smoking 16v

[neil68]

hi, can anyone give me any advice??
i have an 89G 16v which when i start seems ok, but after 100 metres or so i notice white smoke coming from the exhaust.  when parked and revved this smoke pours out of yhe exhaust (more revs more smoke). had a full service a month ago, and my car still feels to run fine. ps engine has 149k and has been regularly serviced. can any one tell me what may be wrong? and how serious/expensive this could be??

[rowlers]

sounds about the same as mine! Does it use any oil? i.e. do you have to keep the oil topped up?
Mine is burning oil, hence the smoke, but not so much that I too concerned - YET!

I'm guessing valve stem oil seals, very cheap items, but very expensive in labour - or so I'm led to believe. I'm sure someone else will no more (rubjonny???)

Mine runs OK, pulls well so I'll leave her be for now!

[neil68]

yes, my car had to be kept topping up with oil, when it was serviced i said about the oil leak but the garage told me they thought that it was the oil sump gasket, the car is up for mot on monday so had better start saving!! dont like the sound of "very expensive labour" 
ps, can anyone tell me how to get some pics of my car uploaded as it may be poorly but still looks well ace!! being totally standard apart from some very stiff suspension 

[rowlers]

use photobucket.com to host your photos then copy the "img" link I think it is and paste this into your posts.

[Veedub1989]

blue smoke = oil, white smoke = water or fuel. Your 16v may be overfuelling, but theyll check this on the MOT - should show up on the emissions. 16v tend to use a little oil, but the most common thing is for the stem valve seals to become hard with age and thus fail. valve stem seals cost pence each but they can cost a lot to change at a garage. did mine myself fairly easy job, only took a few hours. Solved my oil smoking problems until my piston rings went! doh 

[rubjonny]

btw you will get more white smoke than usual this time of year, so don't assume its a problem

If it was stem seals I would expect blue smoke on start up which gradually clears (due to oil gradually seeping through the stem seals & sitting on the piston, then getting burnt off)

Apparently it is possible to do em with the head on but you need special tools to do it I think?

Edit: Do you know what oil they put in it?  Perhaps it isn't thick enough, best oil for a VW is synta silver

[neil68]

hi, started my car up this morn with nothing coming out off the exhaust till a minute passes then the white smoke appears, left it ticking over for abouy 20 mins with white smoke coming out (much more than any other cars had that drove down the street). Then drove to garage for mot test, all the time looking in wing mirror to check on smoke (and looking at the road too!!) which seemed to be ok. Called the test centre and they told me it had failed (sub frame needs welding cost approx £200  , oh well cant be without my ride!!, time for my credit card). there was no mention of failed emissions test though. So am hoping for new mot in next couple off days and to get oil change using synta silver, as when i think about it this smoking problem started after the full service. Well, keeping my fingers crossed and will post an outcome as soon as 

[g60 matt]

if it smokes blue on start then it its stem seals, when driving and at any other point its 99% piston rings can be caused by age/being ragged with out legging it warm up, ring doesnt take shape properly untill its warm, so out of sahpe and cold can cause damage to the liner. dont worry about white in the morning atm its just condesation. my g60 was smoking a little when i got it. turned out to be a scored bore.

[neil68]

hello again,
just got my car back with a full mot  ,
the smoking exhaust is still happening though, when stood idleing and giving some revs 2000 or so it really throughs it out, but have not changed the oil yet. if the piston rings are busted would this give a fail on the emission test?? here is a copy of the emission test;

DESCRIPTION              LIMITS            READING

CO                             MAX 350%       0.98%        pass
HC                             MAX 1200 ppm  199pm       pass
IDLE SPEED                 -                                      pass
SMOKE LEVEL              -                                      pass

OVERALL RESULT:       EXHAUST EMISSION TEST:  pass

any thoughts/answers would be greatfully welcome!!

[g60 matt]

mine passed its mot aswell. only way to find out for sure is take the head off.