smokin VR6

[akacheesy 0]

Anyone have any ideas how to cure my smoking VR6? Tends to smoke a lot if booted, or when pulling away after using engine to brake?

[dazzyvr6 0]

that would be the valve stem seals and guides,mine needs to be done as well,the parts arnt expensive but the labour would be

[Rpmayne 0]

Mines doing the same, just got the bentley CD-ROM to find out how to do this. It says they can be changed with the head on if the cylinders and pressurised to hold the valves up. Would the valve guides be worn at 83,000 past the 1mm play do you recon?

[akacheesy 0]

wouldn't have a clue m8

[dazzyvr6 0]

think you would be better off changing the valve guides as well

[akacheesy 0]

the smoke is blue

[vr6storm 0]

moving this into "problems" for you :wink:

 

by the sounds of it its either your valve stems :( or piston rings :shock: :cry: :cry: :cry:

[akacheesy 0]

ooh noo, piston rings?? expensive?

[HiAsAKite 0]

blue means oil!!! :shock: .......

 

..if its your cylinder bores that are worn then you could be looking at a new/recon block... (happened to me on a another car!)

....... hopefully it will be the valve guides though..

[akacheesy 0]

there's no lack of power or any excessive engine noise I suspect seels are more likely I guess a compression test would show if it were rings / pistons?

[Scott 0]

These engines do NOT suffer from bore wear unless has done high mileage and I am talking past 200k miles.....

 

What you describe is EXACTLY the same problem I have..... recently rolling roaded I got 192bhp - no mods so no problems with compression there... have had it checked out by specialist and confirm valve guides / seals need replacing ..... parts are cheap as said labour is not as timing chains need to come off etc.... not one to do things by skimping it would make sense to get the head full reconditioned whilst it is off.

 

I reckon around £600 in labour plus parts.... more if you want head fully refurbed....

[TimVR 0]

Hi Guys,

 

if blue smoke is oil, what is grey/black? - I get some on booting my VR6 (5000rpm)

 

Car does seem to use a bit of oil....(although not quite what VW say!)

 

Cheers,

 

Tim

[corradovr6sc 0]

Black smoke is fuel.-Running rich momentarily.

 

Blue smoke is also caused by the crankcase breather. Crankcase gases are burnt off through the intake producing smoke.

[Kevin Bacon 5]

These engines do NOT suffer from bore wear unless has done high mileage and I am talking past 200k miles.....

 

I'm sorry but yes they do, way before 200K.

 

Number 6 is always the first to go, then number 1.

 

Stealth have half a dozen knackered 2.9 blocks lying around the workshop, all with significantly less than 200K on them.

 

You can see for yourself if/when you go to the rolling road day.

 

Kev

[OllieP 0]

Anyone ever had grey smoke on cold and hot starting? and it's only very occasionally on a VR6. Any ideas?

 

Ollie

[martinibloke 0]

Might be a tempreture sensor.

 

If it thinks it too cold or too hot it overcompansates your mixture thus burning out the excess fuel. Black smoke.

[OllieP 0]

Cheers - I guess that will show up in the error codes!! :(

[Scott 0]

These engines do NOT suffer from bore wear unless has done high mileage and I am talking past 200k miles.....

 

I'm sorry but yes they do, way before 200K.

 

Number 6 is always the first to go, then number 1.

 

Stealth have half a dozen knackered 2.9 blocks lying around the workshop, all with significantly less than 200K on them.

 

You can see for yourself if/when you go to the rolling road day.

 

Kev

 

With bore wear or piston ring wear? - if you cant get 200k from a VW bottom end then doesnt say much for the VR6 engine.....

[Kevin Bacon 5]

These engines do NOT suffer from bore wear unless has done high mileage and I am talking past 200k miles.....

 

I'm sorry but yes they do, way before 200K.

 

Number 6 is always the first to go, then number 1.

 

Stealth have half a dozen knackered 2.9 blocks lying around the workshop, all with significantly less than 200K on them.

 

You can see for yourself if/when you go to the rolling road day.

 

Kev

 

With bore wear or piston ring wear? - if you cant get 200k from a VW bottom end then doesnt say much for the VR6 engine.....

 

Both.

 

200K is asking a lot of ANY engine, unless driven by a Vicar and having 3000 mile oil changes.

 

The 4 cylinder lumps can last up to and beyond 200K but not many 2.9 engines would reach that and still be within tolerance. The Golf's 2.8 engine I would have more faith in. It runs cooler in the larger engine bay and it's just a better engine anyway.

 

Kev

[Scott 0]

Well I never used to have problems with a Cav with 250k on the original engine and sounded fine and never used oil or water *;)

 

I bought the VR6 with the thoughts of the engine going on forever I can hear alarms bells now and my head telling me to sell it .............. :oops:

[dr_mat 0]

Big difference.. The VR6 would have been much longer lived with a VSR - it wouldn't encourage you to rev it so much. Most Vauxhall engines don't encourage revving, and are much more torquey low down, so you just don't have to...

 

AND the VR6 has to deal with just ridiculous amounts of heat dissipation, under that small bonnet..

 

That said, there's a lot of people here who tend to rebuild their engines when 90% of people either wouldn't notice, or wouldn't bother, even if they knew.

 

My 150k mile Cavalier used to burn a little bit of oil, and used to produce a tiny bit of dirty smoke on heavy acceleration, but I never even considered the concept of getting the head rebuilt. It was a disposable car, so the thought of pulling the head apart is just ridiculous. Your VR6 is not so disposable - it's worth a lot more, for a start.

 

I hope this post makes SOME sense at all, cos I don't think it does..

 

Anyway,

 

Onwards and upwards..

[h100vw 0]

If your motor ends up shot. You can overbore a 2.8 and re-use your pistons if they are not knacked. Not as cheap as a secondhand 2.9 but at least you would know all its history.

 

Gavin

[Kevin Bacon 5]

Well I never used to have problems with a Cav with 250k on the original engine and sounded fine and never used oil or water *;)

 

I bought the VR6 with the thoughts of the engine going on forever I can hear alarms bells now and my head telling me to sell it .............. :oops:

 

Not at all mate. I'm not trying to be pessimistic, just realistic.

 

To be fair, I reckon a lot of the knackered engines I've seen have been thrased from day one and were probably neglected to a degree.

 

The engine is strong bar the known weak points, which no amount of servicing and care can avoid.

 

I wouldn't worry about it. Just address issues as and when they arise, use good oils, install an oil cooler, ensure the coolant system is healthy and keep off the rev limiter! It should last for ages then :lol:

 

As Dr mat says, a lot of people don't notice when something is up and just keep driving it, which can cause damage for the next owner to fix. For example the previous owner of mine didn't know the cam position sensor was dead!

 

Kev

[akacheesy 0]

HAd a new lamda sensor fitted recently seems to have sorted the smoke issue, dunno how though, surely it only regulates fuel & air mixture?

[vr6storm 0]

HAd a new lamda sensor fitted recently seems to have sorted the smoke issue, dunno how though, surely it only regulates fuel & air mixture?

 

 

if there's too much fuel it'll produce a black-dark grey kind of colour smoke especially when you boot it :wink: