FINALLY got chance to get plugs out! 

Not lookin good. I have a spare set which i'm gonna gap and fit. 

I can't see an external oil seperator. The exhaust recirculation hose goes straight from the crank case to the air filter housing with nothing else fitted between the two. The crank case end of the hose seems fine. No splits or stress. 

Would i be on the right track in thinkin that the oil could have gone past the plugs and possibly past the sump plug, as i used the wrong kind of washer, which meant an improper seal? 

if its dropped 3 ltrs of oil past the sump washer you would see it ...whole underside would be coated with oil

 

id clean up any obvious mess , refill with cheap oil and run it , if it sits there running with nothing obvious drive it a mile or so and watch again

 

should be very very obvious if its dropping all the oil in no time 

Most of the grease was low down. Real dirty down the back where the plugs are, on the alternator, sump, i've cleaned it up as much as i could in the time i've had, which isn't much. Need to replace the leaky core plug before i can run it. 

Hi polo people. I hope you all had as good a christmas as possible. 

Just wanted to check something if that's cool: if i had a leaky core plug and that caused a fair amount of coolant to vacate the engine, would the engine heating up/overheating and then running for too long cause the oil in the engine to heat up and try to escape as well? If so, the oil i lost could have worked it's way out using more than one direction. As in some went past the plugs, some out the sump plug with the steel, (wrong,) washer, maybe some out the exhaust, some out the cam cover, and so on. 

I've replaced the remaining core plugs but still can't see any single obvious escape route for this oil other than those grubby plugs and the steel sump washer. Would the above be a possibilty? 

Car was sat for a good 6 weeks on axle stands as i just didn't have time to do the core plugs until then. Didn't lose a drop of oil the whole time! 

Will be redoing the oil change with new and proper parts, will be back with results when i do. Just wanted opinions on the possibilty of the above. 

Thanks for stopping by and for any xp you're able to leave. 

in a word no 

On 01/12/2019 at 10:32, Eviljohn said:

I can't see an external oil seperator. The exhaust recirculation hose goes straight from the crank case to the air filter housing with nothing else fitted between the two. The crank case end of the hose seems fine. No splits or stress.

 

Not sure if a lack of oil separator would cause this but it would help to have one so you know you don't have neat engine oil being squirted back into the intake - I'm surprised you don't have one. Have you looked inside the intake as well? May well be the case that the original blocked up and a previous owner binned it rather than cleaning it out. Did you take the hose off? What you need to ascertain is whether or not its blocked internally - if the crankcase pressure builds past a limit then the gas (and oil) will find the next available route out - i.e. an oil seal that isn't designed to work under pressure.

 

From what you've said it soulds like this is what has happened, in which case it is your crankcase ventillation system that needs thoroughly looking at. The hoses may look fine externally but could be thoroughly gunked up inside. Regardless its worth removing them and giving them a throuough clean. I'd also source a separator if you can!

 

 

 

kinda sounds to me like maybe you never filled it up 

 

if it dripped or burned over 3 ltrs of oil you would know about it , oily tail pipe , oil stains all over the place  

Okay. Core plugs done, spark plugs replaced. Oil change with fresh oil and filter is being done now. Just waiting for oil to settle so i can make sure the level is right.

Underfilling may have been a possibility. I've just managed to decant the used oil into a very small container, although i have no idea how much i lost when it "escaped". 

Should the oil seperator be fitted in line to the egr hose, or is it that dome shaped bit at the back of the sump? 

Can i check it by just whipping the egr hose off real quick if that's the case?

it should have the dome pressed into the block , then a rubber hose with a plastic seperator (coke can size) then rubber hose onto the air cleaner 

 

you can see if the engine is breathing heavily by pulling the oil filler cap when its running , if theres lots of pressure /smoke then theres a problem 

Okay. I'll get under it again and check for that, and also try the pull out test, (giggidy). Thank you very much.

Car went silky smooth yesterday and i had an early start this morning. So i thought i'd take it for a little run. I work just off a motorway junction and the next junction is only about 2 miles away. Car was hesitant to get to 70mph on ANY kind of incline, but fine on flat. Temp gauge got to half way, normal operating temp. About half way, (around a mile,) down the motorway, temp gauge still half way, temp light starts flashing. Stops when i ease off to 65mph. Get to next junction, turn around, same thing. Anything over 65mph and the temp gauge flashes, although still on half way. Over the last mile, starts flashing at 55 or over so i'm slowing down, get to work, pop the bonnet and i see vapour. Check the radiator filler cap, that's still pressurised and fine, check dipstick and oil filler cap, bone dry! Only place i can see any sign of leak at all is cam cover. All across the front. Exhaust is bone dry and actually kinda clean, front of sump and sump plug looks pretty clean, back of cam cover, inlet mani and block, also look clear. Didn't have a plug puller so i couldn't check plugs. Also couldn't get under to check back of block. Air filter housing looks clean apart from egr inlet. That and the cam cover front are only places that i can see any scuzz. At this point anyway. Will refill to get home and check the back of the engine, for oil seperator and also replace cam cover gasket.

 very strange , its not dumped 3 litres of oil out that rocker gasket so id hold fire on that

 

so how many miles traveled for the oil to vanish? 

