Vanagon burning oil (has good compression)

[stanton.samuel]

  I'm the new owner of an 82 vanagon diesel, i love it in every way except for the liter of oil it eats every 150 miles, and the slightly blue exhaust especially on cold start in the morning.  compression tested expecting the worst... all over 475 one read 500 where else is my oil going? (small leak in the front seal, but nothing like that, not a drop hits the ground) some people here seem to just add oil as if its fuel... i'd rather not... but i'd also rather not swap out the engine.  thanks 

p.s. has fresh head gasket and valve adjustment

[Patrick]

I'd bet on valve guides and/or seals. Could still have good compression but lose a lot of oil into the combustion chamber.

[honda_is_the_best]

I'd bet on valve guides and/or seals. Could still have good compression but lose a lot of oil into the combustion chamber.

x2

it probably smokes really blue when you fire it up cold in the morning doesnt it? and the first time you give it gas to take off after being cold?

[Patrick]

Does it have a turbo? that's another possibility.................

[stanton.samuel]

no turbo. original engine. one would think new valves would go in with good valve guides... but then again... i'm not to sure about the shop that did the work (before my ownership)

[stanton.samuel]

and yes, blue smoke it the morning.  havent noticed about first time takeoff.  i try to let it warm up.  btw starts really easy with the timing advanced first thing in the morning (its summer still though)

[honda_is_the_best]

lol, being summer, i only glow my plugs for 3 or 4 seconds.. once its warm i dont even use them. just the cold start advance.

[stanton.samuel]

just curious, bentley says i need a special tool to install the valve stem seal or i'll damage them and use too much oil... i'd like to try and swap out those seals and see if it helps if i can do that without pulling the head.  the guides looks like a bigger operation,  i'm curious if a shop just installed new valves, should i try to get this done on warranty instead? theres really no way i can prove that this is where the oil is going that i know of

[honda_is_the_best]

but its pretty much the only other place oil can be introduced.. if its not going past the rings, and not being sucked from the breather in the intake, then where else do we have left for oil to get in?

[Patrick]

but its pretty much the only other place oil can be introduced.. if its not going past the rings, and not being sucked from the breather in the intake, then where else do we have left for oil to get in?

He might be on to something. Not familiar with the setup of a vanagon, but I assume the blowby tube is hooked to the intake like anything else. There SHOULD be an expanded metal screen in teh valve cover to catch most of the oil before the pressure leaves..........

[stanton.samuel]

i just got off the phone with the mechanic who worked on it.  the valves guides and seals were replaced along with the valves and pretty much everything else in the head after a cam belt snap 6 weeks ago.  he suggested that i'm just driving it too hard... and that is causing the crank case pressure to get too high...  i'm not a heavy footed driver.  the van does 55 happily and i've gotten in up to 65 to pass a truck without much trouble but usually cruise at 57 or so on the highway and i dont drive hard in the city.  i'm getting 31mpg.  i'm gonna check out the screen in the breather... i just doesn't feel like this engine needs a rebuild its running really good, just burning oil.  or maybe i just dont want to accept it.

[stanton.samuel]

one more thing, guy near me is selling cam oil baffles for $25, i guess they are in the TD version of the 1.6?  how likely is this to solve my problem?

[theman53]

http://www.autohausaz.com/index.html

They have them too. I would DEFINATELY recommend getting one. I had an 84 N/A without one and then added it. Cut my oil consumption to what I would consider normal. It was pretty bad before2-3 quarts per 3,000 miles. Took it down to about 1 quart per 3,000.

[stanton.samuel]

took off my valve cover and cleaned out of the little breather filter with some carb cleaner, didn't seem to be especially dirty though and i still have blue smoke when i rev up the engine... well just have to wait and see if it slows down, tempted to get one of those oil baffles, but i'm not convinced it will help much when its burning this much oil...   

looks like i may have to turn this into a rebuild thread, or an engine swap thread

[rs899]

Look into getting an oil separator or catch can .  I put an oil separator from a Mercedes 240D on my caddy and it seems to be helping to decrease consumption quite a bit.