Hello D16rrt you mention that the car is not running well at the moment, i've previously owned a g40 for several years and gt's i have gone newer since the kids arrived but still kept with vw, i have always taken my car to a independent garage in Stourbridge which is about 40 mins drive from you, i'm based in Redditch, I've seen the g a few times in worcester as i work there on a friday, remember hearing it early one morning and thinking that sounds like a g and then it flies past me ( i was walking though!!!!!!!!) Anyway back to the point the garage that i take it to, the reason i take it there is that the guy is a polo specialist, he races a very quick grey gt and only drives polos, he knows most things about polos prior to being indepednent he worked for vag for 20 years and has owned g40s and worked on many, if you want his details let me know they only charge £27.50 an hour, i take it there even though vag have a garage down the road and there is one opposite where i work 4 days a week in Stratford.

I'm pretty negative anyway, don't worry. Never clear in text though is it!

Nah, not all the time

Well if its lambda probe, you can disconnect it and it will run in a base mode so you can see if its faulty.

Is it smoking or anything? Checked the compression recently?

And tell me about the dollar! iv melted another piston so have to buy another 4, another 520 quid down the drain! then i still have to carry out the transplant into the the new white mk3 shell! Cant wait though!

Yeah that was discussed yesterday

Well I'm getting 45 miles to a tenner (well I was, as I haven't driven her since UD) black smoke, not huge amounts but it's present and I'm used too none at all. Deffo over fuelling and if I don't keep the revs up she stalls (hence why I was revving it all the time at UD, not because I like doing it haha) We haven't done a compression test yet

£520 Ouch! Haha awesome

Hello D16rrt you mention that the car is not running well at the moment, i've previously owned a g40 for several years and gt's i have gone newer since the kids arrived but still kept with vw, i have always taken my car to a independent garage in Stourbridge which is about 40 mins drive from you, i'm based in Redditch, I've seen the g a few times in worcester as i work there on a friday, remember hearing it early one morning and thinking that sounds like a g and then it flies past me ( i was walking though!!!!!!!!) Anyway back to the point the garage that i take it to, the reason i take it there is that the guy is a polo specialist, he races a very quick grey gt and only drives polos, he knows most things about polos prior to being indepednent he worked for vag for 20 years and has owned g40s and worked on many, if you want his details let me know they only charge £27.50 an hour, i take it there even though vag have a garage down the road and there is one opposite where i work 4 days a week in Stratford.

Yeah I know where Stourbridge is

Have you heehee, where did you see me?

Sounds awesome and deffo the place to go My mate does an awesome job on her though, the only problem with him though is time as he's such a busy bee bless him, but I do get to pay him on account too (ie. now that I've ran out of money, when I get paid the end of every month I knock some coingae off my balance haha which is ideal for me as I'm not loaded) Can you PM me all the garages details and your contact etc please?

Thanks for that, awesome stuff

Hmmm, some guy left a note on my window whilst I was at college in Worcester one afternoon last year and now I've lost the peice of paper when I moved Calling mystery man, are you on here?

Plugs have been ordered and sensors are on there way, all be going in on Sunday, whoop!

So fingers crossed, if this fails then I may have to pop her down to your mate DAVID & JACOB

So as planned, in yesterday went new one pin sparks in as 3's didn't agree, new lambda in... Ran sweet as a nut so didn't bother changing the blue sensor. If it's not broke, don't fix it!

Chuffed as fuck, so I drove her for a couple hours yesterday afternoon. Weird how well you get to know your own car because as soon as I started her after all that was changed, before we even test drove her, I knew she was OK just by how she was just sat idling. Was proper loving it

Where to begin now... Again. I've done nothing but right for this fucking car and it's done nothing right for me! Don't be shocked if this goes up for sale after summer, I'm giving her one last try!

Got on the M5, cruising at about 80 and a weird noise occurs which sounded like it was coming from the dash/speedo area, lose power and sound like a scooby Get off the motorway pull over to find oil pissing out of her

Is there an oil feed on the outside of the engine? Like a pipe etc? If you get what I'm trying to say!?!

