1982 Caddy recently purchased - oil consumption

[jonny]

Hello,

I have run 1.6 NA MK2 jettas for many years now. i just purchased a 1982 Caddy about 3 months ago with a rebuilt 1.6 NA engine. It runs great and the previous owner says it was bored .040 over when overhauled. I am puzzled that it is consuming about a qt of oil every 750-1000 miles. It does seem to have a lot of good compression as it has been -5 to 0 degrees F here lately and no trouble starting. It does not leak any engine oil that I can see so I assume it is buring the oil. Perhaps the previous owner did not break it in properly? Glazed cylinders perhaps? I there any way to improve this oil consumtion with out taking the engine apart. Like I said it runs great - I guess I can just keep adding oil. None of my other 1.6 NA ever used much oil between changeings. I am using Rotella 15-40. Thanks in advance for any info.

Jonny

[ad]

What does the exhaust look like?
If it isn't leaking, its burning, and if its burning that much you should see it in the exhaust.

[jonny]

that's a good question because the smoke that I see is black which I think is from the fuel. It is very puzzling to me. I am also considering backing off the smoke screw on the injector pump as it is smoking a lot and there is a lot of soot at idle when warming up.

[82vdub]

Black exhaust is over fueling, white exhaust is typically from poor combustion. I had a VW that used a quart of oil every 150 miles, and there was zero smoke out the exahust. Oil is nothing more than thick diesel fuel to a diesel engine, so I wouldn't expect to see any evidence of oil consumption in the tailpipe.

[jonny]

thanks 82vdub. any advice on a freshly rebuilt engine consuming oil - how to have less consumption without pulling it apart?

thanks for all your help - this is a great forum.

Jonny

[Fatmobile]

He might have used prothe pistons, which are known to have poor quality rings,.. or as you mentioned he took it too easy on it during breakin.
Putting a load on it during breaking pushes the rings against the walls and helps break them in.

I took it too easy on my 1.5 when I broke it in and it never did quit using oil.

[82vdub]

As fatmobile said, it may never get better for oil consumption. Unless you know where the oil is going from and if it's correctable from the outside of the engine, there's probably not much you can do to solve it. There's some chemicals that you can dump into your oil that's supposed to stop oil consumption, but lots of those gum up the engine. I've used Sea Foam in the crankcase oil once. I didn't like it because the oil had the consistancy of water, but it was fine. You may consider trying that.

Think about this: If you use a quart ever 750 miles, that's 6.75 quarts every 5000 mile oil change. If each quart is $2, that's an additional $13.50 each oil change. Along with those 5000 miles, you've used approximately $470 worth of fuel. You do the math whether it's worth it to spend a couple hundred to save a few dollars a year when the fuel consumption is costing must more. The oil consumption represents 2.8% of your fuel costs with those numbers above. It just puts it into a different perspective for your consideration. Clearly, your choice on what you decide to do.

[jonny]

i hear ya - I will probably just keep adding oil, it really is not that expensive. This is my 4th VW 1.6 NA and I have to say for my long comutting I can't do it any more cost effective. thanks for all the info

[82vdub]

I had that old VW that (when I got it) used a quart of oil every 250 miles. By the time I quit driving it, it was down to a quart every 150 or so. I had to carry replacement oil with me before I needed to stop for fuel. Kind of funny when you think about it. I didn't feel like fixing it as the extra few $ a month wasn't worth the hassle to me. It's a personal choice as some wouldn't want that kind of hassle.

[jonny]

not sure what rings he used but ironically he bought all his parts from here - from Jack. I have the reciepts and it says motor rebuild kit with .040 oversized pistons, so I guess they were good rings. He replaced nearly everything getting a rebuilt injector pump and rebuilt injectors all from Jack. Is the best vw diesel I have owned so far!!

[jonny]

I changed my vacuum pump to a vane style. I just blocked off the breatther hose from the old diaphram style pump. My MK2's were all vane style with a solid block off plate at the engine block. I have read some guys "t" in the lower block breather hose to teh valve cover breather. Any thoughts on this - which is better- block off or plumb to other breather?

thanks,
jonny

[82vdub]

If you can plumb all those areas together, I'd do it. If you car's not pushing a lot of air into the crankcase causing issues with the dipstick pushing up, it's probably not necessary. If you have the parts to do it, go for it.

Here's a pic of teeing the hoses together:

[damac]

I do the t thing with the intake hoses on all my cars just for the hell of it?

My first vw diesel I got used and abused was one of the best runners I have come across.

But it ate the oil like you. If you pull the oil cap off when its running it would put train smoke into the engine bay. Compression showed close to 400 per when I checked it like 20,000 miles later, and that care went another 20,000+ until a family member locked it up from a broken coolant hose.

But it doesn't have to be normal to lose enough to have to add oil inbetween oil changes like my current redone rabbit. I am also getting a leak down the backside of the engine that shows itself as a drip when parked uphill. Sucks for me, I redid all that stuff a year ago I'm going to use a leak detecter kit.