Blue smoke

[dgannon69]

had my car checked out at audi today after it drank a load of coolant and was sounding rough... Basically they couldnt fault it but the pointed out its blowing blue smoke out when started up from cold... this, as they pointed out, could be a number of things such as the turbo and then also something to do with oil getting through seals into the cylinders (please forgive me for the dumbass explaination) Audi predict its going to cost 4 hours labour to strip and find the source of the problem and then up to another £2k to rectify the problem.

The scenario is, do i get rid of the car and part ex it for a more expensive A3 1.8T from audi, get it fixed (adding to the £2500 i've already spent on it) or sell the car and rip off some poor buger know whats going to happen to it? It looks like the part ex route at the moment but i'm now concerned that the same will happen if i buy another audi /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif

Regards
Dave

 

[Khufu]

if its drinking coolant, surely it would be the cylinder head gasket?

 

[imported_gek]

I'd part ex it.

 

[god_thats_quick]

I'd part ex it if you can get away with it, or get it somewhere other than audi to have a better look. have audi even done a compression test or pressue test?

Be warned, these things can get VERY expensive and once the car is in a garage your kinda tied into it staying there until it's fixed!

Has it burn't any oil or just coolant?

 

[dgannon69]

they did the pressure test and block test on it, but i have no idea wat the block test means. if i part ex it, it means i'm going to have to extend my loan by another £5000 to buy the one i want to part ex mine against. ah well, i love the cars so much that i will just have to do it...! i gave amd a call and one of the guys called me back (this guy was a racing technician for VW). he went out of his way to be as helpful as he possibly could explaining what he thinks it could be because of. He put it down to the oil leaking down into the cylinders (he used a different term to explain it but i can't remember!) and that although its just a bit of blue smoke at the moment it will get worse...

think its gonna go. cheers guys!

 

[god_thats_quick]

I would imagine at the right place you could get pretty much anything sorted for £5,000 so I guess it depends whether you'd have anything to worry about with the new car that you wouldn't with yours, that's one of the things that's making me want to keep my car the more that goes wrong with mine the more I know shouldn't go wrong for a long time! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/lol.gif

 

[madvw]

personally, i'd get a second opinion.

blue smoke on startup...and?
drinking coolant...and?

I had a 135k mile a4 1.8SE that had both these problems. It ran fine for 4 years, then I traded it in.

I never did get around to finding out the problems. The oil level never dropped, even though it was burning when cold. The water level was a mystery though, as there was no evidence of it in the engine, oil was fine, no evidence of water dripping on the floor.. i just lived with it, it wasn't too expensive to top it up after all /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

on the other hand, if its getting through shed loads of oil, then it's not necessarily the end of the world, but it will cost a bit more.

what age of car is it? mileage?

 

[imported_ZeroK66]

Sounds like the headgasket to me...

A good way to check the valve stem seals (Which could cause the smoke at start up) is to drive the car in a highish gear... say maybe 3rd... take it up quite high - maybe 6000 rpm then take your foot off the throttle and let the engine run against its compression for a bit... (maybe 5-10 seconds) - then put your foot down flat and watch your rear view mirror. If you get a nice puff of smoke your valve stem oil seals are shot - which means the guides and the valves would be too... so means a new head/head re-condition. Not really worth it... just part-ex

Cheers and good luck,.
L

 

[Timbo]

[ QUOTE ]
...your valve stem oil seals are shot - which means the guides and the valves would be too... so means a new head/head re-condition.

[/ QUOTE ]
Not sure that necessarily follows - it's certainly not the case on Fords I've had in the past (which all eat their valve stem oil seals sooner or later). It was always possible to just replace the seals and that would fix the problem. Unless there's something special about the 20v head I'm unaware of!

The coolant loss is a bit more worrying - any mayonnaise under the oil filler cap?

 

[imported_ZeroK66]

Just in my past experience if the stem seals go its because of excess pressure build up on them. The only way they get this is if the valves and or guildes are worn excessively resulting in pressure passing by to the stem seals.

Thing is... if you going to take the head off to replace the seals... may as well do the lot.

Anyway... part-ex I think is the safest. Maybe upgrade and go S3?

Cheers
Leon

 

[madvw]

headwork is not too bad, especially as you can buy a recon head complete and ready to go, and it should be cheaper than getting yours reworked.

the problem would be if the rings are gone and the bores are scored or oval. That would cost in the thousands and probably be a show stopper for most people. Compression test it, that should let you know if it's really ********.

 

[Timbo]

[ QUOTE ]
Just in my past experience if the stem seals go its because of excess pressure build up on them. The only way they get this is if the valves and or guildes are worn excessively resulting in pressure passing by to the stem seals.

[/ QUOTE ]
Fair enough. On old Fords they just used to wear out at about 80K miles, however my 1.8T's done 83K miles with no signs of valve stem seal wear so I get the impression it's a much tougher engine by and large!

 

[dgannon69]

Right, thanks for all the info so far.... i will try to answer the questions that you've all asked so far. Its a 99T and has done 87000 (10000 of which i've done in the past 4 months) its FASH, it had all the pressure tests etc done last week and the results came back fine.... it looks like a part ex is on the horizon because i've spent far too much on it already and don't want the worry that if i had this work done, i'd end up having to get something else done. unfortunatley i can't upgrade to an S3 because i'm on 18 and insurance is a bitch as u all know so i'll be going for the same model but newer with about 20000-30000 miles on the clock from a dealer. that way i don't have to worry about it as i'll have the warranty... all in all its a hard decision to make because its the first car i've had that i really love and invested a lot of time and money in... but parents orders are to get rid of it and learn from the problems i've had with this one so i'll take their advice and just buy a newer model. lets hope this 1 is a little better.

Thanks again
Dave

 

[rojocho]

if it was stem seals would they not burn oil all the time. rings smoke a bit if worn on start, but not usually that mileage. mines got 103k and doesn't use any oil. is it on long life servicing, as poss changing to short may help, or has turbo worn burning oil and water? odd if compression tests are fine.

 

[imported_greentsport]

id say its valve stem oil seals happnes on start up..wouldnt worry about piston rings that happens on warm engine. my old 16v golf was like a steam train when it got hot cos of the piston rings

go for part ex and enjoy a new motor