[Shoaib]

I think mine has 21mm bolt do you have any part numbers for the bolts and washers

 

[Tim1963]

Hi there, I'm a brand new member to this group and interested in joining your discussion. If the rings have gone would you expect to see excessive exhaust smoke?

 

[Shoaib]

Hi there, I'm a brand new member to this group and interested in joining your discussion. If the rings have gone would you expect to see excessive exhaust smoke?

Hi mate, you would see excessive smoke if the piston rings are gone, I bought my 1.4 tsi golf as a project and it was puffing out a lot of blue smoke, cylinder 2 had low compression so I decided to strip the engine and noticed piston 1 and 2 had a crack

 

[Tim1963]

Hi mate, you would see excessive smoke if the piston rings are gone, I bought my 1.4 tsi golf as a project and it was puffing out a lot of blue smoke, cylinder 2 had low compression so I decided to strip the engine and noticed piston 1 and 2 had a crack

I'm over in Australia and the 1.4 TSI is quite a popular engine here being petrol, I've got it in 2012 Tiguan. My issues started when we bought it last year with only 110,000km on the clock and I had issues with it going into limp mode due to the air regulator flap valve filling up with oil (P10A4 code).
I tried the fix by drilling the flap valve body and draining off the oil, but this fix didn't last long, so I ended up by buying a new module from my local VDO agent (A2C59511700) $300 Aussie dollars, VW wanted $700!
I cleaned out all the oil in the air intake system (should have realised then that this was the real issue not the valve!), anyway 5 months later and only 5000km we go into limp mode again. As the unit is still in warranty I get a brand new replacement and car is back running again.
This time though I want to work out why there is so much oil getting into the air intake system. I can only put this down to engine back pressure forcing oil through the crankcase breather system which links to the air intake.
Checking engine compression I am around 140psi on 1 and 2 but only 80psi on 3 and 4.
Spark plugs look good on all 4 and no excessive exhaust smoke though.
Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
I'm going to try putting a camera down to check bores, and if possible do an oil check to see if anything leaks back past piston rings.
Fingers crossed its a head gasket issue.

 

[Shoaib]

Surely 80 psi isn't enough, from what I read they're meant to be about 180psi per cylinder, correct me if I'm wrong, maybe the piston rings are bad, maybe valve issue, could be piston issue

 

[Tim1963]

From my limited experience 150psi should be about right, but I would be happy to have 140psi across all 4 at the moment.
I too would be thinking pistons and or rings, especially from what Crasher said about the need to use the more expensive high octane fuels, I can guarantee that the previous owners would have been reluctant to spend the extra. However if it was the piston or rings, I would have expected to see blue smoke from this, at the moment all I get is the usual white puff on cold start up.
Anyway I will carry out some more checks, drop a camera inside and run some oil on top of the pistons to see if any disappears back past the pistons, I'll let you know how it goes.

 

[Crasher]

Hi there, I'm a brand new member to this group and interested in joining your discussion. If the rings have gone would you expect to see excessive exhaust smoke?

Not with a catalyst still managing to work as with the Scirocco we did but on a Beetle we had in, it smoked like a steam train. These engines can loose compression due to exhaust valve burning caused by worn guides but when they start filling the intake and supercharger with oil, that is broken pistons.

 

[Tim1963]

Thanks mate, I didn't want to hear that but half expected it.
Is that an engine out job or can the piston and rings be replaced in situ, also I'm guessing its best to replace all 4, but what else should I replace while I'm at it?
I Really appreciate your time and feedback.

 

[Crasher]

The pistons can be removed with the engine still in, make this a professional job you should also replace and do the following;

Have the head professionally rebuilt with new exhaust guides and valves plus a very light skim.
New cam compensation elements (lifters) and rocker arms
Check the cam carrier bores with an inside micrometer and the cam journals with an external micrometer and a visual check of the cam lobes for wear/damage
Full quality chain kit with VVT hub (aftermarket) which include the sprocket bolts, remember the VVT hub bolt is left hand thread
Oil pump (modified) and drive kit (aftermarket)
Top end gasket set and sump and chain cover sealants which are importantly different
Lots of new VW bolts
Remove piston cooling jets, hone bores (VITAL) and fit new updated piston jets (genuine only)
Con rod (big end) bearings and bolts, these MUST be replaced or the bolts will snap and shove a rod out sideways which isn’t good!
Fit new pistons, the Nural ones I used were a “suspect” in the problems I had but unproved
Running in oil and new oil filter
Front crank bolt (upgraded 21mm 12 point) and bush plus O ring seal and Diamond washers, all genuine only
A pile of specialist tools inc Digital Dial Gauge plus crank and cam locking tools.

