help. losing oil and not sure where.

hello all. long time no post. need your help. i am not sure where i am losing oil. i keep and about a 1/4 qt every 300 miles or so. I do not see big plumes of while driving only slight plumes at cold start and sometime and warm start. i changed out the glow plugs recently and number 3 was saturated with diesel, so im guessing i have a leaky injector. the intercooler does seems to have some oil in it. but at the rate i am losing it. i had catastrophic failure about three years ago, my injector broke off and torn the cylinder apart and decided to rebuild the engine. also got a rebuilt turbo, i know i know but was assured by the mechanic he has used other rebuilt turbos by the same person including his own alh, and tested the shaft seems to have no play. i was on here one time when i was changing my oil in the cold and a piece of th funnel broke off into the valve cover. tried taking the cover off and found one piece but not the other. i tried flushing it out but no go and after like two oil changes some black stuff came out. also i try hyper mile to save fuel. at warm up i shift under 2900 rpm and **** at 3100 rpm after it warms up. i drive like this all the time. i am giving this history to maybe shed some light on why i am going through so much oil.

wagontdi82 said:

... i keep and about a 1/4 qt every 300 miles or so.

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Does this mean you use about 1 cup every 300 miles? Then yes, that is a lot of oil loss.

I do not see big plumes of while driving only slight plumes at cold start and sometime and warm start.

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Small plumes at cold only could be oil control rings, could be valve stem seals. How many miles are on the car?

i changed out the glow plugs recently and number 3 was saturated with diesel, so im guessing i have a leaky injector.

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Or you could have no compression in that cylinder. Have you done a compression test?

the intercooler does seems to have some oil in it.

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They always do.

... i had catastrophic failure about three years ago, my injector broke off and torn the cylinder apart and decided to rebuild the engine. also got a rebuilt turbo, i know i know but was assured by the mechanic he has used other rebuilt turbos by the same person including his own alh, and tested the shaft seems to have no play.

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OK, here's the meat of the situation, in my opinion. You really need to read about other people's experiences with 'rebuilt' turbochargers. They are spotty at best. No shaft play is no guarantee of no leakage.

...i was changing my oil in the cold and a piece of th funnel broke off into the valve cover...

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Not going there. Fail written all over it...

... at warm up i shift under 2900 rpm and **** at 3100 rpm

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Is it that scary when you drive???

... i drive like this all the time.

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If you do your ****ting BEFORE you get in the car, the interior will eventually smell much better.


OK, OK, that last part was just joking. At any rate, your oil loss could be a very large number of reasons, any or all. I'd recommend you find a tdi guru to take a look at things. That person would be able to do a compression check, hopefully a leakdown test, and that way be able to find out if the compression is OK, and if not, if the head is at fault. Your turbocharger may be leaking directly into the exhaust, but you don't seem to know if there is an oil leak out the back. I'm talking liquid oil, not smoke. Any if you find the guru, pay for the time. It is worth it.


Your best bet, if you can't do the above is to get a replacement engine. There might be local sources, or a guy in the vendors section below that offers good values on used engines.


Good luck, you have a lot of work ahead.


Cheers,


PH

Powder Hound said:

How many miles are on the car?

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Since the engine rebuild 68,000 miles.

And thanks for the advice. Every since i got the car it has been a money pit. Just rebuilt the suspension and whole exhasut. I do not recall seeing oil in the down pipe. i will confirm later tonight. The down pipe is still at the shop.

Edit, No oil in the down pipe. Im trying to locate a TDI guru. All seems to live around 2 hours away from me.

So had the compression leak down test. Performed by Mike Hevner over at M and M auto Cycle.

CYLINDER #1 CYLINDER #2 CYLINDER #3 CYLINDER #4
325 psi 350psi 325psi 350psi
10% LEAK 15% LEAK 35% LEAK 15% LEAK

No oil in the down pipe and no oil in the intercooler. that outside of the intercooler had a bit but almost nothing inside.

Ok so according to the numbers seems that cyclinder #3 is the culprit. maybe. and the reason i say maybe is, why do i not see any evidence of burning oil out the back of the car? the only evidence is the dip of oil level from the oil stick. I still have power and getting 44+ mpg. When the glow plugs were replaced, the one from #3 was saturated with diesel but not oil. It is not on the floor, either.

How was the compression test done? 350psi is too low. I had 390 psi on a bent rod on my engine ...

What kind of work was done on the rebuild? was the block bored? honed?

Do you have blowby?

k_pt said:

How was the compression test done? 350psi is too low. I had 390 psi on a bent rod on my engine ...

What kind of work was done on the rebuild? was the block bored? honed?

Do you have blowby?

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no bore or hone i do not believe.

ask Mike, I wasn't watching over his shoulder. i thought there was only one way to preform the test.

Also engine only has 68,000 miles. Still a long way to break in and proper compression.

when the engine is hot i have open the oil filler cap and it doesn't jump around much. i mean i jumps but it looks like its tight.

Easy way to determine if the oil is coming out the turbo. Pull the pancake pipe from the intercooler and see how much oil is in the intecooler.

We have run bad turbos like that with the pancake pipe off and 2000rpm. It oiled up the concrete until it ran to the drain in about 10 minutes. Bad Turbo. We do not agree with most of the rebuilts out there. There are VERY FEW who do it correctly with the right components.

The compression is way too low. Many do compression tests incorrectly. The test should be run until the gauge reading will go no higher. 390psi is a number to rebuild the engine. 450 cold is a good reading. 500 hot is perfect.

If the cylinders are not deglazed, the engine will take a long time to break in new rings. What may be worse, some people do not replace the rings or hone the cylinders. That is not a mechanic. That is a hack.

So to add to the discussion, i have been tracking the oil daily. Everyday before i leave to work or go on a big trip i look at the dipstick. Its not a gradual loss. I can go days without losing a line on the dipstick and i go out, come back, cool down and boom oil loss. Like when i went to Mikes last Tuesday on the way there, its was 120 miles drive lost 1/4 qt or less or so. I top it off, got home let the engine cool, almost 7 hours and check again and it was still all there. Couple days later again loss. Today, hopefully i am getting access to a lift to take the disconnect the pancake hose and run the car see if anything comes out.

Be as consistent as you can with your oil level checks.
Always park level and use the same time interval after shutting off the engine.
That is the only way to make a meaningful comparison between readings.

so been checking daily. the oil loss is not constant or consistent. i can go a couple of days and boom i get loss.
also been driving with the rear view mirror towards the back to see smoke and started noticing bluish smoke when leaving lights when i was at idle for a bit. but other than that while driving i don't see a thing. even one gentlemen while walking behind my car while waiting for alight to change said "hey there something wrong with your car, it smells bad". thats NYC for you.