blue smoke = not good

[toon vw 0]

my vr came to a juddering halt yesterday with blue smoke bellowing out the exhaust....lots of it.....now i know this ain't good, but how bad will it be? i managed to cosy it home (about 4miles) still with smoke pouring out, let it cool down then checked the oil level which did'nt seem too bad as i was expecting nowt in at all.

i rang the guy from my local VAG specialist & he's mentioned...head gasket & piston rings...now i am definately no mechanic but i've got a feeling my wallet is going to suffer :(

anyway he says he will come out this afternoon & take a look & a listen....fingers crossed it ain't terminal!!

[Crasher 3]

Take out number six plug and see if it is oiled up.

[dr_mat 0]

Well one of them will be ... !

Sounds like the HG to me - that amount of oil smoke appearing all of a sudden ..

[toon vw 0]

the plugs were oiled up a few months ago, one of which was worse than the rest, don't know which one though, the vw specialist just replaced them & told me to keep an eye on them!

[toon vw 0]

if its the HG, is it serious coinage then? or the piston rings for that matter

[Louie Lungbubble 0]

Was quoted ITRO £500 for my valvers HG last week.

Certainly not gonna be any cheaper for a VR :(

[toon vw 0]

omg... :( :( got no choice either really if it is that, the vw guy is coming around this lunch time anyway to have a look, so i'll soon see if it going to be wallet surgery

[Louie Lungbubble 0]

Bad enough if it's the head gasket. Dread to think what problems lower down would cost.

(cue viagra gag)

[GazzaG60 0]

if its the HG then its better than the rings. ringsa would mean a hone and new rings basically a bottom end build.

 

not too sure on HG on VR but it cant be much different to a 4 pot. probly just a bit more dollar.

 

Louie - 500 seesm a bit steep to fit a HG to a valve. but if thats with a new cam belt etc then maybe ok.

[Kevin Bacon 5]

Peice of cake to do on a VR...... no need to pay £500 for that at all.....or any 4 cyl for that matter.

 

All the info on how to do these jobs yourself is contained within the forum ;-)

[toon vw 0]

thanks Kev, i would love to think i could do it myself & save a fortune, i'll have a look at the info on here once its confirmed that thats the actual problem, but with my track record with anything mechanical it might be a non starter but then again how difficult can it be...& with christmas coming i could do with every penny, obviously to give to the mrs so she can waste it instead of me :roll:

[Louie Lungbubble 0]

Gazza - Yes, that price included belts & tensioner etc. Still a lot of $$ though.

 

Stripped it down myself. Sod them.

Reckon I'll be screaming for help when I start the rebuild this weekend though :lol:

[GazzaG60 0]

it can be a good idea to check the head is striaght and not warped on the mating surface before you refit unless you are sure.

 

the headbolts should be changed but on a tight budget you could torque um down to FT. if you plan on replacement then it maybe worth fitting ARP's as you can re-use um.

 

id pay careful attention to the inlet bolts and any other hex key bolt for that matter. may be worth replacing them anyway.

[Louie Lungbubble 0]

All checked with a steel rule and looks straight. Gonna go for it.

What are ARP's anyway? Thought the bolts had to be of the stretch persuasion. Getting newuns anyway (Not gonna push my luck that far)

[toon vw 0]

just had the vw round & would'nt you know it, turned the key started & purred like a pussy cat, no smoke from the exhaust at all in fact him & his mate both said it sounded sweet as a nut!!!

he says its up to me but he said to just run it for a while longer & take it from there or he could take the head off & have a look but thats when it starts gettin expensive, i am going round in a minute to try some top end additive which he says may help with whatever the problem is...worth a try i suppose.

he also said that the last vr he worked on that had piston problems it worked out cheaper sourcing a new engine :crazyeyes: :crazyeyes:

[Louie Lungbubble 0]

:scratch:

Didn't he offer any possible explination for the smoke you saw then?

Something somewhere's not quite right.

[toon vw 0]

he just said it 'could' be the piston rings or maybe 'could' be the HG starting to go, could'nt really tell until he had a proper look inside, i know not really much help like, there's obviously something wrong somewhere!!

[toon vw 0]

also rang another garage that my wife uses all the time, i know the guy quite well & he does'nt want to know, but after he suggested it might be the turbo gone....then it might not be the best place to take it to anyway :?

[JIMMI 0]

Sounds like youve got a rare corrado there mate, one that fixes itself !!!!

None of the ones ive owned have ever done that !!!

I'd be expecting the problem to return soon enough !!

 

jimmi..............................................

[GazzaG60 0]

ARP's are bolts that are non stretch. they are usually studs to be exact rather than bolts. they are both stronger and reusable. worth the investment.

[toon vw 0]

Sounds like youve got a rare corrado there mate, one that fixes itself !!!!

None of the ones ive owned have ever done that !!!

I'd be expecting the problem to return soon enough !!

well spot on mate....he told me to take it out & see how it runs which i did & it was fine, but then just popped out to our local shops (about 3miles) & it started juddering,on the return trip all hell broke loose again....smoke from the exhaust, loss of all power, cutting out, backfiring....the lot, had to stop about 10 times wait a few mins restart then judder on for another 400yds or so conk out then repeat the process.

this is also on top of showing no water temp & oil temp of 145 (both of which were tested 3 days ago & the actual temps are spot on just the the info thats wrong) & the speedo coming on when it feels like it :bad-words: :bad-words:

i think i've heard the phrase 'money pit' banded about on here before, well i think i'm going to get 1st hand experience of it. :cry: :cry:

[JIMMI 0]

Its definatly blue smoke then ?? not greyish or white ??

Have you or anyone recently topped up or changed the oil on it ?

 

jimmi...............................

[toon vw 0]

yeah i have topped up the oil about a week ago, decent stuff for older engines , can't remember the make (but it is in the garage) it actually seemed to have quietened the engine down a bit.

i've just been told by my wife who followed me & my crippled car home yesterday that it was like a dirty white colour, greyish i suppose, although i did think it was blueish when it first happened.

why?

[eatthis 0]

if you over fill the oil youl get loads of smoke i did it once pood myself thought the bottom end had gone lol

[dr_mat 0]

It does not suprise me that once it's cooled down it's ok. Classic HG. Gaps shrink when the block is cold. Get it warm, put some pressure on it .. bang..