vr6 oil eater

[kop10320178 0]

hi my raddo vr6 is using a litre of oil every 800 miles or so, there are no visable leaks, and when i am driving i have noticed blue smoke coming out especially in when i am in second gear

does any one else have this with there vr6 or is mine shagged!

[blackcat 0]

Er, yeah, mine smokes abit.

Correct me if I'm wrong (and someone probably will in a minute!) but I think VW say that the VR using 1 litre per 1000 miles is ok/normal.

[dinkus 10]

That blue smoke is your burnt oil being puffed past the rings.

 

The 2.9l VR's in the Corrados are prone to suffering bore wear on cylinders 1&6 which causes the engine to puff smoke.

 

You could try using some slightly thicker oil and I'd also check your spark plugs to see if 1 and 6 are oily.

[kop10320178 0]

thanks will check it out

[dazzyvr6 0]

is the blue smoking happening when you coast in gear than put your foot down or just when you put your foot down?

[Kevin Bacon 5]

Er, yeah, mine smokes abit.

Correct me if I'm wrong (and someone probably will in a minute!) but I think VW say that the VR using 1 litre per 1000 miles is ok/normal.

 

Most manufacturers quote figure that to protect themselves and new engines can use that much whilst bedding in.....but they don't mean the engine should smoke though!

 

A healthy VR uses a litre over about 4-5000 miles.

[blackcat 0]

I knew someone would correct me sooner or later :wink:

Yeah, I know smoke is bad (but sometimes I like to fool myself by saying it's ok and then I can believe that my VR is ok and not in need of £££'s)

[dr_mat 0]

is the blue smoking happening when you coast in gear than put your foot down or just when you put your foot down?

 

This question is important - cos it gives you a clue as to whether the problem is top end (££££) or bottom end (£££££££££££££££££££) ...!

[GIXXERUK 0]

valve guides, valve seals, bore wear , rings

 

if you stop for a while on tick over does it smoke as you pull away? does it smoke whenyou cold start ?

[kop10320178 0]

i will find out and back to you

thankx 4 da advice

jay

[Trig 0]

Oh dear, you've got me paranoid now. I'm not using a litre every 800miles but I'm certainly not getting 4-5k out of it!

[edd 0]

"Corrado Paranoia"....Man nothing even comes close, it plagues me every day. Though i can safely say this one isn't an issue to me anymore. First off check plugs find out what state they are in on bores 1 & 6. And give it a boot after a good long period of overun. See what gets kicked out the exhaust, smoke, how much, what colour.

[edd 0]

Ooops! just copied everything Dinkus already said, still i'll leave it in, it must be good advice!! :D

[kop10320178 0]

will do

how did u get stifflers ma in ya car

she has got some horses head on er

[kop10320178 0]

when i nstart my car first thing the smoke is white /grey

[BenM 0]

A few years ago I was at the foundry in Germany where VW originally cast the VR cylinder blocks (I design engines for a living). They had a few early VR6 blocks in the reception area, demonstrating the various casting problems that this particular block had had during development. I was talking to one of the foundry engineers about them, and he was quite scathing of the VR6, suggesting that they were badly designed. One of the reasons they use more oil than some engines, even when new, is that the bore distortion is quite bad. This is (obviously) how out-of-round the bores are on cold and hot assembly, and depends on things like water jacket height, bolt thread engagement height etc. If the bores are distorted to start with they will also be more prone to wearing.

 

None of this helps if you have a smoking VR6, but at least now you know why!

[kop10320178 0]

whats the worst that could happen?

 

i check it weekly and top it up once a month

thanx jay

[dr_mat 0]

Worst that could happen is not being able to sell it cos it smokes like a 1962 Routemaster bus on the test drive mate!

[dinkus 10]

It shouldn't explode or anything, but it's unlikely that it'll stop smoking without some major work doing.

 

If it's a top-end problem then it will need valve guides and seals which is a head-off job, hence quite expensive.

 

If it's a bottom-end problem then it could be ring wear, or more likely bore wear which is a head off and engine-out job, so very expensive. If it's bore wear then you're looking at a new block, which again, aint too cheap.

 

Of course, if it is bore wear then you can go down the whole route of boring the old block out to accomodate a bigger capacity (up to 3.2l has been achieved) but then you'll also need new pistons, rings and an ECU map at the very least.

[edd 0]

whats the worst that could happen?

 

I can show you a receipt from Stealth if you like :lol: :lol:

 

(note: you get what you pay for of course)

[dazzyvr6 0]

whats the worst that could happen?

 

i check it weekly and top it up once a month

thanx jay

 

mine was using quite a lot of oil,but the egine was still pulling strong when i decided to take it off the road to do some work on it,so its not all doom and gloom,i switched to a better oil which nearly halved oil consumption

[Dutch24V 0]

Does it smoke instantly when you start her or only after a bit of throttle action?

 

Am I right in thinking if it smokes when you cold start her it's the rings?

 

...just curious as I've not seen a conclusion to what the problem is likely to be based on when she smokes!? :?

 

Dutch

[gradeAfailure 0]

I believe that if it smokes blue on startup or when you get on the throttle after a period of overrun, then it's likely to be the valve stem seals/guides; if it smokes on full throttle then it's more likely to be the piston rings...

 

c'est vrai, n'est pas?

[Dutch24V 0]

This is (obviously) how out-of-round the bores are on cold and hot assembly, and depends on things like water jacket height, bolt thread engagement height etc. If the bores are distorted to start with they will also be more prone to wearing.

 

This is why the standard power outputs differ so much from VR to VR then? Either you're lucky with perfect bores or less lucky with distorted bores when she was new!? Hmmm...

 

So if she doesn't smoke on full throttle then it probably won't be the bores?

Nice...

 

Dutch

[kop10320178 0]

when u say full throttle do u mean the car sat still and me put my foot full down on the accelerator?