What kind of shop was this? Losing 10-12 MPG? That means you could only go 160-170 miles a tank. 1.8T's must use synthetic, if that is what you have. I have never seen someone lose that much mileage from the wrong oil. Check the receipt, it should say what type of oil used. You could ask them what they used, but don't say anything about the 5-w40. Let them tell you what they did wrong.

 

Hey there,

I just have the plain GLS model 2.8liter V-6 engine in my passat. My recipt doesnt say anything about what kind or what they used, they left that part blank..

They told me that they use what the manufac. suggests but wouldnt tell me what they used on my car. grrr... and i didnt say anything bout the 5w-40.

Good year is like a tire and oil place , similar to Jiffy lube but more respectfull and they do VW engine work there.. so i figured they knew.. but???

Thanks for the quick reply

 

The oil requirement for the V6 isn't as critical as it is in the 1.8T - the V6 is far less prone to coking/sludging. And the wrong oil wouldn't cause you to lose that kind of mileage - something else is going on for sure.

Goodyear shops are good for tires - not much else. Jiffy Lube shops are good for nothing. If you don't want to or can't DIY on oil changes, take the car to a good independent VW or Audi specialist. The chain shops don't specialize in any one make of vehicle so they generally don't know the ins and outs of any of them. You don't have a location in your profile, but if you can provide a city/state some folks on here might be able to guide you to a good independent shop.

Back to the mileage issue - does the car behave any differently than it did before? How are you measuring the mileage loss and over how much fuel consumption?

 

The 5w-40 or 5w-30 oil is fine for normal driving and MD weather in all seasons. It also will not hurt the V6 to put in slightly lower and higher viscosity grades. The viscosity of the oil will have little effect on MPG. What is you MPG? What size tires were on the car and what size did you replace them with. Also, tire inflation pressure will have an effect on MPG but not 10-12 MPG. Put as much PSI in the tires up to the tire rating that gives you a ride that you can live with. I usually run about 34 - 35 PSI.

 

If it was Goodyear, they use 10-w30 right out of the 50 gallon drum. Any different grade oil, and they will charge extra. I used to Authorize repairs on fleet (company) vehicles with these shops (Firestone/jiffy screwed/grease monkey/ goodyear...etc..) so I know what they use and how they are. Def take it to a shop specializing in Vdubs/Audis. I do. If you are in MD, New German Performance (NGP) is a great place.

 

Brusky,
Are your new tires the same size as your old tires?

 

Thanks Guys for all your replys... really makes me feel like i found people that i can trust and know there s it (crap.)..lol My dad is good with cars and usually fixes and changes my oil, but my last car was a neon,, and he wont touch this one with a ten foot pole because its got to many computer parts and doesnt konw VW at all.. sooo.. needless to say...

Ok i will answer each one of you in a diff paragrah so bare with me. First of all i live in upstate NY, near Binghamton NY. I know that there is a dealership in binghamton and had my car there right after i bought it because i thought there was transmision problems and they are soo stupid.. didnt even hook it up to a computer.. no they drove a 1/4 tank of gas around the city and said it drove fine.. grr.. it only had/has problems when you are comming down a freekin hilll any ways.. thats a totally diff. story.. and there is one in Oneonta NY but thats a ways for me to go and they are outragous in price... soo any help will be appreciated.

Turbomonkey- I measure the milage both by what the in dash display says and also clock it when i fill it up and then when i am down to e i do the milage and get it from there. And the cardrives normally,but still veres to the right and shakes at 65 miles an hour.. but i am getting that fixed again on tues.. They also at the time of the oilchange and new tires , i had a bad tyrod and had them replace that. ohh and get this.. this is the story they gave me about the mileage before the tyrod being fixed .. he said that because i had a loose tyrod it was finding its sweetspot while driveing and getting good gas mileage that way and when i got a new tyrod and now that its "tight" that i will loose a couple miles per gallon.. no i konw that i am a girl and all.. but i knew better than that and he still stook wit that story and i said fine.. i will have my dad or brother come down with me next week and you can tell him that.!!

Kenblasko- I am getting anywhere from 15-19.5 mile per gallon.. maybe on a good day hit 22. but i was getting 30-32 before i had it in their garage. Tire size i have then and now is , P195/65R15 and they are H rated and are Eagle GT brand.. so they arnt crappy tires.. Not sure about the pressure in them , but i just had them put on again and aligned 2 days ago.. soo??

VAGuy- I called them and dindt say it was me.. haha.. but asked them what kind of oil they use on a normal oil change and they told me that it depends on the car and what the manufac. suggested.. and my dad said the same thing you did , is that they take it out of a freekin drum adn they only charged me 14.95 for the oil change and they would have charged me alot more if they put synthetic in (right)???

Cornholio- love your name. But yes.. they are the same kind of tires i replaced my old ones with... just a different brand .. i had BF Good riches i think.. started with a B and we eexpensive tires, and just put on Goodyears Eagle GT's

Any help is MUCH appreciated its just freekin me out with loosing that much gas mileage adn thats the only thing i had done to it adn i pulled 32. mpg when i drove it into their ports adn when i came out i was getting 19.4 and it was all highway becasue i was going straight on to vacation adn it was straight 156 miles away with no stops and all highway interstate driving..
Thanks soo much guys!

 

And the cardrives normally,but still veres to the right and shakes at 65 miles an hour.. but i am getting that fixed again on tues.

I had that problem with a different car at one point. It wasn't the alignment ...one of the wheels was "out of round." If the wheels is just slightly egg-shaped, it may drive fine until you hit a certain speed, then the shape starts to affect the feel of the car. (Not always the answer, but something that people overlook sometimes.)

