oil in air filter etc.

[ritter1]

Hi guys, back again after a while away haha. Anyway, im back with my mk3 golf 1.4 AEX egine code. Now, there r no major problems this time, but I am going to start using the car up and down the motorway everyday starting in a couple of weeks and I want as many of the niggly things sorted asap. Now, a while back I asked about this and was told it was most likely the vaccuum pipes but I will ask again to make sure. Basically, when I check the air filter, there is always a small amoun tof oil in there, obviously coming out of the top of the engine, what is causing it? I was told it was the vacuum pipes and if it is. Do any of you know of any pictures showing the vacuum pipes (a photograph with the pipes that are the culprits being pointed out) because I have no idea what pipes are the culprits.

Also, the car is burning oil, now, ive asked before, had it to the garage and such and I dont know if its the stem seals or piston rings, but either r way too expensive for me to fix atm (im a student) so I am just wondering if it is likely either will go completely when i start using the car everyday on the motorway. I dont want either to give up the ghost for good on the motorway.


Also, I just want to ask just how slow the AEX should be. going down the motorway at 90mph (I dont intend at doing this speed, I just so happened to be doing this without realising it going to wales the other day) takes the engine to around 4200rpm. Judging on this and the fact the car red lines at about 5500rpm, I would guess it would make 100mph pretty easily, however, on the way back from wales some fat bloke in a fiesta flashed me, so I let him past, but you know us guys, that is the ultimate insult, so I thought I would give chase. The car had other ideas. In fifth, at 4200rpm and 90mph, it planted itself there happily and wouldnt go any fast, honestly, it had more than 1000rpm to go until red line yet wouldnt budge over these stats at all. Obviously im nit picking here but still, I lost alot of respect for my car that day lol (even thought I knew it to be a massively slow car anyway haha)

[DropKickMurphy]

sounds like you have a gunked up crankcase breather pipe, my 1.6 AEE suffered quite badly with it until i got a mechanic to remove the pipe from the bottom of the engine, clean both the pipe and the gauze filter thing and the re-assemble. it cost me all of £10 and probably could have done it myself without too much trouble and a pair of ramps. its the rubber pipe which connects to the bottom of the air filter box and then goes down the side of the engine via a small hook arrangement (or at least on mine it is)

take the air filter box off, and see if the pipe described above is full of gunk which looks a bit like elderly mayonnaise, if so, try removing the pipe and cleaning it out, i'd have thought a good shake should get it out, but watch out for it splashing you, its a bit grim.

the reason it does this is that the engine is designed to take the nasty gasses created during combustion and feed them back into the engine for re-burning instead of venting them into the atmosphere.

re the oil burning, what grade of oil do you have in the car? if its too thin it will leak past the seals even if they are fine and will be burnt (i got 10W/40 instead of 15w/40 last time i serviced mine, and it now burns about 0.5 litres per 4000 miles). i would recommend keeping an eye on the level once a week, but i doubt this will cause the whole thing to expire suddenly on a motorway.

finally, I had an AEX engined golf 5 or so years ago and it was definately not a speed machine. speeding is bad (as i found out recently, and it cost me £60 and 3 points) but i'd say that 90mph is about as much as you'd get out of the engine, golfs are heavy cars (much heavier than a fiesta for example) the weight of the car and the aerodynamic and rolling resistance give a 1.4 golf a really hard time at anything over 70mph, even my 1.6 AEE isnt happy above 75mph, it just seems to make more noise and not go any quicker when i try putting my foot down.

basically it will out-last a fiesta in terms of body-work and mileage but isnt built for speed! slow and steady and all that...

