T4 help! More smoke than a steam train!

[VR6kid]

Hi all I’ve recently purchased a 2000 t4 2.5 petrol lwb. Very well knowing the fact it’s going to have its problems I still wanted it to convert into a camper and travel up the coast in it. Car ran fine for the first month I have had it besides a few basic issues like the ignition switch and passenger door not locking, everything felt fine, started fine, ran fine (a lot slower than I thought though of well) Up until a week or so ago it has started to blow heaps of smoke however not every time I start the car. Did the basic checks for head gasket and it seems fine, will be doing a compression test soon however. Smoke defiantly smells more like oil so I’m thinking rings maybe? Hopefully not though. Car still revs and idles fine most of the time when it is smoking as well. I honestly have no idea what it could be as it doesn’t happen 100% of the time. I’ve almost given up on it and I’m thinking about buying another vr6 mk3 to get me to work however I don’t think that’s going to solve any of my problems. Any suggestions or help would be much appreciated as I have no idea where to start. Cheers.

[Umai Naa!!]

Bad PCV?

[BrianJ]

I have seen a Passat that blew streets of smoke and it came from a leaking master cylinder that let brake fluid back into the vacuum booster and then through the vacuum lines into the inlet manifold. Are you losing any brake fluid ?

[VR6kid]

Will have a look at both these when I get home cheers guys.

[LogicprObe]

It's probably oil leaking into the cylinders overnight via the valve stem seals.
They go hard over time and leak.
There are videos on youtube on how to change them without taking the head off but it looked a bit dicey to me so I never did it.
That van is still running around today and does blow the occasional puff of smoke going around corners and gums up the plugs in No 1 and 2 pots after a while.........600kms on that engine.

Anyway, using thicker oil makes a difference.

[VR6kid]

Figured it would of been oil leaking in, didn't smoke just after i had bought it so id say previous owner had used a thicker oil as well, took it to Volkswagen to get it serviced and id say they have used a thinner oil because its only started after the service. Will look into it cheers.

[Umai Naa!!]

Yeah, should be using 10W40 semi-synthetic in something like this.

[LogicprObe]

I found it started to use a fair bit of oil on the thinner stuff.
That was doing 300 plus kms per day.
About 1 to 2 lts a month by memory.

I think it started about 350-400kms.............how many has your done?
(mine was a 2003 model 2.5 petrol SWB)

[VR6kid]

I found it started to use a fair bit of oil on the thinner stuff.
That was doing 300 plus kms per day.
About 1 to 2 lts a month by memory.

I think it started about 350-400kms.............how many has your done?
(mine was a 2003 model 2.5 petrol SWB)

Mines done just over 250,000ks, I do around 100ks round trip to work and thats it, doesnt get worked too hard will have to switch to thicker oil i reckon, problem is i have no idea what VW used in it before. Probably needs new plugs and leads as well but its almost $300 so might have to get them in a couple weeks.

[LogicprObe]

Don't buy them from VW.
I used to get mine from here Home - HSY
Got branches in QLD.
(tell them you're a Courier and use it for work if they say Trade Only)

As for oil..........I think I went up to the 15-40 stuff.

Also, check that they didn't overfill it with oil...............that makes them smoke and can wreck your Cat Converter!
(my mechanic did that once)