Newly built engine issues - advise please

[Dayknight-VW]

Hi guys

I need some advise to point me in the correct direction please. This is not for a VW, its for a Daihatsu Charade 3 cyclinder EJ-VE, but the basics of an engine is the same...

I've rebuilt my motor, currently doing around 4000km.
Head has been fully overhauled by engineers
I honed and re ringed the block, there was no ridges or scores, no play on pistons either so I just cleaned up everything, unclogged oil holes on pistons and put a new set of rings.

Ran the engine in for 1000km on SAE40 and then did a oil change to 15w40 helix hx5.

Initial the car ran fine, didn't take any oil or smoke
After I reached about 3000km I noticed the car started to smoke after de acceleration (as if valve stem seals are bad) it started to get worse as I did more millage. Now oil consumption has increased alot, car smokes when reving it as well after de acceleration. There is also white smoke coming out of the oil cap.


Could this possibly be issues with the rings or valve stem seals gone bad so soon? Or is the engine creating vacumme inside the cyclinders that its pulling oil through the valve stem seals.

I don't want to tear down the motor again if it's something small. Keeping in mind the first 2000km or so was fine.

[Jetta2]

What colour is the smoke from the exhaust?
Blueish smoke = oil.
White smoke = coolant.
Black smoke = fuel.

And the oil consumption and smoking means oil is getting past the rings and or valve stem seals and getting burnt in the combusion chamber.

[Ashveer03]

These days work done by "engineers" need to be double and triple checked. Gone are the days where one could rely on them to do stuff correctly.

Considering the engine is only 4000kms old and the head has been completely overhauled, Leaky valve seals or guides will generally cause oil to pool up upon deceleration or idle when vacuum is at its max, will then give a puff of smoke if revved and clear up until the engine is on deceleration or idle again.

Oil smoke out of the oil cap can be concerning. Is it pressurised? Could have a blocked PCV..?

After honing, did you confirm ring gaps before assembling? And direction of the piston rings? It's quite easy to over hone cylinders.

IMO it seems as if you have excessive crankcase pressure which will more likely be caused by the pistons/rings/bores/PCV or whatever pressure vent the engine has rather than the valve train.


I would check it in the following order
1. Check pcv or ccv
2. Compression test (may give false readings if there's oil on the pistons)
3. Cylinder leak down test (unsure whether this would show rings that are upside down)
4. Remove the intake and exhaust manifold and look at the valves - if you see them soaked in oil then it's probably a valve train issue. If not, then U have some stripping to do

[Dayknight-VW]

Thanks for the info..

So the rings are the correct way.i tripple checked before installion. Ring gaps were in spec as pee manual after honing that's why I didn't rebore.

I'm also leaning to excessive crank case pressure but from what I've found out this motor doesn't have a pvc valve. It's just got a single breather from the tappet cover - direct pipe to throttle body.

I did a compression test. Dry test has decent compression but wet test is messing around coz I think I put to much oil into the cyclinders when testing.

I also didn't use the best rings money could buy. I used FPR rings fro. Master parts, not sure if they failed or not.

So basically if I look at the valves through the ports I'll be able to see if oil is collecting on them due to leaking seals ? This makes sense cos the engineer told me bring the head back and he can look at it and tell me if the seals are leaking.

[Ashveer03]

Why was the engine rebuilt in the first place?

Did U check ring groove gap on the pistons aswell?

Ok if there's no pcv valve then it should have some sort of oil separator built into the tappet cover which can get blocked up. Disconnect the pipe off the throttle body and check if there's any blowby coming out through it. There should be considering the smoke with the oil cap removed.

Regarding FPR rings, I used them once previously on a chev spark for some reason I couldn't get any other brand at that time, didn't have any issues.

Correct, if you look at the valves through the ports you should see oily valve stems/ports if it's a valve train problem.