 

sounding like it might need some sort of serious repair

Edited 12 January, 20206 yr by steveo3002

Oil above the washers on the sparkplugs...

What are the new plugs like?

 

Apart from headgasket at front corner soaking the alternator after 150,000 miles

O-ring on the dipstick tube was my biggest oil loss.

Rocker cover gasket only lost small amounts but was nearly MOT fail once.

Oil Filler cap seal.

Distributor o-ring.

Cam shaft seal at pulley.

 

 

 

you should also have had a low oil pressure light and buzzer come on 

No oil pressure light or buzzer. 

Reckon i covered about 1 mile of country lane and side roads and just over a mile of motorway before light came on.

Put 2 litres of oil in, enough to get me home, dipstick is now reading overfilled, over the max dot from bone dry, and won't even turn over. Temp gauge light is flashing and handbrake light is on, both with no key in ignition.

I don't have plug puller on me to check plugs. Will have to come back with one. Left a big bit of card under car for a few hours, no sign of leak but do have oil stain in FRONT of car. 

sounds like some elec issues as well

 

whats it like if you pop the air cleaner lid off

My own fault for takin it for a run before checking for oil seperator. 

Inside air cleaner looks fine. If i look down into where the egr hose is connected, looks a bit grubby in there. Need to take my jack and plug puller tomorrow and see what i can find with those. Check oil seperator, crankcase breather, egr hose and plugs. 

Electrical issues are likely, had other issues from bodged jobs by previous owner. Not much i can do till i can check those out. 

 

20 hours ago, Eviljohn said:

over the max dot from bone dry, and won't even turn over. Temp gauge light is flashing and handbrake light is on, both with no key in ignition.

I don't have plug puller on me to check plugs. Will have to come back with one. Left a big bit of card under car for a few hours, no sign of leak but do have oil stain in FRONT of car. 

 

If 2l went in and the sump really was empty before hand you wouldn't have an over-filled engine. Have you been checking the oil soon after stopping the engine? Remember to always let the oil settle into the sump for a good 10 minutes after stopping to ensure you get an accurate reading. Also make sure you top up oil slowly, in small batches, let the oil settle and then keep checking the level with the dipstick. If you're over-filled then you really should drain out a bit through the sump as an over-filled engine brings its own problems.

 

If the inside of the air cleaner looks ok then a lack of oil separator isn't the main problem - you'd see heaps of oil all over the inlet if that were the case.

agree you need to be more carefull checking it 

 

wonder if theres an issue with it not draining back to the sump?

 

does it stink ?  youd think if its burnt or spilled that much it would smell , just doesnt make sense if burning more oil than fuel then there would be a smoke screen behind it 

Edited 13 January, 20206 yr by steveo3002

I redid the oil change from scratch on Friday. Fresh oil, fresh filter, copper washer. Put in 3l for sure. Walked away and checked maybe an hour after, before leaving for work. I have overfilled on my old polo and had issues then so i am wary of doing that again. Was literally bang on the max dot on dipstick. Went fine that day but was just a 15 minute drive, fastest i went was maybe 40mph for around 1/4 mile, maybe a little less. Round trip was around 2 miles. I didn't think to check after that trip. Fired up fine yesterday, no issues until i got about a mile down the motorway. Was noticeably sluggish between 60-70mph on ANY incline, which is unlike that car. Normally doesn't struggle at all. Did that trip, details listed above, flashing temp gauge light etc, opened bonnet, saw lots of vapour but not really smelly. Checked dipstick, bone dry. Opened filler cap, no sign of moisture except a little vapour/smoke. You can see the puddle i found on the cam cover above. When i finished work, there was an oil puddle in front of the car. If i had to guess, i would say it was oil vapour coming out through the grill, condensing and dropping on the ground. Hadn't collected in one place, was all even and symmetrical, and there was no trail from the car leading to it. There was actually a gap between the car and the puddle. Also put a flattened box under the engine, from when i checked it to when i tried starting it. No drips at all. Not one. 

Air filter housing is clean as a whistle inside. Even the filter isn't very grubby. 

As it isn't even turning over, i'm gonna check the plugs, if they're covered in oil, there won't be a spark. I'm also gonna check the dizzy. Oil must have gone somewhere. 

how strange , all looks very normal

 

is the oil filter and surrounding area dry ...you can sometimes have the rubber filter ring stay stuck to the engine and unknowingly fit the new one on top, but id imagine the sump would be drenched

 

cant be 2 ltrs of oil in the dizzy so leave that alone

 

was this a good reliable engine before ?  any recent work etc ....all i can think is the oil is pumping into the head and filling it instead of draining back instantly its slowly dripping back to the sump once parked ?  but would mean a major blockage like a rag stuck in there or such like 

Underside of the dizzy cap. That end of the engine is caked in oil. Think cam seal may have gone. I haven't taken the rotor arm and checked inside the dizzy yet, but looking at that, think i may have found it. Or at least part of it anyway.

This is plug #1, brand new set last week.