That is until (like me) you strip the whole thing down again engine, bare block on the bench and examined in minute detail to the absolute bare bores and the block and crank sent away for independent checking only to rebuild again with many of the above parts bought for the third time with a brand new genuine head, exhaust cam, cam carrier and genuine oil pump only for the resulting lump to sound like “a skeleton wanking in a biscuit tin”. I have been building VW engines for 40 years and never been in this situation because even after stripping it down again I could find nothing wrong. I gave up and bought a genuine VW exchange engine to get the car out, roughly £20k down the drain.

 

[Shoaib]

Hi crasher, I haven't finished building the engine yet but I was wondering how do i prime the engine before starting it to prevent a dry start up, I've used assembly lube on every component I touched

 

[Crasher]

Unless you have a primer system that pumps through the oil pressure switch hole, then it is cranking with the plugs out. If you have filled the oil pump with assembly lube and poured oil down the oil filter pressure feed, pressure should come up in a few seconds but you need a gauge to see it as the dash won’t tell you.

 

[Tim1963]

Thanks Crasher, I really appreciate the advise.

 

[Sm007]

Hi crasher I've just finished fully rebuilding the engine, all is good except fueling issue, it struggled to start after a while it did but as the car started warming up the fuel gauge on dash dropped, got a epc light and the cut off, I then tried to start it and the fuel gauge was back to normal but it struggles to start still the codes I got are

008851 fuel pressure regulator valve n276 mechanical malfunction intermittent

000400 fuel pressure sensor g247 circuit malfunction intermittent

000135 fuel rail/ system pressure too low

My guess would be something to do with lift pump but I can hear it running or maybe the mechanical fuel pump is faulty, do you know what I can check

 

[Crasher]

When you put the HPFP back on, did you fit the follower and it is possible to fit the pump with the pushrod at an angle plus check the battery voltage. The electric fuel pump needs calibrating in basic settings

 

[Sm007]

When you put the HPFP back on, did you fit the follower and it is possible to fit the pump with the pushrod at an angle plus check the battery voltage. The electric fuel pump needs calibrating in basic settings

Hi I will check this, I've also bought a fuel filter to replace, the battery was low as it was left in my garage for a month so I left it on charge over night, also the car is puffing lots of smoke as I think the intercooler has oil in it

 

[Crasher]

On the Scirocco I did the entire charge air system was full of oil, I took off the supercharger and it and it’s silencer were were full, I filled both with brake cleaner and shook it about, drained and blew out with compressed oil and did the same for all the charge air system but also the entire exhaust system from turbo to tailpipe was full of oil and condensation. The turbo was rebuilt and I washed out the cat but to get the oil out of the silencers I drilled a 3mm hole in each one at a low point and I got over two litres of mixed oil and water out. Even after running on the lift for two hours at fast idle the smoke was so bad we could not go into the unit without a respirator on and we began to worry the new engine had a problem but it eventually cleared.

 

[Sm007]

On the Scirocco I did the entire charge air system was full of oil, I took off the supercharger and it and it's silencer were were full, I filled both with brake cleaner and shook it about, drained and blew out with compressed oil and did the same for all the charge air system but also the entire exhaust system from turbo to tailpipe was full of oil and condensation. The turbo was rebuilt and I washed out the cat but to get the oil out of the silencers I drilled a 3mm hole in each one at a low point and I got over two litres of mixed oil and water out. Even after running on the lift for two hours at fast idle the smoke was so bad we could not go into the unit without a respirator on and we began to worry the new engine had a problem but it eventually cleared.

Ah I'm guessing the front end will need to be removed to get the intercooler out, is there any other way to get rid of the oil

 

[Crasher]

No, full strip down.

 

[Sm007]

Hi crasher, finally got a chance to mess around with the car after having to isolate, I removed the high pressure pump and made sure it was fitted correctly, do you know what the fuel pressure is meant to be at idling?

 

[Crasher]

I can't remember what I have seen and VAG don't give a spec.