[Closed] How much harm have I caused my Berlingo

Typically the difference between min and max on the dipstick on most cars is 1 litre if that helps.

It's now topped up to max, took what I had in one bottle and a fair bit of another 2l bottle (I'd didn't record what was in the first bottle & the seconds out in the garage).

I'm gonna treat it to an oil lubricated spin today!

I had a 2005 1.6 Berlingo and it needed a lot more than a litre to fill it from empty so I expect not empty.

My dip stick was bone dry.

To a certain extent it matters not how much oil you have in your sump as long as there is enough to maintain oil pressure, so on the basis that you've not had an oil pressure warning light come up then you should have got away with it.

The oil will not be in great shape though, but if its not a performance car getting thrashed regularly or even occasionally then you should be OK. Of course the issue is more of a long term one - there will likely have been accelerated wear of contacting surfaces and as oil gets older and more contaminated with the products of combustion it breaks down and becomes more acidic which also accelerates the wear of the engine. So it is likely you've reduced the life expectancy of your engine from about 250,000 miles to 200,000 miles. I think you wont die.

might be worth doing an oil flush though with some cheaper oil. Or run this next batch of oil for a short time (a couple of weeks or a months or so) and do another oil and filter change to make sure you've got 100% of the current oil out of the system...you can't drain 100% of the oil out of the engine at an oil change, but at normal oil service schedules a small amount of contamination of the previous oil is not an issue but with very old and highly degraded oil its best to purge that out of the system as soon as you can.

I'd not be so worried about the oil level as the fact it hasn't been serviced for three years! How many miles has that oil done?

Google suggests 4.3 litres so makes you think not completely empty. Odd that the sensor didn't pick it up. I found my Berlingo would just keep going and going! At least it gets a service now

Odd that the sensor didn’t pick it up

Oil warning lights usually monitor oil pressure not oil volume which is why you have a dip stick so you can measure oil volume. More modern cars tend to have both, pressure and volume, but might not have a dip stick - my car doesn't have a dip stick at all, the oil level is monitored and access through the cars on board computer thingy.

Three years is not alot really especially if a modern fully synthetic oil was put in last time. It's only really one or two services that have been missed depending on the service schedule and how the car is used. There is always a factor of safety on these things to allow for people who don't observe the service schedule to the letter, so you can bet that the service schedule the design engineers have assume will be two or three times greater than what they quote to account for owner abuse/neglect.

It'll be fine. Have you had it motd? Most folks just get it serviced at the same time

I found my Berlingo would just keep going and going!

brakes needed a service?

How is the rest of the car? Perhaps we do more miles, but in three years I would have had tyres, maybe brakes, wiper blades, bulb etc needing replacement or failed.

Ignoring that horse shit above.

Low oil and a turbo engine is a concern

Poor quality oil and a turbo is a concern

If it was an NA engine I wouldn't be as worried.

As a minimum I'd now change the oil and filter.

One of the issues with old oil is it becomes thinned with fuel residue and not only reduces lubricity it also passes by your rings and turbo seals and is "burnt" easier. Meaning it's a double whammy of old oil and low oil.

I have always found if I exceed service life on oil in diesel cars it will start to use oil. (When I was a heathern youth and didn't know better I never serviced my cars......)

Older wiser and more educated on the inside of engines now rather than assuming someone else has doubled up on their calcs.....

Only once you have changed the oil can you assertain damage done. Fingers crossed you have done no damage and with new oil the car will continue to run well. Worst case you have shagged the big ends and the turbo oil seals.

Afterall we have all tales of cars that have run for thousands of miles with next to no oil.......how ever I doubt any of them were PSA turbo engines

If it was a 1.6hdi I'd be more concerned. The 2.0 90bhp hdi is a strong lump and tbf I'd not be having sleepless nights over it.

But poor show on not dipping the oil.
You check your tyres that in frequently

My dip stick was bone dry.

Come on, no-one's going for that one? Is disappoint.

Not too long ago we had 53 plate xsara picasso with a 2.0 hdi engine and it was bombproof. When the kids were babies and i had no time management skills, we went 2 years and 35,000 miles without an oil change, just tyres. Changed the oil and filters and it continued chugging along at 45mpg. We sold it for £200 at 175,000miles and at the last MOT it was up to 208k.

Was going to post, but beaten to basically everything I was going to say.

a 2.0 hdi engine and it was bombproof. When the kids were babies and i had no time management skills, we went 2 years and 35,000 miles without an oil change, just tyres. Changed the oil and filters and it continued chugging along at 45mpg. We sold it for £200 at 175,000miles and at the last MOT it was up to 208k.

always one dont shout too loudly - PSA cars are not allowed to be reliable on here;)

So, I've filled max with fully synthetic & this will be changed in January along with the filters.

Ironically it's been back for other routine works, but the service was overlooked.

It's currently juddering at around 1750rpm in 4th & 5th particularly and feels like it's lacking power at low revs and then it's off like a two stroke power band...

Ignoring that horse shit above.

Low oil and a turbo engine is a concern

You're right but thankfully there wasn't an issue with low oil in this case as no oil pressure warning light has come on according to the OP, so no oil starvation has occurred.

