I had my 1994 MK4 turbo, stock. only about 52K miles sit for the last year, Well I went to the garage where I had it stored so I decided to start it up after sitting a year. The battery is on its way out so I had to try and jump start it with a booster. It didn't start because I didn't have the cables connected too tightly, but finally it started and I let it idle for maybe 20 minutes. Idled smooth with no problems.

Well I went to check the oil in the car, while I was looking at the oil I noticed the dipstick smelled a little bit odd. I think it smelt a bit like gasoline. The oil is a couple years old but has less then 1000 miles on it. THis is mostly because I only had the car on the road for a few months in total for the last couple of years.

My concern is why would the oil on the dipstick have a gasoline smell? Is this because the car was not cranking but I was holding it to the on position, thus allowing gas to fill in the cylinders and into the oil?

COuld this be another smell that oil gets after sitting for a long time? What could be a cause of this? I mean the car was never modified and has low miles.

The oil is mobil 1.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Edward500,

well first off. if you havent changed the oil in a couple years regaurdless of the fact that it only has like 1k on it you need to change it. oil loses its lubrication properties and tends to degrade after a while. so that defintely needs to be changed. as for the gasoline smell. its possible your engine is running rich which would cause the extra gasoline to be tossed in with the oil. id hook up a 5 gas machine or get a wideband o2 sensor set up with a air/fuel gauge and see whats going on.

Sell your car to someone who cares.