My SR20 Primera had bad piston rings, it used quite a lot of oil but it still went pretty well, although it did feel "rough" when revved. The GTI was really smooth in comparison. My Primera did have visible exhaust gasses, but since the headgasket also went I'm not sure if it was oil I could see when I accelerated from standstill, or if it was actually steam. Coulda been both actually, although in that case, the gasket was fucked for a LONG time without it going really bad. Apart from the rough feeling when revved high, it actually ran well considering...
Smoking??
- Thread starter james-gti
- Start date
if your burning oil it would be blue smoke
if your burning water it would be white smoke
if its running rich you get black smoke
Blue smoke normally means piston rings or valve stem oil seals. (You can normally tell if its the seals by letting the car run down to cold then start it back up. If lots of blue smoke comes out right at start up, then nothing, its seals)
white smoke is normally the head gasket. There is a few ways to check if your head gasket is gone. Check under you oil filler cap for white creamy sludge. Check water levels every week. Get a gas test thingy done. (its like a turkey baster that goes in your rad cap and it sucks up the air. If the gasket is gone, the liquid changes colour)
And there is pressurising. This is something to do with the compression from the engine, presurising the water pipes.
Just to clear up, white smoke can also be condensation and nothing at all to worry about, this is 95% of the case.
if your burning water it would be white smoke
if its running rich you get black smoke
Blue smoke normally means piston rings or valve stem oil seals. (You can normally tell if its the seals by letting the car run down to cold then start it back up. If lots of blue smoke comes out right at start up, then nothing, its seals)
white smoke is normally the head gasket. There is a few ways to check if your head gasket is gone. Check under you oil filler cap for white creamy sludge. Check water levels every week. Get a gas test thingy done. (its like a turkey baster that goes in your rad cap and it sucks up the air. If the gasket is gone, the liquid changes colour)
And there is pressurising. This is something to do with the compression from the engine, presurising the water pipes.
Just to clear up, white smoke can also be condensation and nothing at all to worry about, this is 95% of the case.
you only get sludge under the filler cap if the gasket goes where the water channles cross the oil channel. The best way to see if its gone is the turkey baster thing. When the gasket goes, the compression from the pistons push fumes into the water, leaving gas in the water, so when you suck the fumes up from the rad into the turkey baster, if the gas is present, it changes the colour of the liquid. I'm sure a garage would charge no more than a tenner to quickly check it. it might be a bit more as i know the liquid for the baster aint cheap. I wouldn't worry about it till you cant read the number plate of the car behind you 
I'm gonna go find out what the true term for the turkey baster is lol
I'm gonna go find out what the true term for the turkey baster is lol
Just makin myself sure - rich is when there is too much fuel in mixture than it shoul be afaik
My GTi smokes black for a moment when I put the right foot down... Normal or something's wrong with fuel/air delivery?
you only get sludge under the filler cap if the gasket goes where the water channles cross the oil channel. The best way to see if its gone is the turkey baster thing. When the gasket goes, the compression from the pistons push fumes into the water, leaving gas in the water, so when you suck the fumes up from the rad into the turkey baster, if the gas is present, it changes the colour of the liquid. I'm sure a garage would charge no more than a tenner to quickly check it. it might be a bit more as i know the liquid for the baster aint cheap. I wouldn't worry about it till you cant read the number plate of the car behind you
I'm gonna go find out what the true term for the turkey baster is lol
it is turkey baster im a chef lol,
it was a bit humid here i live on the isle of wight i think its nothing to worry about ill get it checked tho cheers everyone
Rowdy, thats right. You have 3 rings. You have an oil control ring which is at the bottom of the 3, then the other 2 are the compression ring (i think) its been at least 3 years since i've had my head inside an engine. And the 3 rings are an a GTi-R, so other cars may have 2, i'm not sure. (i'm pretty sure its 3)
Supermonster - thats also right. Just because you have black smoke dosn't always mean you have to much fuel going in. You might have the same amount of fuel going in as you always have, but not enough air which is normally caused by a blocked air filter. Bassically, if there is to much fuel, you get black smoke. But running rich, is better than running lean. I've seen the consequences of a car running to lean and its expensive.
Supermonster - thats also right. Just because you have black smoke dosn't always mean you have to much fuel going in. You might have the same amount of fuel going in as you always have, but not enough air which is normally caused by a blocked air filter. Bassically, if there is to much fuel, you get black smoke. But running rich, is better than running lean. I've seen the consequences of a car running to lean and its expensive.
lol, mine was probably running rich too since the economy was usually utter shite, way less than 30mpg...
This is true. My Gti burns oil when driven hard but the power is still there. Infact ive driven other gti's that dont smoke and found them to feel slower.
Its becomming more common on here now as the gti's age even more that the piston rings and valve seals are the weakest link.
However, even though i'm replacing the engine in the gti, i'm going to replace the PCV valve in the rocker cover to see if that cures the smoke problem. For £22 or so it seems the cheaper option, if it cures it, i might keep the spare engine and do some internal work.
If you do a search for PCV valve you'll know what i'm talking about.