The oil isn't coming from out the head or anywhere else as I thought head may have blown... Found the leak on the left hand side of the head down by the dipstick?

Oil seal/s gone?

Where are they on a G?

No oil warning light (she had plenty in her as I checked her at mates unit when we did sensors etc as well as water level) and I drove her to where I was getting too as it was only a few miles, may have been a mistake but fuck it, it's done now. Still no warning light and driving fine and then going to a scooby noise again and then to constantly sounding like that.

Started her up this morning and still sounding exactly the same and no warning lights accept the temp one flashed and went back of again

Now the bearing in my fan has gone, she did get warm once yesterday in traffic but not the point off over heating and killing the head but would that have caused anything? I don't think it could have done because she didn't get hot enough to cause any problems

Gutted is not the word to how I'm feeling right now, I thought I was close to giving up before but you have no idea how wounded I am right now

Ideas please bois, where to look, start etc

DAVID&JACOB can you PM me your contact for that garage please

Edited 29 March, 200917 yr by D16RRT

Sounds like a possible melted piston to me (if still misfiring), or your charger seals have popped. Whatever it is, its likely to be expensive by the sounds of it.

sounds like your having a nightmare atm dirrt you get it sorted ! :thumbsup:

Genuinely gutted for you dudio must be heartbreaking hope to hell you can get it sorted

Wounder :(

Not good.

Have you checked the charger oil feed line banjo connection which is on the head, near the dipstick?

Sounds like a possible melted piston to me (if still misfiring), or your charger seals have popped. Whatever it is, its likely to be expensive by the sounds of it.

It's not misfiring, those issues were solved when we changed the lambda and sparks

As I said she was running sweet as fuck (can't even remeber the last time she ran so good) and then that happened

sounds like your having a nightmare atm dirrt you get it sorted ! :thumbsup:

Cheers Jake

Genuinely gutted for you dudio must be heartbreaking hope to hell you can get it sorted

Cheers dude, it is heartbreaking I'm well upset. All I do is right by this car and I fix summit and summit else goes

Wounder :(

Proper

Not good.

Have you checked the charger oil feed line banjo connection which is on the head, near the dipstick?

Tell me about it! Nah, that was my question - Is there an oil feed on the outside type thing for me to check?

I'll have a look after work - What am I looking for?

is it leaking oil from the oil breather pod? Has it popped out a bit?

I'm gonna investigate after work later and let you all know

TBH that's where I found it when it happened and I haven't touched it since because of the pure heartache, being fed up and extremely pissed off, so I'll get back to you.

DK never being wrong melted piston it is. But who knows. I got lots of different advice and facts being thrown my way, one thing being said contradicting something else someone else has said. It’s hard head work Knowing my luck and this car, it's gonna be the worst case scenario.

I’ll do what I can and if all else fails, she’ll be going to a garage to someone who knows what they are doing.

I’ll get pictures up too (thanks Hoppy babes) and thanks for the advice I already have had, is really appreciated

Sorry to hear of more problems on your G Dirrt. What your discribing though does sound similar to what happened with mine, except all my oil poured out from where the rocker cover stopped sealing. But I had the rough almost scooby noise and the lack of power.

Good luck with the problem finding anyway and I hope you get it all sorted soon.

did it sound like this: http://www.facebook.com/wall.php?id=627380...v=1008972388978 ?

looks like we were in the same boat at one point:(

dont give up on the G:( that car is you, personified!

keep us updated!

did it sound like this: http://www.facebook.com/wall.php?id=627380...v=1008972388978 ?

looks like we were in the same boat at one point:(

dont give up on the G:( that car is you, personified!

keep us updated!

Oh dear, thats sounds fooked! Thats what mine sounded like when i melted a piston the 1st time.

