Smoking at the stoplights -- 95 a6q 5 speed

[George Tur]

On Saturday 07 March 2009 16:27, TooManyAudis at aol.com wrote:
> I've been going through some oil lately, so I had a friend drive my 95A6q 5
> speed with 220k miles as I followed behind in his car so that I could see
> what's  coming out of my car's tailpipe.
>
> Normal driving down the road -- no  smoke.
>
> Approaching stoplight -- light smoke.
>
> at stoplight -- light  smoke
>
> pull away from stoplight -- heavy smoke for 3 to 4 seconds, then no  smoke
> as the car gets up to speed.
>
> My first suspect are the valve stem  seals. Although I replaced them 15,000
> miles ago when I did the timing belt. I  suppose one or two of these
> buggers could have worked their way loose, or just  become worn (although
> 15k miles is a very short time to see a  failure).
>
> However, I want to examine all possibilities before tearing  into the
> engine again.
>
> Are their any other items that could cause  similar symptons, i.e., pulling
> oil into the cylinders while engine is under  vacuum?
>
****************
Had the exact same symptoms on a 1991 V8 which has a silicon-aluminum block. 
Had had the head rebuilt so there was no issue with the valve stem seals. The 
final verdict was that it was a problem with the oil retention rings caused 
by glazing in the cylinders. In the case of the a6q I don't think it has a 
aluminum block but based on the symptoms it probably is some issue with the 
piston rings.