Looking for advice picked up a 170PD cheap but burning oil

 

my mechanic seems to think its piston rings, mileage is 114k

 

he said it has a lot of crankcase pressure leading him to believe without stripping the engine down that its piston rings

 

smoke is blue and it stinks, more so when cold

 

oil useage is about 1/2 litre per 500 miles

 

 

 

if it is the rings needing changed what would i expect the labour bill to be in say hours

 

i have read a lot on valve stem seals leaking but my mechanic is pretty convinced that with the amount of crankcase pressure it has its blowby on the rings

 

 

 

thanks

I think it would be very hard to tell if its piston rings because even on a healthy engine, if you take the oil cap off it appears there is a lot of blow-by but its actually more to do with the tandem pump discharging air into the top of the engine, and the breather design could of been better.

 

Has the car still got its DPF? can't be in a good way if it is and if it isn't have you thought about whether it will pas a MOT?

 

Can't your mechanic give you a price given he has already given his diagnosis?

Edited 19 October, 20187 yr by SuperbTWM

I dont know if the car has a dpf or not :/ the egr has been blanked off and no engine management light is on so id imagine its been mapped out so the dpf may not be there either

 

so a high crankcase pressure isn’t that much of a worry?

 

basically on startup when cold it puffs a massive cloud of blue smoke and sounds rough for a couple of seconds. The smell is horrible from it

 

my mechanic looked at it and said take it back to where you got it asap. I bought from a garage so i have 30 days to return

 

i thought it may be valve stem seals

Edited 19 October, 20187 yr by BigJase88

He said it would take a lot of money to put right. I do trust the guy he is very good at what he does.

 

it passed an mot last month, whether that was a genuine pass or a stuff it lets just pass it job

Edited 19 October, 20187 yr by BigJase88

5 minutes ago, BigJase88 said:

my mechanic looked at it and said take it back to where you got it asap. I bought from a garage so i have 30 days to return

 

Take your mechanics advice.

ASAP. The sooner the better, so garage can't claim it happened while in your care.

Im taking it back tomorrow, its a shame the car is mint

 

its an a3 170 quattro. But needs must

When you say you bought it cheap, I thought you were aware of the issues. Deffo take it back, it sounds like a right basket case that obviously hasnt been looked after very well.

 

The 170 is an engine to stay away from TBH.

Edited 19 October, 20187 yr by SuperbTWM

2 minutes ago, BigJase88 said:

its an a3 170 quattro. 

 

This is an Skoda Octavia forum not Audi a3....

Well for the mileage and the year you cant get one below 5k and i paid 3k.

 

the rest of the car is mint. I know the guy that i bought it off i class him as a friend. So i am going through tomorrow to speak to him.

 

the guy i got to have a look at it has done me well in the past. Namely taking a smashed case of a gearbox and the internals of another and making a good box out of 2 knackered ones through the night.

 

he used to be a mechanic on the subaru wrc team.

 

he took one look at it and said take it back jason thats the rings! So god knows.

 

i’ll see what tomorrow brings

3 minutes ago, xman said:

 

This is an Skoda Octavia forum not Audi a3....

Its the same engine and briskoda is probably one of the best forums in the world

5 minutes ago, BigJase88 said:

 

he used to be a mechanic on the subaru wrc team.

 

He must be an expert on VAG diesels then 

 

32 minutes ago, SuperbTWM said:

He must be an expert on VAG diesels then 

 

Must be. He’s not daft

2 hours ago, BigJase88 said:

Well for the mileage and the year you cant get one below 5k and i paid 3k.

 

But 5k gets one with an engine thats not buggered.

8 hours ago, xman said:

 

But 5k gets one with an engine thats not buggered.

Yes i suppose

Hi if a good one is worth 5k and you paid 3k does this not give you a 2k window to fix any issues and still come out even ? if the rest of it is mint as you say would it not be worth doing ? possibly cheaper to transplant in a known good engine if you can find one 2nd hand rather than try to fix this one.

Its not mint, its a polished turd.

 

If the engine is buggered, likely lots of unseen things, gearbox, brakes etc not likely to have ever been looked after either. Good luck with buying a "known good" engine from something old that was scrapped for unknown reasons (are you feeling lucky) and getting the transplant done by a decent mechanic for £2k. 

 

Or just get your money back, and buy something that isn't broke.

17 hours ago, BigJase88 said:

He said it would take a lot of money to put right. I do trust the guy he is very good at what he does.

 

it passed an mot last month, whether that was a genuine pass or a stuff it lets just pass it job

 

It would still pass an MOT with iffy seals.  In all honesty most garages doing an MOT on a car that's for sale or sold will do a proper job as it comes back on them if there are any issues.

 

Your best to hand it back and walk away if it's from a garage.