martinh 2 Posted December 10, 2007 Hello all, My 1990 1.6 gti has recently started burning oil, I thought at first that it was the piston rings but the other day we carried out a compression test and the results were: Cylinder 1 (timing belt end) = 11.5 Bar Cylinder 2 = 10 Bar Cylinder 3 = 10 Bar Cylinder 4 = 11 Bar According to the haynes manual as long there is not a difference of more than 2 bar then the compression is satisfactory. Do the above results soundd accurate? We have come to a conclusion that we think that the valve stem oil seals have had it, does this sound about right? If anyone could point me towards usual things that go wrong then that would be great! Thanks in advance Martin p.s should probably mention that the car has done 139000 miles. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
welshpug 1,626 Posted December 10, 2007 compression looks very good, did they build up quickly and evenly? does indeed sound like valve stem seals that have gone, is it breathing heavily through the rocker breather? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
martinh 2 Posted December 10, 2007 Yes they built up quickly, just cranked over a few times with the throttle wide open and they all shot up and stayed steady. Not sure if it is breathing heavily through the rocker breather as we didn't check! If it was what would that indicate? Thanks for the reply. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
welshpug 1,626 Posted December 10, 2007 it would indicate that the top end was breathing i.e stem seals leaking, though not a 100% surefire way to tell as there are oil galleries back down to the sump there too. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
martinh 2 Posted December 10, 2007 Thanks for the advice mate. We're fairly certain that it is the stem seals that are at fault. Do you know if there is a head rebuild kit on the market or will I have to buy everything seperately? Also is there anything else that would be advisable to change whilst everything is in bits?! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
craig f90 0 Posted December 16, 2007 (edited) Thanks for the advice mate. We're fairly certain that it is the stem seals that are at fault. Do you know if there is a head rebuild kit on the market or will I have to buy everything seperately? Also is there anything else that would be advisable to change whilst everything is in bits?! Im sure theres a way to do these w/o removing the head. I had my old 1.6 done, only took my local garage a few hours to do. I think you can get a Head gasket kit with the stem seals. They are avalible seperate too. I cant rembember if they were pennys or pounds each. It was a fair few years ago now. Edit: job was done with the head on but i had a cambelt change too. Edited December 16, 2007 by craig f90 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
