intermittant smoke 1.8T 20V

[sined]

Hi guys hope somebody can help,
On initial start up not always from absolute cold and brought onto boost a thick blue cloud of smoke bellows from the exhaust but quikly clears up within a minuite or so of driving.I have been told that this is the turbo on its way out!As this only happens occasionally probably once a month or even longer,and there are no signs of smoke when on boost after it has cleared i am in dire straits and dont know what to do.PLEASE HELP!!!!!

[Crasher]

Sounds more like exhaust valve oil seals and guides to me, a failed turbo would produce smoke all the time and would get worse as it warmed up.

[sined]

Thanks for the reply Crasher.Would this not also result in smoke every morning after not being run over night?I was also thinking of doing an engine flush or two after reading some other threads which suggest blocked breather system,do you have any suggestion on which flush to use!

[Crasher]

It could be a pool of oil in the intercooler from a blocked breather which gets blown into the engine when it is deep enough. The subject of flushing a 1.8T is a worrying one. If the engine is sludged up you really should remove the cam cover and scrub the inside of the head and cover clean and flush this down into the sump. Then remove the sump (so also dropping the subframe) and scrub the sump and block sides clean and remove/clean the oil pump pick up. Then put it back together and with a new filter, run the car up on flushing oil (I use Comma) and then drain and refill with Quantum Longlife III and another new filter, a genuine VAG 2 year Longlife part. The 1.8T in the longitudinal installation is very prone to blocking the sump pick up and this destroys the engine and turbo. Using Longlife oil and changing it annually seems to help stop this as does the old school practice of not shutting down the engine immediately after a long run, this helps stop the turbo frying the oil by allowing it to cool down.

[sined]

Tried cleaning the intercooler out a couple of weeks ago and found some oil but not to the point where it pours out when the hose was removed.Think im going to try an engine flush when i get the car back from the body shop(somebody ran into the rear offside side of the car when i wasnt even in it)and i will get my mate to clean the sump out when he does the cambelt change at his garage in the next couple of weeks.