[599gto]

Originally Posted by VeyronSuperSprt

You don't need a oil pressure warning light.

You need a "you're going to break your oil sump for the third time if you drive like this" warning light.

I don't think they have this on any car yet.

Don't know in what tone did you write this but you definitely had me in splits!
I agree I am not the best driver, but I have bought a car to carry me around, not to look after it more than my own a**.

Originally Posted by phamilyman

Uh VSS. That's unnecessary sarcasm there buddy.

Without getting judgmental on 599gto, let's step back and think here:
I can confirm that in the Swift, the check engine light comes ON (and stays on) when the oil pressure falls due to a sump leak. 599gto has pointed out that this doesnt happen with the Polo, which is a design issue.

This is about commonsense design that one expects from any prudent car manufacturer selling in India. Do you disagree?

PS: Personally I think this is invaluable feedback from his side on VW - you can't guess this sort of design flaw except by painful experience.

Yes sir this is definitely a design fault. I find it ridiculous and I suspect they did not skip this just by chance, they did this to make people pay heavily even after they pay decent money for their cars.

Originally Posted by alpha1

Before I agree with your folks, one question needs to be answered. Actually two:
Q1: When the sump is hit, and presumably cracked, does it make a big audible bang noise?
Q2: Does the driver still carry driving on driving totally unaware of this noise and never bothers to stop and check the underbelly - what hit where?


I agree with you only if it proved that VW stable does not come with this warning.

At the start of this thread, it was stated that since the oil level drop is rapid, the pressure loss is also rapid, and therefore the oil pressure low warning comes by the time engine is screwed without any lube oil.
And therefore the warning is of no benefit in this case.


Are you absolutely certain that there is really no warning light/sound which indicated low engine oil pressure?

Sir I am very sure there is no warning light/sound indicating low engine oil pressure, even the check engine light doesn't come up in this case, I say this from experience, not once but twice.

First time I damaged my sump, I noticed the oil leak after at least 70-80 kms of driving and a good 4-5 days, when the car was parked on an incline for a whole day due to heavy rains in Pune and I could see an oil film form up on rain water. The car made no noise about losing engine oil all this while.

The second time I damaged my sump, it happened quite close to my home, I suspected the sump might be broken but I drove on for less than a km, the car was parked at home for a full day again when I noticed an oil patch below the car next morning, called in a tow truck, had some extra engine oil lying around, poured in some of it(less than half a litre!) checked with the dipstick and cranked the engine to help the towing guys steer the car easily. No lights/sound heard/seen even this time around.

Answers to you questions:

1. No, the sound is like any other part of the under body being hit, a hit that damages the sump doesn't make a different noise.

2. Yes, most keen drivers like us would bother to that, but at times when driven by new or naive drivers, they keep on driving if the car doesn't tell them to stop or stalls by itself.
Also unless the sump is majorly damaged or a hole drilled into it, it is not easy to spot an oil leak as oil loss happens at a slow rate if the sump is just cracked, it happens nonetheless!
I had stopped both and checked the car properly both the times, could not spot any oil leak immediately!

[alpha1]

Originally Posted by 599gto

Yes sir this is definitely a design fault. I find it ridiculous and I suspect they did not skip this just by chance, they did this to make people pay heavily even after they pay decent money for their cars.

German Engineering, perhaps?
Surprisingly the underside of the Germans cars are not built like a tank ...

even the check engine light doesn't come up in this case,

As a side note, Check engine light is usually of least concern because it deals with the emission sensors. It is nothing as alarming as the oil warning light.

First time I damaged my sump, I noticed the oil leak after at least 70-80 kms of driving and a good 4-5 days, when the car was parked on an incline for a whole day due to heavy rains in Pune and I could see an oil film form up on rain water. The car made no noise about losing engine oil all this while.

The second time I damaged my sump ... the car was parked at home for a full day ... No lights/sound heard/seen even this time around.

Thanks.

[599gto]

Originally Posted by alpha1

German Engineering, perhaps?
Surprisingly the underside of the Germans cars are not built like a tank ...

Exactly my thoughts, the Polo and its siblings come with thick plastic protectors for the underbody but it doesn't take too much effort to damage the sump. I wonder why!