[ritter1]

Yeh, I never plan on going above 70mph anyway, just happened to be doing it without realising it. Surprisingly, my car actually is quicker above 70mph. It will take forever to get upto 70, but once over it, it gets from 70 to 90 alot quicker than it gets from 0-60 lol. Its just very annoying when someone in an obviously inferior car flashes you on the motorway. Cant wait untill I get my Toyota Supra in a few years, then I will drive down the outside lane of the motorway at 65/70 until they flash me then put my foot down and blow them all away hahahaha lol

as for the oil burning, I know my mum (who before I got my license used the car) would only ever put the cheapest supermarket brand stuff in, and she still would if it was upto her but I hate that. As for myself, I did start using Lucas motor oil, semi synthetic (not sure exactly how thick it was, but I think it was either the 10w30 or the 5w30), and the car instantly felt tighter and smoother and it seemed to love that oil. However, it is 15quid a bottle (okay, not much seeing as its twice the size as the shell oil my mum uses in her 4x4 which is twice the price) and it evidently does burn oil, it does have smoke coming from the exhaust. The garage said its only a small amount, even on revving, and to be honest, it only ever plumes from it when its revved near to redline (which my dumbass brother did when he jumped in the drivers seat and decided to rev it-dont worry, the car wa spark and in neutral lol).

Thanks for the advice on the pipe. I will have a look at that, hopefully that will be the problem and it will stop the oil coming into the air filter.

[ritter1]

just checked the crankcase breather pipe and it doesnt seem to be blocked up at all, I couldnt get it off completely (got it off at the air filter, but the other end seemed to have a clip, not sure if it actually does but wasnt going to risk breaking anything so just squeazed the pipe along its length and it feels fine (and what I could see from the end i did get off, I didnt see any gunk in there). In the air filter box itself, the little 'wheel' thing or whatever its called above where the pipe joins the box was very dirty and had quite a concentration of the oil in the air filter box. It also smells the same as the gas coming out of the exhaust, kind of oily/petrol smell. Any ideas?

[DropKickMurphy]

hmmm, i could be mistaken but i'd say the oil is too thin, VW recommend 15w/40, and the general consensus is that older cars need thicker oil as the seals start to go home. next time its due to have the oil changed try either 10w/40 or 15w/40, it wont be as smooth (at least until the oil has warmed through) but it wont burn half as much i'll bet. if its not burning it the 'zorst will be less smoky too - and ought to help with the emissions at the next MOT.

there little 'wheel' things inside the air filter housing do get dirty, not sure what colour they start out, but mine is a dirty brown/black colour now. as you mentioned the bottom of the breather pipe is held on with a clip of some sort, its easy to detach if you can put the car up on ramps or axle stands, but be careful going under the car if its only supported on a jack. if the pipe isnt full of gunk then i'd leave it alone.

the oily residue isnt bad for the engine or VW wouldnt have designed it that way and problems would have manifested themselves before now, but it does leave behind the stuff you mentioned. if you want you can take the air filter housing off and clean it with fairy liquid and water and let it dry out, or give it a good blast with carb cleaner and it'll remove the residue, but unless there is great lumps of it its not really worth worrying about.

re the smell, its basically the same as exhaust, just gets re-circulated until the bad bits get burnt off during combustion

just keep an eye on how much it is burning and top-up as necessary. next time its due an oil change try putting more viscous oil in and see if it makes a difference - i really noticed the difference between the amount being burnt when i switched from 15w/40 to 10w/40 - the car burns a lot more oil now its got the 10w/40 in it compared to the (recommended) 15w/40. I just had the MOT done on the car and the CO reading was a lot higher this year than last when it had 15w 40 in it, although i doubt this is the only factor contributing to the CO reading

DKM

DKM

[ritter1]

now you mention it, when I was using the lucas oil (higher than recommended) i didnt need to put as much oil in as often (i might just be imagining this of course). I think I will get another bottle of the lucas oil and see how far it goes, when I decided to use the cheaper stuff (because its burning oil) I seem to have gone through two complete bottles of the stuff in like 2 months. I think its definitely burning oil, but better oil will make the difference for now I think.

Thanks again man

[DropKickMurphy]

Glad to have helped

DKM