1.8 8v nom nom nomming oil

[ericcs]

i think if you've lost that much oil from leaks, it would be everywhere. weeping seals and gaskets wouldn't account for any significant oil loss
me thinks rings!

[Mk1DUB]

annnnnnd the fuel pump just died hahaha.

I'll be ordering oring/gaskets for the fuel pump, oil filter bracket and distributor, along with a new fuel pump I won't be putting them on until January, and I'll monitor the oil catch can once it's driving again

[Mk1DUB]

I got my hands on the haynes manual and it's made me more concerned. Excessive oil consumption could be caused by worn/broken rings or requiring reconditioning/replacement of the head...

Once the fuel pump is on and the car is running, I'll check the catch can and report if it's filling up. If it is, what would you recommend to be the first step of troubleshooting? is it worth reconditioning if the block or head is worn enough to cause this much oil consumption? or should I be considering a swap?

[MarcusAurelius]

Too much work in doing a reco, might as well go mk3 1.8.. heaps less work too

[Mk1DUB]

What would the simplest swap be? Anything that I could do in a day with 3 people working on it. I guess I'll need to know what parts I'll need and I can work it out from there.

[ericcs]

What would the simplest swap be? Anything that I could do in a day with 3 people working on it. I guess I'll need to know what parts I'll need and I can work it out from there.

a like for like engine swap is about all you'll get away with in a day.
i have done "economy" rebuilds in a day before, where you leave the engine in and just take the head and sump off and pull the pistons out. this is assuming all you need is a hone of the bores and a quick lap of the valves and new stem seals, and that you know what your doing!

[sports racer]

You've already got a 1.8 so any 8v will go in easy. Why not go for a 2.0? The MK3 2.0 is a slow engine but replace the head with a 1.8 one and it's a really good engine for a daily driver. That's what I've got in my MK2 and it goes well.

Doing the swap in a day is pretty easy as long as you've got someone who knows what they are doing.

[Mk1DUB]

I can't seem to find any 1.8 or 2.0 8v's for sale anyone know of any locations? I'm in melbourne but shipping could be viable.

[Petska84]

George had a 1.8 up for grabs, think he still might have it as he only recently removed it to do the 20v swap?

[Mk1DUB]

After further investigation, I'm fairly certain that the gasket for the oil filter bracket is blown. running a finger around it after a short drive returned significant wet oil on my finger, and all of the fresh wet spots were on locations directly below it. After replacing the fuel pump, it is completely dry around this area. I have gaskets and will replace the dizzy and oil filter ones when I can and report back on the oil consumption.

This is supported by my fitting of the oil catch can and having no liquid oil in the can after roughly 100+ km's... so I'm confident that I don't have excess blow-by.

cheers for the input thus far, every digit and extremity has been crossed in anticipation of the results :p

[Mk1DUB]

Ok, so the catch can is roughly 1/3 full since fitting it before my last post. I was at full oil 2 weeks ago and was just above minimum on the dipstick yesterday.

I'm using Valvoline 15w-40 oil. Getting blue smoke taking off at lights and smoking on startup. If I rev it straight away it spits oil out of the exhaust (so I assume oil dropping onto pistons from worn valve seals). At this stage I'm thinking of just dropping it into a shop for a leakdown test.

So, what do you guys think? compression test won't reveal much except the overall state of the motor I suppose.. leakdown obviously will show if it's valves/rings/gaskets. With access to two 1.8 8v's for sale at low price (and even a 1.8T for $500), should I just throw one in and risk having a new set of issues to deal with down the road? Just find out what's wrong on my JH and have the peace of mind of knowing it's condition as time goes on? Find out what's missing for the 1.8T convert and piece it together while running the JH with some compression repair additives?

Sorry to continue to be a hassle lads, the woes of mk1 ownership aye?

If anyone in melb has any of these that I could borrow for a day, it'd be a huge help!

air compressor
compression tester
leakdown tester
valve spring compressor
stem seal plier

[sports racer]

There's no point in doing a compression test or leakdown, you already know you have an old engine. Replace it.

Rebuilding your 1.6 is an option but the 1.8 8v is such a better engine and so easy to swap. They would have done a lot less k's than your 1.6 and shouldn't need any work.

The 1.8 lets you fill the car with all your mates and go crusing without it feeling like it has an extra 200kg to lug around. Can't do that with a 1.6.

For now run a thicker oil to cut down the blue smoke. You might also try a different brand of petrol. Don't know why but my old MK1 GTI used to blow more smoke using one brand (can't remember which) than another.

Cheers

Paul

[Mk1DUB]

I have a 1.8 8v JH in it right now, or at least I was told so by the previous owner. It looks right from what I can tell and it's NO slug, that's for damn sure.

What oil thickness would you suggest then? 20W-40? I run either BP Ultimate or the Shell equivalent usually.

As to the age of the motor, I was told that it had ~150,000 on it when it went in, so it could be anywhere between 150 and 170 by now.. or creeping closer to the 200 mark. The replacements I'm looking at have 120,000 on one (was losing oil when last run, but not enough for him to bother fixing it.. could be rear/front seals which I'd do during the swap anyway). The other motor I'm yet to hear back in regards to the price and/or km's travelled.

My concern is that I don't KNOW what the issue is with mine, and it could be a simple stem seal replacement to get it another 40,000k's (if it's not wrecked in other places, which a leak down would show). Otherwise it could be a whole hone of the block with head reco (looking at ~$800) but then I'd know that I have a good 1.8 that's reco'd and ready to go for years to come. Whereas I could be in this exact same spot with either of the other 1.8's and I'd be looking at $800 for the motor+help installing it anyway...

And now here we are... reco my 1.8, put in a 2nd hander and possibly have the same issues in the near future, or go with the 1.8T.

Oh and thanks for the input mate, don't want to seem unappreciative.. this issue is just consuming me at the moment

[XXX-1.8T]

Yes the engine is a 1.8 8v JH and went like stink

[ericcs]

by the sound of it, the fact that your getting blue smoke almost all the time, the whole engine is tired and needs an overhaul. my experience with stem seals is the engine blows smoke on cold start up as oil has seeped down the stems while the engine cooled down and sat for a period. once the oil burn't away, the smoke stopped. there is no way worn stem seals would allow at least a litre of oil to be burn't in 2 weeks.
if you can get a second hand engine cheap, take the punt, otherwise re-ring it and get the head serviced, at it will right for a very long time