[VeyronSuperSprt]

Originally Posted by 599gto

Yes sir this is definitely a design fault..,

Sir I am very sure there is no warning light/sound indicating low engine oil pressure..

To clear up the wrong information being posted:

1. The Polo, Vento, Fabia and Rapid have a low oil pressure warning light along with a check engine light.

2. The reason that your low oil pressure light didn't come on is because the oil pressure wasn't low.

This is because you only had a minor leak (relatively). If it had effected your oil pressure your complete engine would have been severely damaged if you drove it a little bit, forget driving 50 kms!!

3. Damages to engine even after oil sump hitting and no low oil pressure warning light (as indicated by SA) would happen on account of over heating rather than low oil pressure. (oil level low enough to overheat the engine but not low enough for the oil pressure light to come on)

[599gto]

Originally Posted by VeyronSuperSprt

To clear up the wrong information being posted:

1. The Polo, Vento, Fabia and Rapid have a low oil pressure warning light along with a check engine light.

2. The reason that your low oil pressure light didn't come on is because the oil pressure wasn't low.

This is because you only had a minor leak (relatively). If it had effected your oil pressure your complete engine would have been severely damaged if you drove it a little bit, forget driving 50 kms!!

3. Damages to engine even after oil sump hitting and no low oil pressure warning light (as indicated by SA) would happen on account of over heating rather than low oil pressure. (oil level low enough to overheat the engine but not low enough for the oil pressure light to come on)

Sir if you could please reveal the source of this information.

I posted exactly what happened with me, I might be wrong about the warning light/sound being absent but I clearly remember questioning the both the service advisors about this and both gave me the same reply(with a sorry face!) saying that there is nothing that would help the driver find out about oil leek/oil pressure loss except a visual inspection perhaps. Maybe they were as misinformed as I was!

And, as BHPian Phamilyman has posted about his experience with the swift, and how the check engine light came up immediately after the sump was hit, I wonder why a Polo does not do exactly this.

Also, I apologize if the information posted by me was incorrect, I just wrote what I experienced first hand, I have nothing against the Polo as a product, my car is a keeper for sure!

[zombiedriver]

Actually as I've posted in the very beginning the S.A I dealt with also had the same thing to say. Sir there is no such thing as check engine oil light in the Fabia 😂

[rajeev k]

Originally Posted by zombiedriver

Actually as I've posted in the very beginning the S.A I dealt with also had the same thing to say. Sir there is no such thing as check engine oil light in the Fabia 😂

When the oil pressure low warning lamp (by whatever name one calls it eg: aladin ka chirag) glows, stop the car and the engine and do a self inspection first. If required obtain available expertise. Never ever run the engine again before ascertaining the safety and the causative factor.

Fabia does have an oil pressure low warning lamp. Check the manual of the Indian Fabia available in the net.

[gargashwin06]

Hi I wanna clear the air out here about the oil pressure light! When my car had such a major break down due to oil leak there was no warning what so ever. I even pointed this out to volkswagen which they simply denied stating it's my fault!

[zombiedriver]

Originally Posted by rajeev k

When the oil pressure low warning lamp (by whatever name one calls it eg: aladin ka chirag) glows, stop the car and the engine and do a self inspection first. If required obtain available expertise. Never ever run the engine again before ascertaining the safety and the causative factor.

Fabia does have an oil pressure low warning lamp. Check the manual of the Indian Fabia available in the net.

That's exactly what one should and would do if the light comes on. In this instance it didn't come on. I know it's there in the manual. I just pointed out what the S.A told me when I asked why the "Aladdin ka chiraag didn't come on"

[rajeev k]

Originally Posted by zombiedriver

That's exactly what one should and would do if the light comes on. In this instance it didn't come on. I know it's there in the manual. I just pointed out what the S.A told me when I asked why the "Aladdin ka chiraag didn't come on"

Chances are that your friend might not have noticed the warning light.
We can see several persons driving with the turn indicators on without noticing.

[zombiedriver]

Originally Posted by rajeev k

Chances are that your friend might not have noticed the warning light.
We can see several persons driving with the turn indicators on without noticing.

