[Vwdiesel] Ring Break-In and Oil Consumption

[SLATERSFB at aol.com]

Its a funny thing. Loren mentioned it the other day & I find it to be true also: engines that are babied use oil. German engines any ways. Same thing was true at BMW dealer. Beat the piss out of those cars & they loved it.
As for your 1.6 N/A, it may be too late, but worth a try. Use fossil oil, like 15w40 & go on a long trip. Lots of high speed & long mountain grades. Keep motor singing. If you can get a couple thousand miles in like this, your motor may be OK.
As a last resort - this old guy I knew (even older than me - lol) would build Bultaco motors for racing bikes. Built motor real tight, closer than factory clearance specs. Then start it up & chuck Bon-Ami into intake. Sink scouring powder. Polished everything, seated rings. Worked amazingly well, but I've nevr tried it myself.
Try long trip first. Good luck.

Bob in NY

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As you guys may remember, last summer, after lots of fussing around
and help from this list, I completed installing my rebuilt 1.6 liter
NA engine into my Rabbit.

The outfit that did the rebuild wanted me to use regular lube oil for
the break in.  I followed this recommendation rather then to use a
non-detergent oil that does not contain friction reducers.

The engine got very good mileage when I drove it up to Hagar's place
in BC.   Now it has 5000 miles on it.  By checking the oil level with
the dipstick, I estimate that the engine is using roughly one quart of
oil per 1000 miles, which is not much better then it was at zero
miles.  This causes me to think that I have a serious problem with the
rings not seating.  This is my first 'new' engine that required
breaking in, so I am relatively ignorant and there is lots of stuff
that I don't understand about the break-in process.

So, what I can expect to happen over time?  Will the oil consumption
slowly improve as the rings wear, or will it never get much better?

What are the consequences of having high oil consumption?  Will this
mean more deposits in the cylinders or more crap getting past the
rings and effecting the proper operation of the rings?

What can a guy do short of honing the cylinders and starting over?  Is
there any point now in running non-detergent oil?

Lots of questions.

- Gavrik Peterson