Blue smoke @ startup!

I own a '01 Golf with about 16000km's, mostly highway. Once in a while when I start the engine when it's cold it puffs out a cloud of blue smoke but after that it's okay. Does anyone know if this is normal for it to be doing this and only once in a while? It also makes quite the racket (tappets) for the first few seconds when starting cold until the oil gets circulated, could that be from using the wrong oil? Other than that I love my TDI and wouldn't give it up for the world! Thanks, Timmy

Answer to the smoke, it's residual oil that is in your intake from the Crankcase Ventilation system. The oil that accumulates from the last time it was running gets drawn into the cylinders and burned causing the puff of blue smoke. Once the oil gets sucked in there is not much left so the smoke goes away until the next time it is shut down.

Two ways to cure this. Invent a Crankcase breather that can trap and return the oil back to the engine without ingestion into the engine or reroute the CCV hose to the underside of the car. The second method is perhaps the easiest and best bang for the buck. Since we are not driving toxic gasoline driven vehicles the CCV gasses only contain small amounts of exhaust gas (the same that come out your tailpipe), air and oil mist fromt the oil injection system that did not get a chance to settle.

Regarding oil just make sure your using 5w40 (or any other XXw40 weight) and NOT 5w30 or 0w30 and you will be just fine.

DB

Thank you very much Drivbiwire for the quick responce to my question! I feel better now knowing it's not something to do with the rings or valve guides or something bad like that. If it where a gasser it would probably be something to that affect!

By venting the gasses via the CCV hose to the atmosphere that would prevent clogging of my air intake would it not?

So I guess the tapping/rattling noise for the first few seconds of startup is okay huh?

Well thanks again and happy TDIin'. Timmy

Timmy,

If your valve lifters clatter for a long time after startup, you may be using an oil that is too thick for wintertime use. I would run a lighter grade in the wintertime and it should lessen this problem.

Some sort of engine heater is not a bad idea for anywhere up in Canada ....

TooSlick

I agree you don't want to be using any 15w40 in the winter. I use 5w40 year around with excellent results in an unheated garage in the Chicago area. Using a 5w30 will damage the vavletrain so I storngly suggest no flip flopping between oils. The normal clatter at start up is normal and I usually hear it for 3-4 seconds tops. If anything this is a good sign the lifters are refilling with fresh oil effectively cleaning them out everytime you start the engine.

The lifters do not recieve any oil pressure from the engine. How they work is they draw in oil that is dripping off the cam bearings into the lifter bores. There are ports on the sided of the lifter bodies that draw oil into the lifter when excessive clearnve between the valve and cam lobe is detected. The lifter then expands sucking in oil takiing up the play in the valvetrain. Since the oil is thicker when cold the oil takes a few seconds to get into the very tight confines of the lifter bores.

By stopping the oil from getting into the intake you stop any chance of the intake plugging.

The best thing to do is use Amoco Premier or some other high cetane fuel. With everything on the car intact you will never get intake plugging.

If that is not an option the CCV mod is your only way to prevent plugging. There are other ways such as joining Epsilon in addition to the CCV...

DB

Tooslick,

Thanks for the advice, I just had my 16000km oil change the other day they used "ZVW 352 540 S 5W40". I thought I read somewhere not to use anything thinner than #W40. Anyway the noise is only right when I start, it goes away quickly.

I was thinking about a coolant in-line heater, one that goes on your heater hose and circulates/heats the coolant...any recommendations other than an oilpan heater? I thought of getting one but the pan is kinda low already and I don't want to be hitting it on anything. ...That would be a drag!

Well thanks for the info. Timmy

Drivbiwire,

Nice description of the valve lifter operation, from that it seems to me things are okay with my car, it's certainly different than a gasser which I'm used to!

I may try the CCV mod you talked about as soon as I figure out where it is and where to redirect it.

Thanks again. Timmy

Timmy, Contact tazz@upsolute.com He can set you up with a CCV filter. Tazz is located in Toronto.