He says there was no light that came on so i took him on his word. Another thing to note is that in the Manual it states that if the car is not stopped after the light comes on for x amount of time then it starts giving out a beep sound as warning. He says he most definitely did not hear a beep sound.

Lets keep my friends ignorance about the technicalities of how an automobile works aside, The question is shouldn't the S.A have known the car comes with a low oil pressure warning light?

[599gto]

Originally Posted by VeyronSuperSprt

To clear up the wrong information being posted.....

Sir, I am still waiting very keenly for you to post the source of your information! As at least the below two BHPians experienced exactly what I did.

Originally Posted by zombiedriver

Actually as I've posted in the very beginning the S.A I dealt with also had the same thing to say. Sir there is no such thing as check engine oil light in the Fabia 😂

Originally Posted by gargashwin06

Hi I wanna clear the air out here about the oil pressure light! When my car had such a major break down due to oil leak there was no warning what so ever. I even pointed this out to volkswagen which they simply denied stating it's my fault!

Originally Posted by zombiedriver

He says there was no light that came on so i took him on his word. Another thing to note is that in the Manual it states that if the car is not stopped after the light comes on for x amount of time then it starts giving out a beep sound as warning. He says he most definitely did not hear a beep sound.

Lets keep my friends ignorance about the technicalities of how an automobile works aside, The question is shouldn't the S.A have known the car comes with a low oil pressure warning light?

Exactly my thoughts, at least the SA, who handles a similar car multiple times, day in and day out should have known about it, and my VW dealer/service centre in Pune, i.e. BU Bhandari is very reputed and has a no nonsense approach to the way they handle the service centre!

[Gannu_1]

Originally Posted by VeyronSuperSprt

To clear up the wrong information being posted:

1. The Polo, Vento, Fabia and Rapid have a low oil pressure warning light along with a check engine light.

Originally Posted by 599gto

Sir, I am still waiting very keenly for you to post the source of your information!

Here are the links for the symbols from the VW Workshop Manual for the Polo - Petrol engine, Diesel engine. They do have the oil level/oil pressure warning light (no. 4), as posted by VSS.

The warning lights are available in the cluster. However for the Indian models, the plug that goes to the cluster may miss some of the pins that comes from the sensor. Eg. Windshield wiper tank low-level sensor, coolant temperature sensor (pre-facelift Polo) etc.

[sdp1975]

Originally Posted by zombiedriver

January 30th: The buyer is a scrap/used car dealer and offers to come home and complete the formalities. Everything is done in 10 minutes and he promises to update me once the car has been sold.

Sorry to hear of the ordeal and experience of you and your friend.

Was the car scrapped/dismantled or sold ? Note that in Karnataka, if the car is being scrapped, you can claim a part of the lifetime Road Tax paid initially.

[ssjr0498]

Originally Posted by VeyronSuperSprt

To clear up the wrong information being posted:

1. The Polo, Vento, Fabia and Rapid have a low oil pressure warning light along with a check engine light.

2. The reason that your low oil pressure light didn't come on is because the oil pressure wasn't low.

This is because you only had a minor leak (relatively). If it had effected your oil pressure your complete engine would have been severely damaged if you drove it a little bit, forget driving 50 kms!!

3. Damages to engine even after oil sump hitting and no low oil pressure warning light (as indicated by SA) would happen on account of over heating rather than low oil pressure. (oil level low enough to overheat the engine but not low enough for the oil pressure light to come on)

Originally Posted by 599gto

Sir, I am still waiting very keenly for you to post the source of your information! As at least the below two BHPians experienced exactly what I did.
Exactly my thoughts, at least the SA, who handles a similar car multiple times, day in and day out should have known about it, and my VW dealer/service centre in Pune, i.e. BU Bhandari is very reputed and has a no nonsense approach to the way they handle the service centre!

Friends, to reiterate what VSS has said, PLEASE understand, the OIL PRESSURE LIGHT on any car , is an indicator which will glow ONLY when the OIL PRESSURE is LOWER than the specified level from the manufacturer!!

It WILL NOT indicate low oil level!!

Along with various other reasons of low oil pressure, LOW OIL level can be a reason for LOW OIL PRESSURE and hence the light on the dash could glow!!

Visual inspection (dip stick on a level surface) must be performed at periodic intervals to ensure a headache free drive!