Club 80-90 Forums

I have a 1.6TD T25 which is using LOTS of oil, about 1l every 160 miles. It has new injectors,head and gasket and runs well except it smokes for 2-3minutes in the morning until its warmed up. I have been told its the rings but after spending over £1000 already I cant afford to take the head off again. Any thoughts/ideas/new egines!!!
Thanks Pete

Are you overfilling with oil? 4.5L is recommended with filter change, some say a little less. Dipsticks can be way out, with 4.5L in it was below the minimum level on mine.

Unfortunately if its not leaking it then it's probably burning it, main culprits are piston rings or turbo seals although also check the engine breather system is not clogged up. You could have a compression test to determine if its the rings that are worn. But if its starting and performing fine other than oil consumption I would suspect turbo. Turbo refurb is also the cheaper and easier of the two but get compression test first to rule that out. Also be aware that if it is the turbo seals you could experience turbo runaway if you don't get it sorted, this is where the engine runs at very high speed on its own oil and doesn't stop when you turn ignition off, only way to stop is to stall the engine in gear. Not experienced it myself but my brother did in his Renault turbo diesel, pretty scary as it happened in rush hour traffic, he did manage to stall it before any serious engine damage.

I am definitly not over filling as we took him to France and completed a 1700 mile roundtrip, but used 11 litres of oil! The back end has a sprinkling of an oily residue on the bottomhalf, I guess its coming out of the exhaust.

I've been there - my last engine (1.9d 1Y) was using about that much oil. Ran really well, no smoke, no leaks. A bit of spotting on the tail gate, but not loads. Had a custom dipstick made and calibrated to 4.5 litres to ensure I wasn't overfilling it. It must have been burning it as fuel.

I wish I could tell you what the problem turned out to be, but I gave up on it and had another engine swap..

I had debated having the engine remanufactured (rebored, new pistons/ rings etc.), but decided to go for something with more power for a similar outlay.

What engine did you use and how much did it cost?

Mine now has a Golf tdi engine (code 1Z), the engine itself can be bought for about £300 (not reconditioned, just taken out of a known running car), but it's a complex install for all the additional bits and pieces, wiring etc. so that's the expensive bit (count on at least £1500 labour if not doing it yourself). Plus really needs a bespoke/ rebuilt gearbox to take advantage of the extra torque and get a decent cruising speed (i'm saving up for that!). Mine was done by https://www.facebook.com/MillersMotorService" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; in Launceston.

The obvious upgrade for a JX TD is the 1.9 AAZ TD from an old passat - all the required parts can be transferred from the JX. Or a non-turbo 1.9 1Y engine.

oil on the tail gate, doesn't that mean the fly wheel seal has gone or is it different on the diesel lumps?