Seat Leonoul

[roy c]

I have just bought my nipper a 2002 Seat Leon 1.6 , If you rev it and take your foot off it lets out blacky grey smoke. Any ideas what can cause that? I have an idea but would like to know what you think.And if it will be costly to fix. Thanks.

 

[Belle427]

Assuming its petrol id associate black with excess fuel and grey with some kind of oil burning.

 

[Burnerman]

Try the same test, but after removing the air cleaner element this time (or at least checking to see if it's clean).
Is there any mayo build up under the oil filler cap, which could indicate breather issues?
John

 

[roy c]

Thanks for replies I will check tonight when nipper comes back from work. And I will let you know....

 

[roy c]

Nipper has come home and said he took it to the garage and told the guy what was happening and the mechanic never even looked at the car but asked him the make and year and said, "looks like piston rings have gone soft and needs new head gasket", and something else he said but the nipper cant remember! But he said it would be £600 for parts and then labour cost also. So we went to another garage and he said best to put it in and they will check it on the diagnostic machine and see what comes up. So it's going in on Tuesday morning. The car is also using oil so would that be anything to do with pistons and rings?

 

[Belle427]

Im guessing it was a private sale, if it wasnt id be taking it back.
He must be a special mechanic to have disagnosed without listening or looking at it!
We have one in the family and even with lowish mileage it does burn a lot of oil so it may be a common issue.
A diagnostics check in this case is probably a waste of time unless the garage are really clued up on looking at live data, even then it may not show any abnormalities.

 

[Burnerman]

Piston rings gone soft? That's a new one
Obviously we don't know the mileage or the history of this engine, but it isn't a good sign that smoke is evident at all......petrol engines in particular are so clean.
Try the couple of checks I have mentioned, and also see the oil level isn't too high.
Oil consumption can be alarmingly high on some engines, but smoke isn't acceptable at all.....certainly the catalytic converter wouldn't like it.
Was this a dealer or a private purchase?
John

 

[roy c]

Twas a private deal and I took my nipper to see it and did all the right things and took it for a ride and seemed fine was only on the drive home I noticed a bit of smoke come out when I turned into the garage for juice. It doesn't smoke all the time , it's when you are going down a hill and don't touch the pedal when you are at the bottom of the hill and put your foot back on the pedal a burst of smoke comes out! It has still got a good turn of speed and accelerates well thru the box. So he is keeping an eye on the oil level. Looking at it now I think the lad who had it before may have messed with it and threw it out of synch as for taking the air filter out we cant get the cover off to have a look, no mayo on oil filler cap. Not used to these modern cars, I bought him an Austin metro when he was old enough to drive and I have a 1976 VW Westfalia Camper van and I do all the mechanics on that, and the wife has got a Terrano so that's the only one we take to the garage as I have posted before, and I run an old 2000 transit box van for my building work which I do bits and pieces on But as for the Seat I haven't a clue!! So thanks for all your input.

 

[Peter.N.]

Smoke after a long descent is usually down to leaky valve stem seals or worn valve guides or bores. If it goes OK and doesn't use much oil I wouldn't worry about it.

Peter

 

[roy c]

Thanks Peter its good to hear a bit of positive news..

 

[Burnerman]

I'll second what Peter has said.......on long descents, oil fume indicates a piston / cylinder issue, and oil burning after the first start of the day is a valve stem seal problem.
John

 

[roy c]

The nipper has took the cover off the air filter and there is no air filter in there !! What difference will this make to the motor?

 

[roy c]

Ok, the nipper and I have just given his motor an oil change, new oil filter and put an air filter in, also poked down the breather tube and lots of"mayo" came out on the end of the flexible wire I used. There is definetly an improvement in the actual running of the car and not as much smoke coming out now. I was thinking would it do any damage if I put an air-hose on the breather pipe and gave it a few blasts? We had it booked in Tuesday for a diagnostic but have decided to cancel it and see how it runs next week, do you think that is the right thing to do or still put it in?,Thanks again for your comments.

 

[Burnerman]

You really do need an air filter, so pop one in.
It's a good move to clean all of the breather pipes and disconnecting them is really best. However a blast of air does no harm but won't shift all the gunge.
There's a bit of exploratory work needed yet, before any diagnostic check which may only reveal historic trouble codes. If the engine light isn't on, just forget about it for now.
John

 

[roy c]

There is an orange light that is always on, and the nipper said that it's excessive pollution light. But I still think the guy before must of messed about as the temperature gauge fluctuates up and down and goes to 60 degrees and stays there!!!