by BLUDGEONER » Mon May 08, 2017 8:19 pm
Hello. 1st post here, and typically it's for help/advice! 96 mk5 2.5DI 76ps with 90k miles.
Was trundling back south from Cumbria late last night on th M40, first noticed a burning smell (with a hint rubberiness). Turned down the stereo and looked in the mirror to see a fair bit of smoke being lit up by the cars behind me. My exhaust exits just in front of the rear wheels, so wasn't 100% sure at first it if it was engine related or something like bodywork rubbing on a tyre. Eased up on the gas with a view to getting off at the next junction to check it out, when that question was answered. It started making an alarming rattling/knocking noise, accompanied by alot more smoke. Pulled over to the hard shoulder and nursed it - barely ticking over - the couple of miles to the junction. The noise was not constant - more intermittent, would come in and out always with more smoke, no overheating either. Also noticed that revs weren't dropping when off the throttle - only when the rattling was going on I think. First thing I checked when safely off the motorway was the oil level, and it was low - took 3 litres to bring it up within range! Started it up again and it seemed to rev up and run ok and I had vague hopes that I'd got away with it....There were no leaks, and it was definitely not down to neglect, I changed the oil and filter about 1000 miles previous and checked soon after. This was only a few weeks back as we took it to Wales for a few days. It's never previously used much opil between changes in the 20+k miles we've done in it. Anyway - tentatively drove off and it seemed as soon as it was under load 200 yards up the road it happened again, so parked it up and got recovered home. RAC reckoned it's piston rings or valve guide seals which is pretty much rthe sort of conclusion I'd come to - all that oil went somewhere...
So - if it's going to need some major surgery I'm thinking of sticking a 100ps TD lump in there. What I'd REALLY like to do is change it over to the 24V 2.9 petrol with auto gearbox, but that's probably beyond my abilities. going to need help either way, but time is a big limiting factor for me. I'll be looking out for a donor vehicle for the foreseeable. Any confirmation/advice on the symptoms before I commit would be much appreciated. Interestingly, it still runs fine now it's back home and I've moved it into the drive with no problems. I think it doesn't sound quite right - might be my imagination - probably best not to try taking it out for a run until i know for sure what is wrong.