ok.... my car uses about a litre of oil every 4,000 miles..... I have been told these engines shouldn't use oil (although it IS 160,000 miles old! )

 

Today I caught a glimpse of some blue smoke out the back.......

 

it was very odd circumstances.... (not your usual suspects) hot, driving VERY gently in a town 20-30 mph average, VERY slight throttle, no boost and I caught a glimpse of blue smoke in the mirror..... only happen for a short time.... I was leaving town out onto the A-roads.... and during the 45 mile journey home, I couldn't replicate it......

 

it doesn't smoke on throttle, full boost, no boost, high revs, low revs etc , nothing.... and its VERY strong, very quick. (so not top of the engine me thinks)

 

it doesn't smoke on "off throttle" overrun...... so not rings me things.......

 

for the life of me I have NOT been able to replicate that short time in town where I saw the smoke.....

 

engine sounds perfect , no odd noises.

 

for these reasons (and the massively strong performance of the engine) I am thinking it might be a breather somewhere going wrong (or blocked) .... I know the previous owner has replaced breather pipes... (he found one barely connected and split)

here are some pics I took when i got home....

 

The 2 blue (dirty) pipes with the double jubilee clips in this pic were replaced by the previous owner.....

 

 

Where the replacement pipe connects to the original pipe here (below) was where it was split and not really connected before......

 

 

could it be a breather issue do you think?

 

would the "catch can" mod help ?

 

Thanks in advance

Best bet would be to do a wet n dry compression test, that will eliminate the bottom end. Possible breather issue, especially if it's intermittent, worn engine, turbo, valve stems would be more pronounced. Did it suddenly start drinking heavily or was it more gradual?

Best bet would be to do a wet n dry compression test, that will eliminate the bottom end. Possible breather issue, especially if it's intermittent, worn engine, turbo, valve stems would be more pronounced. Did it suddenly start drinking heavily or was it more gradual?

It has always been the same since I have owned it... neither getting worse or better.... it has never bothered me as my new (the last car i owned) fabia II vRS drank more than this does, so I consider it an acceptable ammount....

 

I don't think there is a compression issue, the engine runs so well, and is so strong (quicker than my 198 bhp fabia (RR tested) ) , so must be 200 + bhp.

 

other things such as valve stems, would probably smoke on startup, and smoke often... (it has never smoked on startup, even if left for days...) turbo seems unlikley as it boosts so strong, peaks at 1.4 bar, holds 1.1 bar...... (although i have no idea how old the turbo is, i assume its not the original! lol)

 

the reason I am leaning towards breather issues, is because its so intermittent!

 

I have only ever seen smoke once before today , and I have owned the car about 4 months and done about 7k in that time......

 

a generally "worn engine" could be a possibility I suppose..... if thats the case I would be happy to just leave it and "top it up" when needed....

 

just wondering If doing the catch can mod is worth it....

Edited 20 May, 201610 yr by sharkrider

I would get a mate to follow you and see how bad the smoking is or whether you can replicate it.. It could be smoking all the time or under certain conditions but not enough for you to see it in the mirror.

people have followed me... no smoke at all..... for many ,many miles! our lass follows me quite often actually.... for several hundred miles after I bought the car!

 

this is why I'm confused.... doesn't seem to be an obvious issue...

Hmmm.

My mk1 petrol is at 103k miles and I have observed the same: I noticed in the mirror that blue puff of smoke, but was sub 2k rev, creeping forward in traffic. Never an issue on overrun nor full throttle.

Just so sporadic

Does your engine bay smell of burnt oil? I too would be tempted to say it is a breathing issue but have no idea where to start

Hmmm.

My mk1 petrol is at 103k miles and I have observed the same: I noticed in the mirror that blue puff of smoke, but was sub 2k rev, creeping forward in traffic. Never an issue on overrun nor full throttle.

Just so sporadic

Does your engine bay smell of burnt oil? I too would be tempted to say it is a breathing issue but have no idea where to start

 

you are basically describing what happened! lol...

 

and yes, my engine bay smells of old burned oil..... a mate of mine identified that the rocker gasket is weeping a little... that was probably where the smell was coming from.... but could be wrong, could be a clue to a breather issue...

 

I have no idea where to start either, but there are guides on here for fitting a catch can, I may try that... its not a massive issue to be fair...

Rocker cover gasket leaking can be sign of high pressure in the rocker cover. I would take a careful look at the whole breather system. A sludge build up can block pipes or reduce flow. You have probably seen pictures of what has been captured in an oil catch can, so you can imagine how that can block a pipe.

Rocker cover gasket leaking can be sign of high pressure in the rocker cover. I would take a careful look at the whole breather system. A sludge build up can block pipes or reduce flow. You have probably seen pictures of what has been captured in an oil catch can, so you can imagine how that can block a pipe.

good call.... things adding up.... glad the pick up pipe was recently changed...

 

anyone know of any guides on here to the breather systems?

Check out Bowders how to guide on catch can install plus associated deletes. Have you popped off the pipe that leads from the intercooler to the throttle body to see how much oil is circulating through the charge system?

Check out Bowders how to guide on catch can install plus associated deletes. Have you popped off the pipe that leads from the intercooler to the throttle body to see how much oil is circulating through the charge system?

yes, when I got the car and it had the loss of boost problem...... we checked the throttle body out as part of the process, and it was all clean.

 

someone posted the Bowders link on my other thread, brilliant post , going to buy some stuff and go ahead simplifying the breather system, and installing the catch can....

 

the N247 (numbers probably wrong) has already been deleted... the sai has been mapped out, but is physically still there ..... the vacuum pump thing never goes off, can't remember if thats part of one of the deletes, but must have been done....

 

I will crack on with the catch can install, and report back

 

car is still going well, started to like it now

1 litre per 4,000 miles is well within limits.

1 litre per 4,000 miles is well within limits.

cheers Ross. Its never bothered me to be honest until I saw that little trail of smoke the other day! I just went ahead and topped it up! lol.. Driven a hell of a lot yesterday and not managed to replicate it ..... I may do the catch can anyway, then forget about it!

Used to have an occ, but the random puff still happened. I'd say fit it, to see what you are catching, but my guess is that sometimes a valve sticks and allows for oil into the combustion

Keeps us posted, maybe this could prove worth a wiki?