engine smoking under load

[Gipson]

I'm having some smoke issues when the golf is going flat out under load, I have been driving up the hill to town and after a while of the engine being on full revs in fourth gear up the incline it will suddenly let out a huge amount of oil smoke, and also send alot of oil through the cam cover breather. enough smoke that I can barely see behind me in the rear view. after freaking out and pulling over, the smoke clears when the revs drop off and as soon as i drive off feathering it there's no problem and the car runs fine?

This has happened twice now, and the engine still seems to be running fine pulling well, not getting hot, and not using water. the oil also hasn't been over filled as it stays below the max mark on the dipstick?

engine is just the rock stock 1600 with a sidedrapht dellorto, but it happened the first time with the original carb on so that shouldnt be making a difference

any ideas?

[killingwithasmile]

could be commons problems?

worn rings or valve guides, running a bit rich..

[paulie71]

Agree with all the points that killingwithasmile has raised. Perhaps also the oil system is breathing out too much from the rocker cover or the breather hose on the rocker cover is kinked or blocked. Too much oil through the breather hose can be caused by a number of reasons including the wrong viscosity oil, too much oil, an oil gallery or two blocked. When did you change the oil last, and what condition was it?

[Gipson]

yeah thought about a cracked oil ring or a valve problem, but surely that would effect the engine right the way through the rev range not just right at that peak?
doesn't seem to be running too rich it's not flooding at all or dying off at high rpm. the oil hasn't been changed in a while so I'll give that a crack and see what the mechanic thinks to the problem

[gldgti]

what do you mean "full revs in 4th gear"? what rpm? I dont know about your gearbox but my old LS used to do 4000rpm at 120, so given you could rev it to 6000... well.

the big point about going up hill fast is that you are working the engine as hard as it can be worked. this means more blowby. I would bet that you have worn/cracked rings. because the 1.6 has no breather from the crankcase, only from the rocker cover, any crankcase pressure has to find its way up through the oil return hole before it can get sucked back through the carbie.

since no-one on earth wants to pay to rebuild a 1.6, you either live with the problem, put a set of rings in it yourself or start looking for a 1.8.