Engine rebuild?

[bonnie]

Hi guys, this is what happened. My 99 Bug always drank some oil, something about a quart every 1200 miles, something acceptable to me. Well, suddenly on Friday the car starts sputtering and jumping, blinking check engine light, sulfur stench from the exhaust etc etc. I pull over and I push it to my mechanic who checks the codes and says that cylinder 4 is misfiring. Changes the spark plug, covered in oil and blown out and the car pulls out no other codes (thanks God I didn't f####ed up the cat and 02 sensor). So, I drive home, beautiful, no problems, the car runs smooooth and full powered. Day after...same problem.....same symptoms but now it's cylinder 3 misfiring.
The guy performed a leak test on all the cylinders and they all somehow leak and he could see oil in the combustion chamber, so he suggested me:
1) trade it in
2) put in a used engine (3200$)
3) put in a rebuilt engine (5000$)

He also told me that changing the pistons o-ring etc etc would not solve the problem, I'll also have to deal with a faulty engine.

I really want your opinion guys, it's loaded with valuable personalities and knowledge here and you may help me in this hard decision.
I paid the car 6000 a year ago and never had problems, except the oil consumption and a faulty air flow meter.

Thanks.

[draco24433]

I feel sorry for you. You are defenitely in a pickle. My ? to you would be, how long are you planning on keeping your car? Either way you are going to have to either repair temporarily or for good. You could put a used engine. You can find some at www.car-part.com. As far as rebuilding the engine, I don't think it should take that much money unless they are the ones dropping the engine and putting everything back. If they just do the rebuilding then maybe about 2k. I wish you luck.

[bonnie]

Thanks draco....how come they ask me 5000K for a new rebuilt engine though? You think they are ripping me off?

[wawalker]

Well, when people are getting their oil consumption problems fixed under warranty it is my understanding that the engine is being disassembled in the car--head and oil pan removed, then pistons are pulled, new rings are installed into freshly honed cylinders and reassembled. I haven't heard anyone say that this has not solved their problems. Excessive oil "blow-by" will foul your plugs and cause the misfires. Have your mechanic talk to a friendly VW service mgr. or mechanic to confirm what they are doing for warranty oil consumption issues--maybe he'll think differently about the problem then. How many miles on your '99? If you had bought it new and you were under 100K this would be covered by VW. Just find out what they might do if that were the case. Good luck! I hope you can find a reasonably priced repair and as for trading it--how would you feel if you ended up with this car as is?

[bonnie]

I bought the car used "AS IS" with 116K miles on.
Do you think that replacing head gasket and o-rings with new pistons will fix ? I know that it may be an hard question, just to know, your experience....
And if so....how much it should be?
Thanks

[zmladen]

I rebuilt our engine in our 01 NB 2.0 recently. All of the needed parts were very reasonable with the exception of the pistons which were astronomical. They were the bulk of the rebuild cost.

The crank, rods, and block were within spec. The head went through a total rebuild. New waterpump, thermostat, etc, etc, etc.

If not for the cost of the pistons, the rebuild would have been cheap.

These engines are quite durable. I believe you mean piston rings, not o-rings. I wanted to go that route, but the pistons were worn beyond spec. If you do not need to replace pistons, rings and a re-worked head should solve your problem.

Z

[bonnie]

Thx buddy. The only thing right now is that they don't know what is causing the problem. I can imagine that cyl 3 and 4 may chain react (i.e. 4 is spitting oil into three) but as far as they said the leak test said that on an average they all leak. Intake manifold? Bad rings for all the cylinders? Cracked head? Head gasket? Is there a fast way to diagnose the cause of these problems?
I'm asking this becasue the guy looked like trying to solve the problem giving me a solution, not an answer.
If I put a rebuilt engine I'll fix the problem (in an expensive way) but I'll never know if a couple grand would have ever fixed the old engine.
I think tomorrow I'll drive the car home thinking of what to do next but I definitely need a second opinion on that.

[set]

That price for a rebuilt engine sounds like its overpriced. I had a new engine with a new clutch and all new hoses radiatior and all installed for $5500. THe clutch was from a vr6 with a lighnted flywheel. You might want to look around.

[GTRAFF]

You could have several things wrong to cause oil consumption. Bad valve stem seals will let too much oil leak into the cylinders, foul plugs and burn lots of oil. Bad oil rings will do the same thing. One way to diagnose is look for a burst of blue smoke at startup. If it is bad valve stem seals the oil pools around the intake valves and when the car starts the oil burns off quickly making the blue smoke.

Oil leaking by the oil control rings can also foul plugs and use lots of oil, but unless it is REALLY bad you won't see any smoke.

Unless you have always used synthetic oil and changed it often (3,000 - 4,000 miles)I would suspect the oil rings are full of carbon and no longer work. Causes about a quart of oil to be used per 1000 miles.

With the miles on the engine, and oil on only one plug it sounds like it could be one or two valve stem seals are shot.

I believe the easiest fix is to pull the head and take it to a machine shop that reworks heads. One near me charges $125 to clean, inspect, seat valves, mill head to correct tolerance and put it back together (plus cost of seals and any new parts, like springs or bad valves.

While the head is off, pull the oil pan and remove the pistons through the top of the engine. Take them with the head and have the machine shop inspect, clean and install new rings, of do it yourself.

That will stop your oil consumption problem. Also, no need to hone cylinder UNLESS it is badly scored, out of round, or badly worn. In that case, a new short block is the way to go!