odd smoking issue

[talonkev]

I have a 92 TSi with about 6000 miles on the new engine, and I keep burning oil. When the car is left idleing the smoke slowly starts to come out the tailpipe, and then after it idles for awhile, and you rev it a big cloud comes out. I had the head all checked out and rebuilt, when I rebuilt the engine. I thought the valve seals went bad already, so I just replaced them, but it still does the same thing. I then unhooked the PCV for a while, just to rule that out. Finally I took of the valve cover and retorqued the head studs back to spec, they were a little loose. The head gasket is a cometic, with arp studs, and I used total seal gapless rings. It has 165 across all 4 cylinders, and no oil in the intake pipes, and no turbo shaft play. I thought I just toasted the oil rings, without destroying the compression rings but even that doesn't make sense. I recently drove 900 miles, mostly cruzing on the highway, but with some WOT pulls, and the oil level on the dip stick did not drop. But then I left it idle for about 15 minutes and I burnt about half a quart. This is driving my crazy, I can't figure out what's causing the smoking.

 

[SinEclipse]

what color is the smoke?

if it is blue smoke then you are burning oil.

i had this problem before, i found out that the turbo oil seal was shot. I checked the turbo and no shaft play, so i was at a lost then i came across a new turbo and no more smoke....so that is when i decided to take the old turbo apart and rebuild it. test it out and no more smoke then took it out of the car and sold it. it was fun taking it apart and trying out new things, of course i had major help during this time.

 

[ddavisaf]

Redo your compression test but this time do a wet and a dry test. Follow this up with a leakdown test. That way we can rule out both your valve seals and your piston rings.
Also, do you have a catch can? If so how is it routed and did you replace the pcv with a 1/8" npt straight fitting? If you don't have a catch can goto the dealership and pick up another pcv valve, just to rule that out.
Post back your results and we'll go from there.

 

[talonkev]

The last compression test i did was a dry one when i got 165 across all cylinders, I will try a wet one this weekend, and redo the dry one. I totally unhooked the pcv from the intake for awhile so im sure thats not the issue. Im not sure if ill be able to have a leakdown test done for a few weeks, but ill see what I can do. As for the turbo it is a small 16g with about 15,000 miles on it. I know 20 psi wears it out fast, but I would think not this fast.
Thanks alot for the replys

 

[Doug99RS]

To see if you are burning it in the combustion chamber you should be able to see residue on the plugs. Pull them and post up some pictures. If you don't have any oil on the plugs then there's a good chance it's either something in the exhaust ports (guides or valve stem seals again) or the turbo itself is leaking oil in to the exhaust and is getting burned.
Doug

 

[talonkev]

I haven't looked at the plugs really close yet, im in school and dont get much time to work on the car during classes. This weekend ill take a closer look at the plugs. The last time I pulled them I saw what Im pretty sure was oil on one of them, but I'll double check.

 

[boostinaintez]

Are you famililar with a chemical block tester? Could possibly be a head gasket.

 

[talonkev]

No I don't think I've ever heard of a chemical block tester. What is it?

 

[talonkev]

I tore the engine apart and it was cracked ring lands