Dirrt, its just by you describing it as sounding like a scooby makes me think it is misfiring. Was there any smoke out of the exhaust when it made the scooby noise? Maybe oil seals in the charger went and it had/has fouled the plugs up with oil?

Whatever it is, you have to keep at it and get it done, is a pain in the arse though.

Just a poor excuse to upgrade the pistons if they're gone! lol. Hope its fixable.

When you said power loss, did it die completely or stutter and go again?

i hope its not a piston dirrt.

propper G smile breaker :(

Is this why everyone goes Eaton?

did it sound like this: http://www.facebook.com/wall.php?id=627380...v=1008972388978 ?

looks like we were in the same boat at one point:(

dont give up on the G:( that car is you, personified!

keep us updated!

I'll watch that when I get home tonight Have to see how it goes, might fix it, sell it and get a Turbo or go Jap etc

If you want rinder, you could give me the money for a white MK1 Escort with a Cosworth lump please That would be muchly appreciated

Oh dear, thats sounds fooked! Thats what mine sounded like when i melted a piston the 1st time.

Dirrt, its just by you describing it as sounding like a scooby makes me think it is misfiring. Was there any smoke out of the exhaust when it made the scooby noise? Maybe oil seals in the charger went and it had/has fouled the plugs up with oil?

Whatever it is, you have to keep at it and get it done, is a pain in the arse though.

It was a proper fluttering noise mate, which would be a misfire but there was no smoke?

I know I need to keep it and fix it and I'm the last person that wants to let her go, I promised myself I never would because I'd rather crush it than see anyone else driving it It's just gutting because of the input I've put into this car, especially 4.5K in 9 months and for those 9 months I've probably only been able to drive her for like 5 and most off that was when I bought her in July last year and before she she went into Jabba in November, when she wasn't even at her peak! And yeah yeah, I know it's a G, what do I expect? I knew this before I bought one, it's just I swear I'm having the worse luck and it's running me down. Fuck all has gone right for me and this car!

Now all I think about is what I could have bought for 7k *dribbles* but it was my choice to live one off my dreams

Less off the violins...

OK so I got my head under the G last night, I am 90% certain the oil has come out off the dipstick and leaked down the casing next to it and underneath the car, like it got too hot and forced it’s way out?

But that wouldn’t explain the misfire fluttering scooby shit though would it?

I can’t find a leak coming from anywhere else but until my G man comes round on Sunday when he’s free there’s fuck all I can do as I haven’t got anything to get under her to check blown pipes and manifold etc

I did however take pictures of the bay and the leak. I'll post them up tonight after work

dread, excess oil coming through the dipstick i would assume to be excess crankcase pressure for whatever reason. oil at the front of the head at that breather is either being forced from the head out the pipe due to excess pressure or oil seals going in the charger, causing excess oil to pass through the seals and into the boost pipes.

it would be pishhhhh if the seals have gone as it went to jabbarse not long ago, maybe its a blocked breather hose somewhere!

hopefully either yer duck ed or davidnjacobs garage friend will be able to sort it oot, poor wee dirrtbox

i would say its the crankcase breather is blocked if its comin out of the dipstick. gives a rite bit of bother on these cars.

Could be a blocked breather dome, but i reckon its more than likely worn piston rings causing excessive breathing/pressure and and escaping up the dipstick tube. Need to do a cylinder leakage test on it ideally, but its a job for the garage as you need compressed air.

You also wanna have a look inside the boost pipes to see if there is excessive oil, will give you more clues. Is it still making the noise you said?

