girlfriend however is a proud mark 1 TT owner. Occasionally she'll ask me car related questions expecting me to know the answer... if it wasn't for the internet I'd be stumped.

Anyway, recently when she's been starting the car in the mornings the oil light has come on on the dashboard. This evening I checked the dipstick and as you should be able to see in the picture below, the oil is only on the bit at the end. Is that enough? I've not got a clue but to me it looks like it needs some more oil.

Is the car currently safe to drive or is she risking the possibility of all the oil running out and then the engine suffering from catastrophic consequences. I plan to take it to the garage in two or three days to get some more oil.

I was wondering too what the orange and red plastic markers mean. Are they minimum and maximum markers?

Cheers,
Psyk

 

the fluid should be at the top of the stick where it goes like this \__/ That is like the "add one qrt" line on other cars. If its not at the top of the indented part, please add oil.

 

Cheers cincyTT,

Would the \__/ bit happen to be the bit at the right side of the photo above?

 

yes, at the very end. You want it to reach the top of that indention.

 

Tell your girlfriend the internet says "hi"

 

Does the oil he adds need to be the same?

 

Nah, anything well do. I usually just top my oil off with water.

 

Jakej, you seem to know your stuff...
I've got an old bottle of scented wok oil in the kitchen cupboard. It's about a third full. If I top that up with olive oil will that do?


Can anyone suggest what might be causing the oil light to come on? According to the info supplied above by cincyTT, and looking at the photo of the dipstick, there seems to be oil present where it should be.

Cheers.

 

just check for any type of leaks. But the 2 biggest oil users are a bad PCV or bad piston ring(s). Most likely you have a small leak or bad PCV unless you have tons of miles on the car.

 

PCV? What's that?

There doesn't appear to be any obvious leaks (well, there are no patches of oil on the garage floor) My GF is concerned about the light and has now decided to take the train to work tomorrow and I have been tasked with a trip to the garage.