Emitting Blue smoke

[macatac]

Just had my 02 mk1 Vrs MOT,the examiner said that it was blowing blue smoke under acceleration, and he said it just passed the emissions by the skin of its teeth,the garage manager said its your pistons rings mate,now in the past i myself have noticed the odd puff of smoke when idling, but surly if it was piston rings it would be a constant plume under normal driving conditions and i have not noticed this,there is also a minor oil leak at the back of the engine that might be the turbo oil feed could this be the cause of the blue smoke?

Cheers Guys

[CWARD]

More likely the turbo is on the way out. 

[macatac]

You may be right, it does look oily around the turbo,cheers.

[KenONeill]

@macatac - Well, blue smoke is pretty much definitely oil, so it's one of piston rings, turbo oil seals and valve stem seals.

 

Valve stem seals are most likely to show on a cold start and/or when rolling throttle on after being on over-run.

 

The other two are more likely to show on acceleration. Turbo seals can blow unexpectedly, at which point you get a "James Bond" smokescreen and an oil consumption in litres per mile. If it gets this far you will need vehicle recovery.

 

So I'd recommend getting a dry and wet compression test done to check the piston rings before spending out on a new turbo which may not even be required.

[macatac]

Thanks for replies.