Headgasket blown and blowby... related ?

[purvisgs]

theman53: To be clear I am talking about smoke out the oil filler cap and not tailpipe...

It does not go away when I rev it up... stays about the same..or slightly more.


Out the tailpipe the smoke is pretty "normal"  a bit of white upon startup and then clears up, only a bit of black under heavy acceleration...no obvious blue or grey. 

libby & joe:  I don't have any previous history on this engine so I don't know how bad it could have overheated.  Unfortunately I don't have another running vw diesel now to compare the subjective "amount" of "blowby" to but the amount of smoke looks a bit worse than my 7.3L ford (retired "farm" truck) that burns about a quart of oil every 100 miles.

[JoeCanuck]

If you don't have huge clouds is blue following you when you punch it, odds are your rings are fine.  I bet your old ford scares tree huggers for miles around, and probably does a bang up job of mosquito suppression. 

In your shoes....and I didn't have another engine handy, I'd do the head gasket...after confirming with a cooling system pressure test.

As can be attested by your old truck, an engine can live a long time while burning some oil. Remember, you engine can burn motor oil anyway, and it's not as if you have to worry about fouling spark plugs.

[theman53]

I am clear, and I knew exactly what you were talking about. I said if it goes away when you rev it, then I consider that normal. If it doesn't then you may need valve stem seals or hg or the entire bucket of parts to go into the top end.

[BoostedOne]

Disclaimer: Its not the "right" way to do it, but if you are considering dropping another engine in it anyhow, this can really help..

Pulling the head isn't that hard.. Headgasket and bolts will set you back only like 60 bucks.  May as well throw a timing belt and tensioner on it while you are at it.
Clean the surface of the head, look for any cracks.  if its clean, the head is probably flat enough to work..Its still running, so the headgasket probably inst that bad. 
Now on the blow by, here's where its definately not the "right" way, but on the other hand, there's little to lose and possibly something to gain..  With the head still off, jack the car up, pull the pan, and remove the pistons by taking the rod caps off and knock the pistons out through the top..  Run a honing stone in the cylinder real quick, throw a 35$ set of rings in it and 20 bucks worth of rod bearings.  It adds maybe 2 or 3 hours to the job, costs about 60 more dollars.. While its not a "rebuild" of the bottom end, for 3 hours and 60 bucks it CAN'T hurt..  And it might stop your blowby... It did on my 1.6 before I put in the 1.9....

If you got the time, couldnt hurt to knock the valve springs off and check out the guides, and replace the seals.