FlexibleMouse

So I noticed a few drops of oil on the drive today. Turns out I have a large oil leak that has been going on for some time. It appears to be leaking from the gap between the gearbox and the drivers side driveshaft. The oil is a mix of old baked on crap and brand new still golden. What I don't understand is why it appears to be coming from the gearbox, surely the engine and gearbox don't share an oil circuit? or could it be the leak is dropping directly on that spot from above? anyone have any ideas?. I have no doubt that the engine is burning oil, but this leak has to be a big contributor to the consumption. I'm going to deal with the leak and see what happens to the consumption before I do anything else. Edit: actually it's probably the rear main seal...

I think they just screwed up the test because oil doesn't weigh the same water. I monitor my usage by volume with a measuring jug which is much simpler, I don't know why they complicate the matter by using weight.

It has always burned oil but it wasn't enough to concern me, the previous owner has posted here about oil issues when he had the car too. I went from 5w40 to 5w40 and things improved slightly. I started to really pay attention to the usage and as of last summer it was about 0.7L/1000km. Then all of a sudden it jumped to around 1.0L/1000km a few weeks ago. I can accept 0.7L/1000km because it's done 67k and doesn't get the easiest life but 1.0L/1000km is taking the p***.

Not completely, but I can tell you that my PCV system is full of oil before the turbo so that's where I am looking into right now.

Maybe we could combine our resources and purchase an oil tanker to follow us round!

Thanks for the info, I wanted to see what they actually changed or re-routed because I have not seen any clear pictures of the fix. I will just do the fix myself once I can see how they changed the configuration. Currently at 1L per 1000km and now using a pcv restrictor for a couple of weeks to see if that does anything.

I have now ruled out valve stem seals, and I'm actually pretty sure it's all down to the breather / pcv. I was sure my engine was toasted but I have had no loss of performance (except the fact that I put the car back to standard until I resolve the issue). Next week I am going to try a restrictor on the bigger pipe that goes to the intake, theory being that the crankcase is actually breathing too much, like a regular pcv valve stuck open. Can someone who has had the "breather mod" fitted by a dealer post some pictures please? so I can see what they altered? thanks.

I have switched myself to 5w40 and to be honest consumption has actually increased.

So far no progress, still using oil at the same rate. So I have ruled out the PCV system pressurising the oil return line problem as the cause. I'm putting it back to stock configuration while I figure out what to do next. Possible avenues to explore: 1. Oil seperator doing lousy job and PCV just throwing loads of oily vapour through. 2. Valve stem seals leaking on 3 cylinders. 3. Damaged oil control rings, but good compression rings.

Does yours have the breather mod? or is that just a normal CTHE?

No breather mod, from the photos I have seen of it they seem to have a slightly different layout to mine maybe they are CTHE engines?. I now have the boost solenoid venting to atmosphere to reduce throughput between the PCV and intake when on boost. Also I have a larger pipe coming tomorrow for the breather to see if that helps. I will check the oil again on Saturday to see if anything has helped or if I am barking up the wrong tree.

Update: I suspect the PCV has become gunged up and is not evacuating enough blow by when on boost. In theory this will be pressurising the crankcase pushing oil past the turbo oil seals. I'm thinking cylinder 4 is clean because it is furthest from the throttle body. First experiment, I have deleted the one way valve on the breather inlet. In theory this will work the same way on idle but provide a second route for blow by gas to vent on boost. Currently looking for a replacement PCV valve, also want to try a breather filter vented to atmosphere with the other pipes blocked to see what effect it has on consumption. I will update in a few days with any changes, last oil consumption check was 0.93L/1000km.

Hi Guys My engine suddenly started consuming lots of oil last week. My first thought was a piston failure so I bought a compression testing kit to verify. Just done the test and the compression is bang on (145-147) psi on all cylinders. However spark plugs 1-3 are all caked in oil (and the piston crowns look wet) but cylinder 4 has a perfect looking plug and a dry piston crown. My second suspect is a bad PCV but I would have thought all cylinders should be equally as oily on that case. Could be valve stem seals but I don't see 3 going bad all at the same time, anyone have any ideas?

A spark is a spark, I doubt the R8 coils would offer you any benefit over a set of standard coils except looking cool.

you need a feeler gauge or gapping tool, I have tried gaps between 0.8 and 0.4mm and found that the car idles better with a bigger gap but misfires less under load with a smaller gap.

Is it using any oil? bad rings will suck oil into the combustion chamber causing low compression and a misfire. If not I'd look at the spark gap, then coils.

The 0-60 time is affected by available traction much more than power, the quarter trap speed will show the power increase much better. When I changed from worn Rain sport 3's to Pilot Sport 4's my 0-60 fell by 0.4 seconds. George is correct that the car could have been making 195hp before and the same now but with a nice torque increase that you feel. If you are happy with how it drives why does a power figure matter?. On a side note, I was using an MBC to see what the turbo could do when really pushed... Even at 25psi peak it didn't make any more power at 6000, just lots more between 4000 and 5000 do I didn't see the point and went back to my Bluespark.

try a smaller gap, I'm using denso plugs at 0.4mm and it cured my misfire issue

I have found that from about 32mph my performance is almost identical every run (a couple of horse power up and down depending on air temp etc). It all comes down to the available grip, a tenth in the 60ft is worth 2 tenths at the quarter.

I used to think exactly the same way, but I have tested extensively and found that although power drops in the higher rpm range you are still accelerating harder than if you change up to the next gear. Between 3rd and 4th for example, 4th gear is 40% longer than 3rd. This means that you'd have to lose 40% in the higher rpm range to make it worth shifting up, and you actually lose 10-15%.

Dont worry its a half hour job just follow the guide in the thread linked by george. I did mine about 2 years ago and I havent put the car in a ditch yet so no problems with handling.

The weight was added to the Skoda to slow it down in comparison to the Seat, VW and Audi cars on the same platform. Also why our tyres are narrower, they didn't want the cheapest version of the car to be the fastest. I'm based in Coventry, haven't found anywhere possible to go under a 5.8 around here.

Its more like 15-20kg it is 3 big cast iron weights bolted to the rear crash bar. Just remove the rear bumper to take them off. However you look at it the 1.4 twin charger offers great acceleration for the money. The most amazing thing about your acceleration is whatever road you are using is easy more grippy than anything round these parts.

I saw Reza has upgraded to 215/40/17's as I have, on my car the speedo is accurate to within 1mph to 60 comparing the OBD reported speed to GPS. Also, Reza did you remove the rear bumper weights yet? Edit: Ok something must be different, on my car 60mph in 3rd is 5828 rpm but in the videos he is stopping the timer at 5500 which would be 57mph. His times at 5800 rpm are 5.75 ish which is on par with a stage 1 car on a good surface.

Wow so you must be hitting 60 in 2nd then! no wonder it is so fast. I wouldn't decat because of the MOT issue. My build is extremely low budget and all done myself, but if I had a bit to spend... I'd upgrade the intercooler, and put on a custom exhaust from the turbo back with a sports cat.