Mk3 Burning oil

[fatgolfer]

I have a mk3 1.6 aee petrol which is burning oil. It is fouling up the spark plug in no1 but not the others!

It eventually fouls it so much it starts missing.

Will it be a ring or a valve seal?

Which is more likely it has done 82k

[Crasher]

It is unlikely to be a guide/seal if it is fouling up a plug to that extent so it will be a piston/ring problem. Either way, you will have to remove the head to find out. If it was a breather problem, it would affect all four cylinders. The AEE isn’t prone to this though.