My 2013 Tiguan 2.0 4Motion while driving long distances in hilly conditions consumes excessive oil. There are no leaks or visible burning of oil. City driving has no oil consumption. 136,000kms. What could be the problem? Should I change my driving practices?
Can you tell us exactly how much oil it is consuming? One man’s definition of “excessive” can differ from someone else’s understanding of that word.
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Flat highway driving is high Steady vacuum, low load. Hilly is not.
Highway driving tends to increase oil consumption, hills or not.
Rings leave a tiny amount of oil on the cylinder walls; more when the rings are “tired”.
The cylinder walls get hotter under the steady load on the highway, and the oil burns off faster.
What viscosity oil do you use and how often is it changed?
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Have someone check the positive crankcase ventilation valve for proper operation.
If the crankcase isn’t able to vent properly, oil vapors will be forced into the cylinders and burned.
Tester
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One litre of 5W40 Synthetic oil per 1,000kms. Oil changes every 10,000kms
5W40 Synthetic Oil. Oil changes every 10,000kms.
Oil and filter changes every 6k miles seems pretty good. I do it at 5 k on my Corolla , but that’s quibbling. You might try changing oil/filter more often, every 3000 miles, see if that has any effect. Doubt it will, but worth doing the experiment. Does VW recommend 5w40 synthetic? If not, what do they recommend? A little over a quart per 600 miles is getting a little worrying, probably indicates some sort of problem is looming. Do you see any puffs of black/blueish smoke out the tailpipe at initial startup? Has engine always had the same service intervals? Recent compression test results?
I doubt any carmaker would call that excessive in a new car, much less a nine year old car.
The important thing for you to do now is make sure you are using the correct oil, changing it often enough, and most important: checking its level often and topping it up whenever it’s below the Full mark. Oil consumption is rarely a big problem when this is done.
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Turbo engines pose other oil-loss possibilities. Is this a turbo engine OP? Gasoline or diesel?
Over a quart every 600 miles seems high to me. Is this a new situation, or has it always used that much driving through hills.
This engine oil consumption is right on the threshold, imo
Many manufacturers seem to consider up to 1qt/600 miles to be acceptable, and this seems to be just over that
If this was my vehicle, I would be quite disappointed
OTOH . . . topping off engine oil every weekend isn’t the end of the world, either
And since this car is long out of warranty, I’m not sure it’s worth it to have the problem diagnosed and repaired, considering the high usage only occurs “while driving long distances in hilly conditions”
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The oil consumption may be caused by stuck piston oil control rings. If there isn’t an engine warranty extension for this vehicle, repair cost may not be worth the inconvenience of adding oil.
Volkswagen considers oil consumption greater than 0.5 liters in 1000km to be excessive.
V171403 Oil Consumption Measurement (2000-2015) all except Routan (nhtsa.gov)
Wow
So this is substantial engine oil consumption, even by VW’s standards 
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If you do a lot of short trip city driving,oil dilution by unburnt gasoline can make you think your car consumes no oil in city driving when it does actually burn some. Pull your dipstick before a road trip and smell the oil. Does it smell like gasoline? If it does, you probably have a quart of gasoline and water from a lot of driving before the engine is at full temperature. This gasoline will vaporize on a road trip.
If this is what is happening, a second 1000K on a road trio should consume less oil.
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Thanks for the recommendations I will certainly watch the oil consumption on my next trip.
I do a lot of short city driving. With COVID, my last 1000K trip was back in 2019.
I had case of oil dilution by gasoline in my (carbureted) 1979 Toyota truck. But I think nowadays the CEL would light up if there was so much excess fuel in the cylinders.
Hi Denis:
Have you tried Tester’s recommendation and confirmed your PCV system is functioning correctly?
Ask Honda owners about that. They’ve had recalls because of oil dilution, no CEL.
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Since August 2022 until January 2023 my 2013 Tiguan has had three oil changes and three Oil Pressure Switch/Sender Replacements. Since January 2023 with last oil switch replacement my Tiguan seems to be performing well (no oil consumption with mainly city driving)
We are now planning a long distance holiday this summer with our Tiguan.
7,000 kilometres/4,400 miles Packing list includes 1 gallon of topping up engine oil. Would you consider this a high risk trip?