having no luck!! oil and smoke ;( is it time for a new engine?

[argyle89]

well im not having any luck at the minute.....started the car up this morning, and heard a small pop, but the revs on the car had evened out and stopped fluctuating up and down, thought thats odd, opened up the bonnet and looked for any boost hoses popped off or similar, nothing looked out of place except for somehow spotting there was a connection under the block on the back side come loose?! (covered in a heatproof typoe foil? so connected that back up, started the engine and saw smoke from the exhaust, went round the back to check it out and theres a puddle of oil on my driveway, and oil and smoke coming from the exhaust.......is that my headgasket or turbo? think i might just buy a second hand engine tbh, as this ones a 200 thou engine, whats peoples opinion? roughly what cost am i looking at for an engine with a turbo? thanks for any replys....looks like my wallets gonna take a beating thats for sure

also anyone got an idea how i can find out what engines in my a3?

car is an a3 1.8t sport 1998 reg?! thanks again, Dan

 

[Paradox1]

sorry to hear that mate, I thunk you have a agu engine. I'd you look on the driver side of the engine next to the cam belt cover, you will see a tab with 3 letters. I'd its a agu then you need a k03 turbo buy you can upgrade to a k03s for not much more.id advise a ko3s tbh.what colour was the smoke? if you can,get under the car and check the turbo oil lines etc

 

[argyle89]

smoke was more white than anything else,(i think) but its not straight away its after about a minute gets worse when revved etc?! its not using coolant at all, cant even drive the ****** thing as ive taken the link off the top of the gearbox to replace lol! its just my luck haha. just been out and checked and yeah its an agu engine mate!

 

[jay1601]

white smoke is normally a sign water/coolent

 

[argyle89]

just my luck! hoping when the clock strikes 12 it might change for the better haha, could do with some luck, will any agu engine fit? or would i have to go full whack and get loom ecu etc? any way i can check if its just turbo related? thinking about buying a second hand bare engine and maybe a ko3s then just go from there. missus' uncles a mechanic so gonna try and get it down to him. but could probably do things like cambelt etc with her dad as he was an engineer at rolls royce for donkeys years and has quite a good knowledge about engines etc.

anyone got any surgestions/advice?

 

[argyle89]

also if anyone is selling an agu engine etc let me know! thanks!

 

[colicabcadam]

i think you just need to take the car to someone who knows them inside and out, why buy a new engine if it does not need one? it may cost peanuts to fix !

 

[argyle89]

figured it might be fubared mate, as its smoking like a steam train and has only just had the hg done befor i bought it. going to get it to a mechanic tuesday and leave it with him.

 

[Welly]

Sounds like HG to me mate, or possibly a cracked head, I'd be shocked if a new engine was required...

 

[argyle89]

its not long had the headgasked done and the head skimmed and pressure tested. something like june last year (ill have to check the reciept) just thinking itd be easier to replace the bare engine as hg is exspensive to do on one of these arent they? ive seen a bare engine on golfgtiforum and the lad wants 275 for it, its on 100k and has a good service history etc where as the one ive got is 200+ no history etc as i found out that the clocks had been wound back ive picked up some things from audi today, gonna get them fitted and take it to the other halfs uncle whos a mechanic. then will see how bad things are.

 

[beachbuggy]

You will get white smoke if the turbo seals are gone. Are you sure it's not that?

Easy way to check if it's the turbo, is to remove the banjo bolt for the oil feed and block it with a normal bolt. Run the engine and see if the smoke goes.

A hg going will depend on what part actually fails. A crack In the head between the coolant and head will pressurise the coolant and temp will rise dramatically . A crack In the oil galleries will blow white smoke.

I've had a hg go on the coolant with no smoke just rising temperature and pressurised coolant tank.

It's worth considering the turbo as you may not need a new engine

 

[argyle89]

ahh fair enough. well like i said, gonna get the other halfs uncle to check it over. whats peoples opinions on tuning engines that are on 200k miles?! are they ok to map, etc? id only want to go to about 220bhp or so. just not sure if the engine would take it? if it is the turbo thats shot then is the ko3s a better replacement? and how hard is it to replace?

 

[badger5]

You will get white smoke if the turbo seals are gone. Are you sure it's not that?

Easy way to check if it's the turbo, is to remove the banjo bolt for the oil feed and block it with a normal bolt. Run the engine and see if the smoke goes.

A hg going will depend on what part actually fails. A crack In the head between the coolant and head will pressurise the coolant and temp will rise dramatically . A crack In the oil galleries will blow white smoke.

I've had a hg go on the coolant with no smoke just rising temperature and pressurised coolant tank.

It's worth considering the turbo as you may not need a new engine

erm..
and if it was'nt the turbo, its been spinning without out oil for the duration of this test.
is that wise?

 

[beachbuggy]

erm..
and if it was'nt the turbo, its been spinning without out oil for the duration of this test.
is that wise?

You only need to run it at idle to see if it's blowing oil and at idle no damage will occur as the turbos hardly spinning, agreed though don't drive hard as you'll damage the bearings for sure, sorry should have made that clearer.

Fact is though even if it is the turbo the heads going to have to come off in all likely hood to replace it.

Are you loosing oil or coolant?

 

[argyle89]

oil yes, coolant no mate.

 

[argyle89]

well went to see the mechanic today to see how things are, and he wasnt around but spoke to his dad and he gave me quite a bit of good news tbh!!

Turbos fine and working, theyve done a block test and that was fine! not sure what was wrong tbh, bit wierd! it hasnt used any oil or water in thier time with the car. told me to get in and take it for a drive see what i thought., and it drives even better than when i had it! only problem with it now is that instead of having to push down, left and up into reverse it just goes straight across. so going back monday when theyve had a look at that and hopefuly driving it home monday night!! garage is run by the other halfs uncle and family members so really confident with thier diagnosis, but he just told me to keep an eye out for any major changes and if so drop it in and they will have a look for me! kinda hoping my lucks changed for the better and i can spend a bit of money getting her upto spec now!

Gonna get my new clocks coded in asap and hopefully the dis wont spring no surprises on me! then onwards and upwards ready for le mans classic!!