Oil burning when oil at max

Recently I topped off my oil, but I put a little too much in (level is at the max, not overfilled). When it's cool out (below 60°F), the engine tends to burn a bit of oil (blue smoke) for about a mile. It also won't do this if it's warmer out (e.g. above 70°F). The oil consumption previously was pretty normal, about a quart every 2,500 miles, but I'm not sure if that's increased. The car has 268k miles. I also recently had the ECU flashed with a Malone Stage 3 tune with dynamic idle, which could be related.

Should I be worried at all? What should I be looking into? I've read that the valve guides and guide seals could be a reasonable culprit.

The tune increases your boost pressure from 15-18, which if your turbo is on it's way out wouldn't help. Since it only burns while cold that suggests it's engine side. How has the vehicle primarily been used? short city drives where it sometimes doesn't get to operating temp? uncommon to have ring or valve seating issues with this low of mileage... but it happens, especially on city used cars.

I'd start by checking turbo shaft play and maybe data logging boost under block 11 with VCDS since that's your cheapest and easiest option.

Mostly it's used for city driving and usually the coolant gets to operating temperature (not sure about the oil temp), but my average trips are about 10 miles or so.

I'll definitely check the turbo shaft and find someone with VCDS. Thanks

I should probably mention that the engine runs fairly rough at idle when it's cold, sort of like low compression. No codes though. This leads me towards a bad seal somewhere.

Also I'm not sure when or if the intake was ever cleaned and the EGR is spitting a little bit of oil.

stikshift said:

The oil consumption previously was pretty normal, about a quart every 2,500 miles, but I'm not sure if that's increased.

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I'd personally consider that oil usage to be on the high side. I also have an 03 Golf, and I don't think it uses a quart of oil in 10,000 miles. The car does have almost 250k miles on it, but the cylinder head and turbo only have about 75k miles on them now.

In any case, if the oil isn't leaking externally, there's only so many places it can go. If it was my car, I'd check (and monitor) the oil level in the intercooler, and do a compression test.

Also...and somebody can correct me if I'm wrong here, but I don't think the ALH cares too much if you overshoot the max fill line on the dipstick a little bit. (I mean an 1/8" inch, not a half inch). I fill mine a little past the max line when I do my oil changes.

My old AEG used to burn more oil (quart every 1000 miles). According to VW, this is "acceptable".

Would oil in the intercooler indicate a leak at the turbo? And I guess I have to remove it to check (I read about others tapping it, but I'm not about to do that). The behavior seems to indicate an engine seal. I don't think a hot compression test will reveal anything since it runs perfect when warm. A cold compression test would probably reveal which cylinder(s) have issues. From there, is there a way to determine if it's a bad seal at the head or a piston ring?

My honest concern is the smoke. It seems to be getting worse. I'm afraid if it's the turbo but it definitely isn't out of the realm of possibility after the Malone tune. Although it would be a good excuse to upgrade to a VNT17.

Edit: I read a bad coolant temp sensor could cause these issues (over fueling when cold), worth a shot?

stikshift said:

My old AEG used to burn more oil (quart every 1000 miles). According to VW, this is "acceptable".

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It might be "acceptable", but that doesn't really mean that's normal.

stikshift said:

Would oil in the intercooler indicate a leak at the turbo?

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Well, they "leak" a little bit anyway, even when they're not worn, so you'd have to check/drain the intercooler, and then keep checking it...if you suspect a turbo leak. I don't know at what amount of intercooler oil one would consider the turbo to be "Bad", but finding a couple/few ounces in there every now and then would be pretty normal I think. I just drilled mine and put a drain screw in it not all that long ago, and will check it every oil change (every 10k miles). I understand not wanting to drill a hole in the bottom of the intercooler...it doesn't bother me, but I know it bothers others.

As mentioned above, you could check the turbo shaft for "play", but you'll have to know what a good one feels like to know if yours is bad, because even new they do have a little bit of slop in them.

Maybe one of the guru's on here can help with checking engine seals and/or compression with regards to oil consumption. I haven't had any issues with that personally.

Drove home from work today; ambient temp was 74°F. When I started the car, there was some white smoke (diesel smell) which went away quickly and changed to blue smoke (oil smell) but the amount of smoke wasn't too bad and dissipated after a few feet. The car was able to idle to operating temp while sitting in traffic and around when the temperature needle began to move, the smoke stopped.

I let the car sit for a couple hours, started it again and got more white diesel smoke. I'm guessing one of the injectors is leaking? I have DLC1019 tips from DriveByWire that I put in about a year ago and they have always done this unfortunately.

what's the history on the car ? almost sounds like a bent rod or two ... have you done a compression test ?

I'm the second owner and bought the car from a reseller. The carfax is clean and the title is clean. The reseller replaced the TB just before I bought it. Timing has been checked and is not retarded.

I still need a compression test done. I probably won't know anything for sure until that's done.