And whatever forced induction car you buy, ie jap, fords, renaults- you will still have all these sorts of problems, nature of the beast!

yo crankcase breather is like a blob thing at the back of the engine, its directly on the baack of the block, so its easier from underneath the car on a ramp, karl says once you undo the pipe there should be two allen head bolts or something similar that holds the breather to the block

and clips to pull it off after you get the two bolts off, then you can clean it out with carb cleaner

ed should have a compression tester so as turbodaily says its worth checking, i think my piston rings have gone on mine too but I've managed to land a spare block that upon stripping found out it has brand new pistons! its a golf engine tho so i wont bore you wi details haha

VW Polo / Golf breather system

Does your 1980s Polo or Golf burn a lot of oil? Is the air filter saturated in engine oil? Does the engine leak oil from every seal and gasket? You may have thought that your engine is terminally worn, and be thinking about a replacement engine, or even scrapping the car. Read this first - it could save you a lot of money.

This information definitely applies to all Mk2 VW Polos (1982-90) and 1.1/1.3 engined Golfs (1983-91). Engines in question are carburettor fed 1043cc and 1272cc units. It may also apply to the earlier 895cc and 1093cc units fitted to the Mk1 Polo and Golf, and to the later 1.3 motor fitted to the Mk3 Polo post 1990, and possibly even to the 1.4 motor in Mk3 Golfs. However, I have no experience of these engines (apart from learning to drive in a Mk1 Polo). It does not apply to the larger (1500cc and above) VW motors which have a totally different breather design.

Like any engine, the small VW motor has a system for getting rid of the gases that build up inside the engine when it is running. The system consists of a dome shaped oil separator mounted low down on the side of the engine block, underneath the inlet manifold. A rubber pipe connects this to the air filter housing, feeding the crankcase gases back into the carburettor where they are burnt in the engine.

When these cars were new the system worked fine, but it has a couple of major weaknesses. Firstly, the oil separator tends to become clogged up over time, so that the gases are no longer able to flow freely through it. This leads to a build up of pressure inside the engine, which will force oil past all the gaskets and seals. The main weak spots are the camshaft cover gasket, the seal around the oil filler cap, the seals at each end of the camshaft and the seal behind the crankshaft pulley. Significant oil leaks from these areas may indicate a blocked breather.

Secondly, there is a passage through the engine block, from the recess behind the oil separator down into the sump. The idea is that oil droplets contained within the crankcase gases are separated out by the oil separator and returned to the sump via this passage. However, the oil passage is a fairly narrow diameter, and over time it tends to clog up in the same way as the separator itself. Oil builds up in the separator, and is forced up the pipe into the air filter housing because it has nowhere else to go. It will then saturate the air filter and also end up being drawn into the carburettor, leading to excessive exhaust smoke. This is especially noticeable when restarting the engine while it is still warm.

Finally, the oil separator itself is not very efficient. Even when in perfect condition, it cannot cope with the volume of crankcase gases produced by even a moderately worn engine (75,000 miles plus). VW recognised this problem and introduced a modified system with a second oil separator fitted in line between the first separator and the air filter housing. I do not know when this system was introduced - possibly as late as 1990.

So my breather system is dead. How do I fix it?

Before you start, it might be worth having a compression test done to see whether the cylinder bores are terminally worn. There is no point spending any money on an engine which is about to die. Likewise if the engine is very rattly you are probably better off replacing it. BUT if you buy a second hand engine from a breakers yard, you should still follow the instructions below. The crankcase breather is much easier to change with the engine out of the car, and any engine which has done more than about 50K will benefit from the treatment described below.

The first step is to replace the crankcase mounted breather. The breather itself only costs around £7.00 from German & Swedish, but it is a pig to fit. Access is very difficult, especially on the Polo where the brake master cylinder gets in the way, so you really need to remove the inlet manifold (complete with carburettor) before you start. The breather itself is a dome shaped steel casing and is a tight press fit into a recess in the cylinder block. Removing the old one is usually easy - you just need to tap a fine bladed chisel very carefully into the slot between the breather and engine block, until you can lever the breather out with a screwdriver. However, to fit the new one requires a special tool - essentially a short, very large diameter hollow drift which bears on the flange round the edge of the breather. If you hit the breather itself you will flatten it.

