Audi A4 2002 2.0 Petrol - High oil consumption and now smoke

[riscyrich]

Hi All, RE: Audi A4 2.0 2002 - 2.0 Petrol - 103k miles

A little help if you would be so kind. During the drive to work this morning I noticed blue smoke coming out of the exhaust in the rear view mirror. Now this car has always been oil thirsty but many people complain about this, top oil up and carry on but with the advent of blue smoke clearly I have a more serious issue. I'm not shy when it comes to looking after and maintaining cars but equally I'm not one for wasting time hence my post here. During the last service I carried out a few weeks back I swapped out the spark plus for a new set and noticed quite a bit of fouling on the plugs which got me thinking that oil is getting into the cylinders, but is wasn't bad so I thought I'd monitor. Now with the presence of visible blue smoke I'm worried.
I'm guessing:

1) Valve stem oil seals
2) Piston rings
3) Cylinder head gasket
4) Blocked crank case vents ? ??

I'm not really clued up on this engine but I am wondering if there are any common faults with this unit that may save me some time in diagnostics.

Thanks in advance.

ATB
Rich

[riscyrich]

Bit of an update:

I noticed the blue smoke this morning on the approach to the office which is pretty much all down hill for about a mile till a little sharp right handed corner where I gear down to drive into the car park about ¼ of the way up a little hill. It was at the point I geared down and gave it a little squirt in 2nd that I noticed it.

I've been out for a couple of meetings and everything seems ok now, no blue smoke as far as I can see. I got someone to blip the throttle a little too and couldn't see that much so I'm a bit stuck now.

I'm told by the previous owner that he did replace a couple of vacuum hoses on the top of the engine as the black plastic cover rubbed on them and hence they wore through. It's always had regular services and oil changes (coupled with the one that it seems to get due to having to top it up quite often - there are no obvious signs of leaks by the way)

Given that I've seen spark plug fouling on all four spark plugs I'm less inclined to think it's the piston rings plus she still pulls nicely without kicking out smoke and the like.

Anyone any ideas?

Cheers

Rich

[mikeybutch]

You can test the cylinders easily with a meter in each spark plug hole which will give an indication of ring wear.If its still pulling well then its more likely to be related to valve stems allowing oil to be sucked in under deceleration.

[riscyrich]

Yeah I'm going to head over to the old mans house tomorrow as I think he has my compression gauge in his garage. Agreed on the valve stem oil seals, this would also match up with what I saw this morning after crusing down the hill with no throttle applied for a long time, that is to say there was a high vacum in the intake manifold and therefore it's drawing oil down past the seals.

I take it the cylinder head has to come off for them to be replaced?

Cheers
Rich

[mikeybutch]

I think its likely that the head has to come off .

[riscyrich]

Yeah I thought as much, might have to roll it in as part of the impending cam belt change works.

Now here's the weird thing - it ain't smoking anymore more and I have been unable to replicate the problem during the drive to work today

Did a few cold starts - very little if any smoke at all. Thumping the redline doesn't even produce blue smoke, that is to say you do get a little puff of black smoke when you let off but the blue smoke I saw the other day is no where to be seen

ATB
Rich

[mikeybutch]

I would still give it a compression test and maybe an oil change

[riscyrich]

Yeah agreed Mikey, I tried to carry out a test on Saturday but the gauge I have won't reach the plug holes, need an extension fitting - will try pick one up this week and report back.

Cheers

Rich