I am getting anywhere from 15-19.5 mile per gallon.. maybe on a good day hit 22. but i was getting 30-32 before

I hate to say it, but 30+ mpg sounds unrealistic on the V6, especially with a Tip. I'm on my second 1.8t, so I don't have any firsthand experience with the Iron Giant, but everything I've seen here points to the fact that low-mid 20's is about right.

Who wants to back me up on this one?

Anyone?




Anyone?

 

Even I get better than 19.4 on the highway. Never would see over 30mpg on a V6 tip unless you were driving downhill. 26-28 is more realistic depending on speed/temp and a/c usage. Did you drive into the wind or to a higher elevation the whole time?

 

Umm.. no i didnt and wasnt driving down a hill or into the wind or higher elevation.. i live in upstate NY... and went further upstate after i had the oil changed and thats when we noticed it only getting 22 mpg's. Even the dealer i got if from said it was getting 30-32 mpg when he was drivng it to test it out adn the dash sensor even said i was getting 32 mpg and there's nothing wrong with that. I cant drive 30 miles to my local mall on 2 gallons of gas. i have to put more in it in order for me to get home... so something is very wrong..

 

I cant drive 30 miles to my local mall on 2 gallons of gas. i have to put more in it in order for me to get home... so something is very wrong..

See ...that's the problem right there! You live too far from the mall! (Sorry, I have no other even *remotely* constructive ideas.)

 

I cant drive 30 miles to my local mall on 2 gallons of gas. i have to put more in it in order for me to get home... so something is very wrong..

See ...that's the problem right there! You live too far from the mall! (Sorry, I have no other even *remotely* constructive ideas.)

 

Nah ! 17 city 24 tops highway calculated over 7,000 miles.

 

Nah ! 17 city 24 tops highway calculated over 7,000 miles.

24 tops highway is very low unless your going 85-90 mph, uphill, or into a very strong wind. I run 32 to 34 psi in my tires. I've driven my 2000 V6 twice to Arizona and back to PA in the last year and got over 27 mpg both trips fully loaded averaging about 72 MPH (total distance point to point / total trip time from trip computer). Around Hagerstown MD area, I average about 27.5 mpg (with average speed from trip computer of about 50 mph). I estimate 80% highway 20 % city.

 

i get about 190-210 miles to one tank...should i be worried?

i have a 99 1.8t

 

i get about 190-210 miles to one tank...should i be worried?

i have a 99 1.8t

That's all? I get 320 and wanted more on a full tank. I think something is wrong or you trip computer is giving you false info. It depends too on how you drive and at what psi are the tires. If is drive it hard i'll get a 290 range with a full tank.

 

I let it go to the red line......am i doing something wrong?

 

I let it go to the red line......am i doing something wrong?

lol... your injectors are wide open my friend.. just like mine :beer:

 

glad I don't have a tip...

I have a '00 V6 5-speed manual and over the coarse of the last 9-10k miles that I have been tracking in excel with a good portion of those over the harsh MI winter I am still avg nearly 27 MPG. Sometimes I take it easy and drive the speed limit (~65) and sometimes I am in a bit of a hurry and follow the flow of traffic in the far left lane (80-85) I drive about 75% highway. During the times that I take it easy and keep the speed below 70 with the A/C off I can avg 30-32 MPG on a highway trip calculated manually in excel. Just a fun fact: I also track how accurate my CPU display is and over the course of the above mentioned miles I have found it to avg 4% higher than actual meaning I can usually feel safe to assume my actual mpg is 1mpg less than on the display.

I also take mine up close to redline a couple times a week to keep things cleaned out. :thumbup:

oh.. and I run wider 215/60R15 tires on my car with 35 psi front and 32 psi rear. Car has 86k and I just recently changed the spark plugs, but my mileage didn't change any with the new plugs so they must have still been okay.

 

Okay back on topic - which is trying to help the original poster figure out what's wrong.

Is it possible for you to find someone with a vagcom that could scan the car for you. You may have something going on that isn't giving you a check engine light but could possibly be giving you a code. Misfires will sometimes do that. Getting it scanned might help us determine if there is something happening that could cause you to lose so much mileage.

Check on www.frappr.com/vagcomlocator and http://www.steve-hall.com/cgi-bin/VAG-Locator.pl to find a local person who can do this for you. Write down the codes if any and post them up.

I also think low 30s is pretty optimistic for fuel economy on the V6 - it may have been getting that before, but that's pretty rare. I think 26-28 mpg is probably more accurate when combining city/highway driving. I'd shoot for mileage in that range.

 

I hate to say it, but 30+ mpg sounds unrealistic on the V6, especially with a Tip. I'm on my second 1.8t, so I don't have any firsthand experience with the Iron Giant, but everything I've seen here points to the fact that low-mid 20's is about right.

Who wants to back me up on this one?

Anyone?

After 55,000 miles with an '03 2.8 4MO, I never once cracked the 30 MPG barrier. Around town, I typically got 18-21 MPG; on the Interstate, 23-25 MPG at 5 MPH over the speed limit. Without the AWD, I'd expect the 2.8 to do a bit better, but not THAT much.

 

30+ highway is achievable with V6

Sounds like tire pressure vs oil. Pump those tires up. :thumbup:

I have a 2000 V6 manual and I get 25 city/30+ highway, with 35-37 PSI on my 15" Falcon ZE-512's, I drive +5 over the limit at most and usually avoid hard acceleration and stop and go driving (time the light to green with a coast at a slower speed).

K&N Filter as well (added 1+ mpg in fuel savings).

Good luck and work on DIY oil changes for next time!

Alex