If you have a scrap Polo water pump, you will find that the aluminium pulley makes a perfect drift - you just need to cut a slot in it for the pipe that comes out of the breather. However, even then your troubles are not over. The new breather will be a very tight fit in the block, and on a Polo there is not really room between the block and the bulkhead to swing a hammer hard enough and precisely enough to tap the breather squarely into place. The last time I replaced one of these, I ended up having to remove the engine to get the new one to fit. For this reason, I strongly advise that you get a good independent VW specialist to do this job for you, unless you are an accomplished mechanic with a decent selection of tools and a lot of patience.

Before fitting the new breather it is absolutely essential that you clear the passage between the breather and the sump. A wire coat hangar is just right for this - poke it into the hole and keep poking until you hit the bottom of the sump. If you are getting a garage to do the work, make sure they are aware of this - most VW specialists should be, but some garages may not. If you just change the breather and do not clear out the drain hole you are wasting your time (voice of experience talking here). Make sure the recess in the block is thoroughly cleaned and degreased, and put a smear of a suitable silicone sealant around the edge of the breather before you fit it. But don't overdo it, otherwise bits of silicone sealant will block the oil drain hole..... It is also worth inspecting the pipe between the breather and air filter - if it is cracked or perished, replace it.

Now clean all the oil out of the air filter housing and fit a new filter. Hopefully, with the reduction in crankcase pressure you will not need to replace all the leaking oil seals and gaskets, but be prepared to do so. Clean up the area around them and see if any more oil appears. Probably the two most important seals are the ones at each end of the camshaft. If these fail you will get oil either on the cambelt, or inside the distributor, or both. Check these areas for oil contamination - if the cambelt has oil on it, change it immediately.

I've done all that, and I'm still getting oil in my air filter. What next?

As mentioned above, VW introduced a secondary oil separator on later cars. This is a plastic canister, about 100 x 50mm, with a pipe stub at each end, and is intended to fit in between the crankcase breather and air filter housing. The connecting pipework for this breather differs from the earlier setup. The canister itself costs around £12 from a VW dealer, and you should be able to make up suitable pipework with a little ingenuity. Just make sure that the pipe from the primary to the secondary separator is not kinked - the canister has to sit at an angle to clear the underside of the inlet manifold.

Alternatively you may be able to salvage a complete system (canister and pipework) from a scrap VW of the correct age (try looking at 1990-91 cars as a start). Clean the canister out with diesel, and it should be fit for further service. If fitting this does not solve the problem, then the chances are that your engine is genuinely worn out. In this case, a temporary fix would be to get a nice long length of hose, connect one end to the crankcase breather and the other to a plastic bottle secured somewhere in the engine compartment. Empty the bottle regularly and start thinking about buying another car.

To hell with this. It all sounds too much like hard work. I'll ignore the problem and see if it goes away.

Oil consumption on a VW motor with breather problems can be terrifying - as much as a pint every 100 miles (most of which ends up in the air filter housing). Having an air filter clogged with oil will worsen fuel consumption and guarantee an MOT failure on exhaust emissions. Every time you park the car on the street it will leave a pool of oil underneath, and you will be crucified by the local Environmental Health Officer. And eventually the car will stop running, either because the distributor is full of oil, the cambelt breaks due to oil contamination, or you forget to top up the oil level before a long journey and the engine seizes solid on the motorway. Polos and Golfs are faithful little cars, and deserve better than this. If you are planning to keep the car any length of time, sorting out the breather system will save you a great deal of money and aggravation.

Finally, many thanks to Andrew Moorey and Rob Fleming, both regular contributors to the Back Room forum at www.honestjohn.co.uk for their help and advice.

Edited 31 March, 200917 yr by grungeisdead

I think the breather block is bolted on gts etc, but on a g40 (well, all the 1's that i have worked on) have a sort of dome which is pressed in to the block, and anyone who has tried changing one will tell you its easy getting the old one out, but getting the new one in is a right mission, far easier with the engine out!

Beat me to it with that quote grunge! lol

Thanks for all that boyos