82 GLF.....Lots of smoke :-(

[soobcollektor]

Hi,

 

I just bought an 82 Glf hardtop with the EA-81 engine in it,

It ran fine for a while, but recently has started to smoke out the tail pipe and engine bay area. LOTS of smoke. It seems ot be burning oil, I took the Air cleaner cover off only to find the air filter and surrounding areas completely covered in oil. What the heck does this mean, its comming up from the passengers side valve cover (PCV) hose, and when its running its puffing out smoke from the hose.

 

When I take the dipstick out it also has smoke comming out of it and when I take off the oil fill cap it puffs out smoke almost as bad as the exhaust.

 

Its been a loooong time since Ive played with an old school soob, main reason why I bought it. My dad seems to think the rings are bad, but I beg to differ. Ive never heard of an EA-81 with bad rings. I took the plugs out and they seemed dirty, and number 3 was oil soaked. I havent done a compression test but i'm hoping the engine isnt toast. It doesant smoke at first but after its run for 20-30 seconds it starts to out the exhaust and when you rev it up it is so bad you can see the rump roast end of the car.

 

Any suggestions?

 

Thanks in advance.

[scoobyroo86]

i almost bought an 81 brat that was doing that, i dont thenk the guy ever fixed it.

[soobcollektor]

Ok so heres the official compression test update.

 

I borrowed a compression gauage and checked it out last night,

 

The number 3 cylinder has about 57-60 psi. I checked it warm, the number 1 had about 120.

 

So does this help to indicate what the problem is? Could it really be the rings? The smoke isnt completely blue and sometimes it looks almost white when it comes from the exhaust. Car doesnt overheat but it is definetly blowing by into the PCV system and also somehow getting into the exhaust and smoking badly.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

~Tim

[Jerry DeMoss]

Could be rings or it could be that the valves are so carbon fouled that they wont seat properly.Valve guide seals may be shot as well.

[soobcollektor]

So weve narrowed it down, is it possible that the rings would go that fast, it was fine until the trip on the highway trip, I also sprayed carb cleaner in it before we took it on the highway....could that have anythign to do with it. Anyways what do you all suggest that I do, should I pull the head? If I pull the head how will I be able to tell if the rings or the vavles are bad?

 

Thanks everyone for all the help, it figures my journey back into old gen soobs turns bad quickly :-(

[Loyale 2.7 Turbo]

I think it is the P.C.V. ... Why don´t you take it and check it? maybe is clogged... Also a bad carburetion can do that, specially if the Smoke is Dark. if that´s Dark, Check Carb Too...

Good Luck!

[soobcollektor]

Well there is vacuum comming from the pcv valve so I dont think it is plugged, th smoke is actually very light almost sometimes like steam that hangs in the air for a long time, sometimes its more of a bluish tinit thoguh it just varies, the car always seems to be low on antifreeze also, but if it were a bad headgasket I dont understand how the PCV hoses would be blowing so much smoke, because there is no sign of water in the antifreeze.

 

Still dazed and confused

~Tim

[daeron]

do a leak down test.. do a search on the procedure because ive read its more than done it, but you apply positive air pressure into the aprk plug hole and see where it comes out. if it bubbles into your oil, your more liable to have ring issues, if into coolant then headgasket, if into intake or exhaust then its a valve seat issue. If you sprayed carb cleaner into a car then you MAY have dislodged something thats sticking in a valve seat?? i dont know if its that viable a hypothesis, but its possible.. the leakdown test is the way you isolate low compression into a subsystem of the engine.. unless you WANT to tear the engine apart, pull the piston, find a decent ring on it but have to rebuild the bottom end anyway and do all that over what may be a blown headgasket?? i mean, im saying its the next step, thats all :-)