VR6 Smoke on start up and on engine braking

[quicky1980 0]

Ive been told that my VR bottom end may be at fault but want some more opinions.

Symptoms:

Smoke from exhaust when cold starting with heavy revs

when the engines used for a long distance on engine braking i get smoke when I accelerate out again

top end is tappety

when cold can take a while to start up

 

when she's warm shes fine apart from the engine braking problem

 

smoke is grey/white/blue Im pretty sure its oil and im using about 1ltr of oil per 400 miles give or take.

 

Is this top or bottom end fault? or indeed both. Id rather swap the whole engine if the bottom has gone, also is it a gearbox off to take the head off (timing chains).

 

Im tempted to draw this engine out as long as possible until I can afford/have time to swap for a 24v.

 

thanks

[CorradoVR6-Turbo 0]

it could be top end but more likley the bottom end,just keep toping up the oil untill you can afford the 24v

[quicky1980 0]

hmm ok, thought about this alot, and to avoid hassle im thinking of placing another vr engine in the car to sort this out. there are alot of 2.8 vr engines out there. obv they are obd2, but if i swap all the sensors overs can it work in a corrado while i rebuild the 2.9?

[dr_mat 0]

Sounds more like top end to me. You can take the head off without removing the gearbox, yes.

[Reggit 0]

Smoke on start-up usually points to valve stem seals, (so top end as Dr mat said), on over run 'could' be rings but may not be a major issue. Mine used to smoke occasionally on overrun but I changed to a 15W grade oil from a 10W and it completely stopped. May be worth a try in youur case.

 

I do think you've definately got a top end refurb coming up though.

[quicky1980 0]

i have no problem with doing a top end rebuild but dont want to do a bottom end rebuild as I need the car for work. I can rebuild a spre head and fit it on the car over a weekened hopefully. Im just trying to work out what the likely chance of the bottom end will need rebuilding.

 

Ive been told that the engine has done around 90k but hard to tell if this is true. I was foolish enought to try some engine flush in the engine prior to the last oil change, I have a feeling this may have accelerated the stem wear. Like i said the top end is noisy (tappety) so will plan for a top end change at some point or swap it all over for a decent engine.

 

tbh its hard to figure out the best direction to go with it all.

[grimmy 0]

If its of any use to you, i have a lot of smoke on engine breaking down hills etc, and it uses a litre of oil every 600 miles. Had the top end rebuilt and its no better, so its bottem end wear, despite being told it was quite obviously valve stem seals.

[dmw9255 0]

Sounds like valve stem oil seals (valve guides), had the same issue with an old golf, can be done without removing the head on a golf, not sure about on a VR6 engine.

 

Regards.

 

Dean.

[CorradoVR6-Turbo 0]

build a fresh top end and see what happens....

[quicky1980 0]

build a fresh top end and see what happens....

 

ye Im starting to think thats the best direction. If it still smokes I can rebuild a spare bottom end and when it comes to engine out time, Ill take the rebuilt head off.

 

Are all vr cylinder heads the same, obv there are coil and dizzy versions but besides that?

[CorradoVR6-Turbo 0]

all the same, besides later models had different oil drains to the chain erea but still fitted and worked the same.