What to do with my old VW T4 van?

[mangocrazy]

I have no intention of selling the old bus, but as the mileage ticks over to 250,000 I'm wondering whether to spend some money on the engine or just carry on feeding it oil (it's using significantly more than a litre per 1000 miles.) The engine still feels healthy and pulls well and will cruise all day long on the Autoroute at 80-85mph and will run on to over the ton if I let it. But on the approx 1000 mile journey from Sheffield to the south of France, the engine will need topping up twice to avoid the oil light coming on. As I see it, my options are:

1. Carry on feeding it oil as needed, get the timing chain and water pump replaced (it's coming due), and just carry on.

2. Take the van to a specialist and get them to report back on what's causing the increased oil consumption and give me a quote to fix.

3. Get the current engine swapped out for a guaranteed reconditioned engine.

My preference is to retain the existing engine, for a start I don't need to inform DVLA. An engine swap is also a major job and not one I can do. There's also the question of where to get an engine swap done; it's outside the comfort zone of the garage I use for routine service and maintenance.

The problem with my preferred option (2) is that I don't know anywhere I can trust to do it. I have a suspicion that some of the oil loss is due to valve guides or worn hydraulic tappets, and I also have my doubts about the turbo, but I have no concrete proof. What ways are there to check for wear in a diesel engine other than stripping it completely?

[porter_jamie]

Chain? The 5 cylinder is belt(s) one for the cam one for the pump.
Does.it leak or is it coming out the exhaust.
I guess you can do a compression check. Loved my old t4 and I'd still have it but the gearbox shat itself and I couldn't be bothered to try and fix it. went to the Alps In it and all sorts.

[mangocrazy]

Yes, my bad - they're belts. It's a 2.5 5 cylinder ACV (ex-AA). I've had the engine steam cleaned and there are no significant leaks, so it's coming out of the exhaust. From what I've been told it's a lot more difficult to do a compression test on a diesel than a petrol, but I may be wrong. There's a diesel 'specialist' near me, but I wouldn't trust them as far as I could throw 'em...

They're great old vans. Mine does everything I need of it and I intend to run it for as long as I can. It must have done 30 trips from Sheffield to our gaff in the south of France.

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

If it's using oil then it needs a rebore or the valve stem seals sorting or both, depends when it smokes, if it were me I'd chuck in a lot lower mileage engine as it will be cheaper than getting yours fixed.

[KungFooBob]

Use thicker oil

[Mussels]

I had an old (petrol) car that used loads of oil, turned out it was a blocked breather causing the problem and easily rectified. Do diesel's have those?

[mangocrazy]

Thanks for the replies. My take-away from the comments (and thinking about it some more) is that first I really need to find out what is causing the high oil comsumption. Once I have the cause narrowed down, the potential remedy becomes more obvious. If it does need a replacement engine, I do have a source (albeit on the other side of the Pennines...)

[Druid]

You say you have doubts about the turbo. The seals on the turbo can also wear which allows oil to leak into the intake high pressure pipes. Easy enough to pull the pipe off and check for excessive oil in there. At 250k it's likely that the turbo needs a rebuild but there are other things in that engine that will have worn too. If you do need a turbo let me know

[porter_jamie]

If it's using oil then it needs a rebore or the valve stem seals sorting or both, depends when it smokes, if it were me I'd chuck in a lot lower mileage engine as it will be cheaper than getting yours fixed.

or the turbo

[mangocrazy]

The reason I'm suspicious of the turbo is that at 180k I put different (higher spec) injectors in it (or the garage did) and it went for a re-map. The guy doing the remap reckoned that the turbo wasn't spooling up and making its presence felt until around 2000 rpm, when he felt it should have been doing its stuff 3 or 400 rpm sooner. I realise that an engine with 250k on it is never going to be anywhere near as sharp as a factory fresh one, but in purely performance terms it still hauls its 20 year old arse around the place quite respectably.

While using a fair bit more oil than it should...

I'm thinking of giving Dark Side developments in Barnsley a ring and seeing if they will do some basic diagnostics on it to try an pinpoint how/where it's burning oil. They seem to have a good rep in the VW diesel tuning space, but their prices do seem a tad 'bracing'...

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

If it smokes all the time it's rings, if it smokes when you put your foot down after idling it's valve stem seals, turbo (I think) would smoke when you lift off as the exhaust will suck oil in on a closed throttle, but as I'm not familiar with turbos that could be wrong.

[mangocrazy]

If it smokes all the time it's rings, if it smokes when you put your foot down after idling it's valve stem seals, turbo (I think) would smoke when you lift off as the exhaust will suck oil in on a closed throttle, but as I'm not familiar with turbos that could be wrong.

I don't believe it smokes all the time, so with any luck that could mean rings/bores are OK. But I'll only know once it's been to A Man who Knows. It's never failed an emissions test on an MoT, so not sure what that indicates.

[dern]

I had an old (petrol) car that used loads of oil, turned out it was a blocked breather causing the problem and easily rectified. Do diesel's have those?

I was going to say this too, it could be something really simple and at least you know you won't be replacing a healthy engine if it is borked.

[Demannu]

As has been stated for DIY diagnostics, cold engine start up smoke, stem seals/turbo seals/rings
Smokes all the time, rings
Overrun, turbo
Puddle under van, oil leak
Some manufacturers will say 1600km/l is normal consumption.
You didnt say what oil you're using.
Personally I'd chuck some Forte in the oil and see if it makes a difference.

[Demannu]

Fyi, VW say 1l/1000km can be considered normal usage!

[mangocrazy]

Yes, i was told that 1L/1000m was normal usage, but not that 1L/1000km was 'normal'... At present it's using about 1 litre per 600 miles, so 1L/1000km is about there. I've been on the VW T4 forum and they seem to think that turbo oil seals are the most likely culprit, followed by valve stem seals, but the most regular recommendation is to use 10w40 oil instead of 5w30...

So my current plan is to book the van into a specialist I've used before and let them investigate and see if they can pinpoint the cause. The only problem is that they are in Brackley and I'm in Sheffield, so the next time I do the trip to the gaff in France I'll be stopping off with them for half a day for them to run some tests. They're on the route I take down to Portsmouth for the cross channel ferry so it kinda works.

[Silly Car]

Anyone suggested a gallon of petrol and a box of swan vestas?

Hope you find a economically viable solution and you don’t end up going down the lines of docca’s Landry / trigger’s broom…

[Demannu]

I was mooching about a T4 forum and someone had an OE caravelle brochure (carved on stone tablets) that said oil must be checked every journey as oil usage could be as high as 1l/1000km.

[Screwdriver]

I find myself in exactly the same predicament. VW T4 V5 2.5 (petrol tho). Engine is crazy low miles, sweet as a nut. Bodywork and some chassis rot in the rear. Mot fail so it’s just sitting there as a makeshift shed.

Going to get it running and run it down to a friendly garage nearby to see if they can make it Mot worthy for a sensible cost.

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

I find myself in exactly the same predicament. VW T4 V5 2.5 (petrol tho). Engine is crazy low miles, sweet as a nut. Bodywork and some chassis rot in the rear. Mot fail so it’s just sitting there as a makeshift shed.

Going to get it running and run it down to a friendly garage nearby to see if they can make it Mot worthy for a sensible cost.

I thought you could weld and had time on your hands?