Please say its rocker cover gasket :(

[novadragon007]

been doing a bit of reading regarding my issue (blue smoke sometimes on idle white smoke and blue smoke on startup)

from what ive read its either:

Piston rings
valve seals
turbo
rocker cover gasket

Been reading piston rings on the 1.8 turbo is unlikely but still possible
valve seal a possible aswell although not found how common they are same with turbo but ive found a number of posts on various forums saying they had 1 or 2 wet plugs (ive still to check mine) and some blue smoke on idle and replacing the rocker cover gasket has cured it.

Recently found out my cars also been clocked and best guess going from MOT mileage recorded is about 120,000

can someone give me an idea as to how reliable the valve seals and piston rings are on these engines? I think the turbo is okay although alot of miles covered cause i still get bags of power, the car pulls like a train most of the time but occasionally will struggle to climb the revs and as soon as i lift off it backfires and pops.

based on the above would anyone guess rocker gasket aswell??

[barrym381]

120k is nothing for 1 of these but if some1 has gave it a hair-cut a cant see them looking after it 

[novadragon007]

that was my worry too, the guy i bought it off was a friend of a friend and said friend is a mechanic at my local garage, he had promised me he had serviced it regularly and installed the suspension and some other stuff the car had always been looked after by him but the mileage clock had been done long before he owned it so probably been poorly treated at some point in its life (bless its wee cotton socks) lol. Just really worried its an expensive fix. Praying for rocker gasket cause i can manage that myself any of the other 3 im gonna have to get a vdub specialist to do it cause its beyond my knowledge.

[falconmick]

Sorry mate, but I would say rocker gasket is the least likely. Valve guide oil seals most likely, piston rings second

[novadragon007]

Sorry mate, but I would say rocker gasket is the least likely. Valve guide oil seals most likely, piston rings second

damn  any idea on cost for each problem to get it fixed?

[EsSeX dAn]

you can bring up the actual milage via vag com.
if the rocker gasket was leaking wouldnt it chuck a bit of oil out of where it was leaking and youd see it? but id say its worth changing it anyway, that way you know its been done too. to check the unlikley piston rings get a compression test done, any garage will be able do this, the 4 bores should read roughly the same, any major differences and youve got problems. im not sure if theres any way to check the stem seals.
another thing id say to look at and test is the ignition amplifier (as you mentioned it sometimes has a lil backfire) and the pcv system is free flowing. im not 100% but it may be allowing too much oil through to the TIP therefore butning it hence your smoke. like i said im not 100% so dont quote me lol
hope you get it sorted though

[novadragon007]

how do i check it on vag com?? im looking at compression test kits right now to rule out the piston rings.

[falconmick]

If the car has been clocked, I would contact whoever you bought it from and tell them that you want your money back and get another car, rather than waste money on an unknown quantity. Establish when the mileage was altered and who owned the car at the time. It is an offence to sell cars with knowingly altered mileage reading. Yuo could also go to small claims court, which doesn't cost a lot and you do not need to use a solicitor. Citizens advice can offer guidance. also your local trading standards should be made aware, if you bought the car from a trader.

[novadragon007]

The mileage change was done during a sale of  the vehicle registered 90000 miles during an mot with one owner then next mot shows 60000 so either person 1 changed it after mot to sell or person 2 changed it to sell  wether I like it or not I'm stuck with it 

[Chris#101]

I have the same problem, when the car gets really hot and your stuck in traffic in idle and then go to pull forward it bellows out blue smoke. that has collected in the exhaust then clears.

When I purchased the car it only did it every now and again and it was advertised as valve stem seals, but without having the head apart I cant see how he could say that was deffinitely what it was.

but your right could be turbo, piston rings, valve stem seals, but deffinitely not valve rocker cover gasket as that isnt a gasket stopping oil getting into the combustion champer thats just keeping oil in the valve train.

So Ive taken a gamble (being the cheapest option) and purchased a recon turbo unit to fit to hopefully cure the problem.

If this doesnt fix it then I will be looking at a second hand low mileage engine to buy