Switched from petrol to diesel

[keano03]

Just noticed on the way home from work this evening that there is also smoke on acceleration - not black smoke and only when really pushing on - think its white, looks like im drving through dust if that makes sense.... ??

Think Ive bought a duffer... So far my VW experience has been forgetable...

[ExpertTuning]

White smoke may well = steam! Check two things. Rad water level to see if it has dropped, and then dipstick and oil filler cap to see if you can spot traces of white 'emulsion'.

If you see white emulsion you have a leak - probably head gasket.

[keano03]

White smoke may well = steam! Check two things. Rad water level to see if it has dropped, and then dipstick and oil filler cap to see if you can spot traces of white 'emulsion'.

If you see white emulsion you have a leak - probably head gasket.

Only tend to see the smoke (well other than the cloud of the stuff on first startup) with heavy acceleration and at night as following cars headlights show the smoke up - its embarassing

Checked the oil cap and no signs of anything untoward. Smells as it should too. Its jsut had an oil change and I asked the mechanic if he saw anything wrong with the oil etc etc and he said - the head gasket is fine so knew what i was getting at...

Engine was rebuilt last year - could all these troubles Ive been having be caused by a bad rebuild ?? I was seeing the rebuilt engine as a good thing as everything would be brand spanking new....

Starting to lose interest in the car now and may just get shot of it....

[JimC64]

welcome aboard, good to have you here
Get a remap and you won't be sorry!!

Good luck with the issues

Its a great site with loads of friendly members and great techs....jump in and enjoy

[keano03]

welcome aboard, good to have you here
Get a remap and you won't be sorry!!

Good luck with the issues

Its a great site with loads of friendly members and great techs....jump in and enjoy

Cheers dude

I was fully intending on jumping and going for a re-map almost straight away after I bought the car but the little niggles (and the above issues) have got in the way, plus they've eaten any modding budget...

I was hoping to be spending my money on a remap, new clutch, coils and wheels but fixing the damn thing has wiped my money....

Hoping all will be well soon or Im going to be selling it on, its a money pit so far, and not in a fun way like modding a car normally is !!!

[keano03]

Still having issues

Timing has been changed, MAF, oil temp, ecu temp sensors have all been changed. fuel return valve been changed.

Its got an oil leak from near the IC, loads of smoke blue/white on start up with a bad idle like its going to stall... missfire when cold that get better as it warms up...

Been told that a new cam is needed with followers... So much for VAG cars being reliable... never again... thats the bill up over £1k so far and its still not working properly...

[SammoVWT]

Still having issues

Timing has been changed, MAF, oil temp, ecu temp sensors have all been changed. fuel return valve been changed.

Its got an oil leak from near the IC, loads of smoke blue/white on start up with a bad idle like its going to stall... missfire when cold that get better as it warms up...

Been told that a new cam is needed with followers... So much for VAG cars being reliable... never again... thats the bill up over £1k so far and its still not working properly...

Probably due to a poor rebuild, it may not have been looked after well before you got it, hence the rebuild. Did you know what the original reason for the rebuild was?

I wouldnt have thought sitting new rings or even pistons would be that major if it wasnt a major failure. How are the glowplugs?

[keano03]

Probably due to a poor rebuild, it may not have been looked after well before you got it, hence the rebuild. Did you know what the original reason for the rebuild was?

I wouldnt have thought sitting new rings or even pistons would be that major if it wasnt a major failure. How are the glowplugs?

Definately wasnt well looked after before I got it; I had the interior fully 'detailed' yesterday to clean it up and it was a damn mess, soooo much nicer now though Mechanically just mirrors the interior with panels missing bolts missing here and there...

Servicing has been kept up to scratch but its a long life service version - that may be part of the problem ?

The rebuild was due to a failed cam belt - engine ate itself and from the looks of it the guys who rebuilt it didnt know what they were doing, there are so many little things that are wrong in the engine bay which lead me to think the same as you - they didnt rebuild it properly !!

Plugs are fine.

My mech has said that there is either a problem with hte cam or that the injector is leaking a little - that means that when the car is left for a while diesel builds in the engine (not sure which cylinder) making it hard to start but when it does finaly start up the masses of smoke are due to that diesel being burnt off... now thats either because the injector is faulty or that the cam isnt doing what its supposed to and is affecting the injectors... possibly a follower isnt doing what its supposed to be doing until it has warmed up to take up the slack...

[SammoVWT]

Personally I think longlife servicing is a bad idea.

You can never put a safe assumption that the oil will suspend all the rubbish at those distances. Its making big assumption on driving style and temperatures, I think thats probably a bigger killer of engines overall.

I just change my oil when it gets pretty dark, regardless of mileage (but always doing around 3000mile changes). Its not worth the risk if you plan to keep it for a while.

If you do it yourself, you can save a fortune. I can understand why people do it, because they want to avoid the labour cost. But you pay for it in the long run with clogged/worn parts.

Also sounds like your mechanics have narrowed the problem down. It depends now on what your plans are, depending on how much you spend and how much you want to plug into it if youre keeping it. (Shifting a broken car to someone else, is morally questionable if they arent aware of the issues, and its also very hard to shift)

After my problematic rebuild, im very happy with it. But ive undertaken a lot of the remedial work myself (not through choice!), perhaps maybe thats why im a lot happier now.

[keano03]

Personally I think longlife servicing is a bad idea.

You can never put a safe assumption that the oil will suspend all the rubbish at those distances. Its making big assumption on driving style and temperatures, I think thats probably a bigger killer of engines overall.

I just change my oil when it gets pretty dark, regardless of mileage (but always doing around 3000mile changes). Its not worth the risk if you plan to keep it for a while.

If you do it yourself, you can save a fortune. I can understand why people do it, because they want to avoid the labour cost. But you pay for it in the long run with clogged/worn parts.

Also sounds like your mechanics have narrowed the problem down. It depends now on what your plans are, depending on how much you spend and how much you want to plug into it if youre keeping it. (Shifting a broken car to someone else, is morally questionable if they arent aware of the issues, and its also very hard to shift)

After my problematic rebuild, im very happy with it. But ive undertaken a lot of the remedial work myself (not through choice!), perhaps maybe thats why im a lot happier now.

Absolutely - longer oil service intervals is just stupid IMO. With my mini I always did an extra change halfway between the indicated service intervals - only cost abou £60 and as you point out just helps keep things running smoother....... a no brainer to me and why poor maintenance by other people baffles and annoys me...

Moving the car on with known issues is going to kill the resale value and cost me nearly as much as just getting the thing fixed - so basically I will be getting it fixed... Already spent £1k on fixing things and now its looking like another £700 on the cam and followers (not something that I could do so that includes labour) but if that fixes it then job done... after that I will have spent nearly all the 'profit' I made from selling my mini and I much prefered that car... what a waste of time all this has been...

I was wanting to be spending my money on coils, brakes and tuning but have spent more than double what I would have spent just on try to fix the damn thing...