Older wiser and more educated on the inside of engines now rather than assuming someone else has doubled up on their calcs…..

Not old enough or wise enough to know about 'factor of safety' in engineering design then as a basic and fundamental design principle. Well everyday is a school day. Wisdom is a journey not a destination.

Only once you have changed the oil can you assertain damage done. Fingers crossed you have done no damage and with new oil the car will continue to run well. Worst case you have shagged the big ends and the turbo oil seals.

If the big ends and turbo oil seals were shagged then I think the OP would know about it by now.

If it's the same as the 2.0 HDI in my '08 C4-Pic I'd be most worried about the Turbo.
I remember being told by a Picasso Fanboi (no really they exist) that the Turbo typically "lets go somewhere after 75k" as if it was an inevitability.
But the truth is that Turbo's probably let go at that point following three years or so of neglect by 1st/2nd owners who didn't bother to change oil and filter at least annually (or cheaped out on garage servicing) and that the turbo either didn't get enough oil, got thinned out oil or it got knackered due to too much metal mixed in with the oil... at 12 years old and heading for 100k miles (we don't do many miles TBF) it's still got it's factory turbo, but it's never missed a service and always gets fresh oil/filter...

Having said all that if your Berlingo has been running OK and is only used at weekends/lower mileage, I'd be inclined to say you've probably gotten away with it. The loss of power might be due to a struggling turbo(?) or oil vol/pressure on the cusp of being too low, but not quite there...

If I was your gararge though (Who now know you've skipped three services in a row) I'd be working my way through the book times for a full service, a new belt and water pump (for good measure) and probably costing up a turbo replacement...
You'll get a significant bill I reckon, but if it's not seized up or had a head gasket failure, it'll probably keep running for another decade after this minor rescue.

My friend had the same Berlingo a few years ago. It had a major oil leak and he used to put an oil pan underneath it each day at work and then pour it back in for the journey home. In the end he just gave up and ran it into the ground which took a suprisingly long time considering... Think it was at least a year or more

If there was any oil starvation you'd know about it pretty quick. You can't change that you missed a few services or let the oil run a bit low. Just make sure you keep on top of it in future!

It'll be fine unless you've done big miles. Even if you have it will probably be fine, anyway theres nothing else you can do.

Just have it changed asap is all you can do.

Design factor of safety is A built on a stack up of tolerances and B. Presumed wear

anyone that works in "safety margin" window is setting them self up for a fail.

Seen it time and time again in RCAs

"oh we thought there would be a bigger safety margin"

Juddering and lack of power at 1750rpm sounds worrying.
However, due to your over the top services it could be something minor, or spendy.
Spendy. New turbo, the old contaminated oil has done the shaft seals in the chra. So its not balanced so doesn't spin up smoothly and sticks abit tilll tje exhaust gas flow is high enough to wang it round
Minor, fuel filters, air filter, split hose on intake but that would be audible
Spendy. Fuel pump. Dunno if its in tank or block mounted on the psa engine. Either way.. Spendy.
Injector failure might do it, although i would expect smoke and a mis through the rev range
So no help at all really.

I'd change the fuel filter and air filter to see if that sorts the judder.

My super reliable 2005 2.0Hdi finally succumbed to an injector related failure. I think one of them was leaking and letting too much fuel through, leading to the piston/bore becoming scored. It was fine when running at load, but on the cusp of any throttle was lumpy, and at idle produced insane amounts of white smoke when I finally pulled away. Like hazard to other road users amounts of smoke. Think WW1 tank battle.

I had noticed recently that it had lost its umph, had a loss of low rev power.

It’s a Berlingo, how could you possibly tell it had lost it’s oomph?

I’d not be so worried about the oil level as the fact it hasn’t been serviced for three years! How many miles has that oil done?

Three years? Pah, that’s nothing, my Octavia, when I got rid of it, was nineteen years old, I’d had it fifteen, and it had never been serviced by me. I just kept the oil topped up, and water. It was doing 155 miles a week on average, and had done over 160,000 miles when I gave it to work as a pool car.
Sadly, they couldn’t get it insured for some reason, but one of the workshop crew had it for his son; it’s now in Poland. Amazing car, that.
My EcoSport, on the other hand, will be regularly serviced, it cost me a lot more than the Octy, and in the five months I’ve had it, I’ve already doubled the miles it had done in the previous fourteen, so it’ll be treated more kindly.

The lumpy part throttle is a common issue on them. Barry of this parish had same issue and I cant remember what it was.

It also used to have an interesting intermittant non start issue if left for a while. Basically no2 injector would hold open and not allow any common rail pressure

Swift tap with a hammer would fix it for another months

It's a 2005 /15 year old practical car that I'm sure has been well used rather than sat in a heated garage and cossited all it's life. realistically how much life is left in it anyway?

Stick some oil in it, if it still runs happy days then get it serviced.

I had one of these and I could do all filters, oil, air and fuel and new oil for less than £50 and it took less than an hour. See forum name, I am no mechanic. Mine was ace, got written off, paid off £1.5K, bought back £99, ran for 2 more years with no official servicing and then traded in at 170K. Just checked MOT and Tax, it's still going at 180K, bravo Patrick (yes he had a name)