Gen 3 EA888 - leaky valve seals (at-205 or forte sealer?)

[Jackphom]

Hello all,

I have had my 2017 vw gti for about 60k miles, bought cpo at 34k and have noticed the valve seals leaking.

Getting puffs of blue smoke at start up while idling hot, has gotten a little worse over the years. I'm at 90k miles now, change the oil every 5k miles with 5w40 oil. I only use about a 1/4 quart but it'll definitely bloom some blue on some days so I'm a bit surprised it's not using more.

I haven't replaced the oem pcv yet, a lot of common owners say that this is a wear item. But I would like to try a seal conditioner before spending 200 bucks on a new pcv valve.

Anyone have experience with at-205 or the European seal conditioner called Forte?

The forte is recommended by a lot of BMW owners in Europe for the same issue but it's about 50 bucks all said and done including shipping.

 

[Trav]

Check the PCV valve. The easy way is to pull the oil filler cap and see if there is a lot of vacuum there and around the hole on the side of the round part on top, if it has vacuum the valve has failed.
A bad PCV will suck oil under vacuum through the seals and can cause oil leaks.

 

[Jackphom]

Check the PCV valve. The easy way is to pull the oil filler cap and see if there is a lot of vacuum there and around the hole on the side of the round part on top, if it has vacuum the valve has failed.
A bad PCV will suck oil under vacuum through the seals and can cause oil leaks.

View attachment 175883

So there is a lot of vacuum when I remove the oil cap, the idle goes up as well. Just ordered a new pcv, I went with a vaico from fcpeuro.com. We'll see if that fixes it, I have been seeing a lot of others reporting the blue smoke on startup as well.

 

[grammatoncleric]

Check the PCV valve. The easy way is to pull the oil filler cap and see if there is a lot of vacuum there and around the hole on the side of the round part on top, if it has vacuum the valve has failed.
A bad PCV will suck oil under vacuum through the seals and can cause oil leaks.

View attachment 175883

Reminds me of my X

But **** I think my ****ty Volvo is doing the same. I will have to check it once wife returns from a call.

 

[Trav]

So there is a lot of vacuum when I remove the oil cap, the idle goes up as well. Just ordered a new pcv, I went with a vaico from fcpeuro.com. We'll see if that fixes it, I have been seeing a lot of others reporting the blue smoke on startup as well.

Vaico are okay, on the earlier ones a bad PCV cause all sorts of trouble from misfires, smoking, turbo low vacuum codes, oil in the throttle body hose, sucked in seals causing large rear seal leaks. The newer ones are not as bad but still cause enough trouble to at least check them as a maintenance item.

 

[grammatoncleric]

Check the PCV valve. The easy way is to pull the oil filler cap and see if there is a lot of vacuum there and around the hole on the side of the round part on top, if it has vacuum the valve has failed.
A bad PCV will suck oil under vacuum through the seals and can cause oil leaks.

View attachment 175883

Wait are you telling me that a vacuum from the oil fill cap location means that my PCV is busted?

 

[Trav]

Light vacuum at the filler cap is normal, what I am talking about is vacuum so high it holds the cap tight making it harder to remove.

 

[TiGeo]

Seems the turbo itself could be the issue.

 

[wlk]

Wait are you telling me that a vacuum from the oil fill cap location means that my PCV is busted?

Get a rubber glove and put over the oil fill hole. If it blows the glove up, your pcv is bad. If it does nothing or sucks it in slightly your pcv is good. Volvo and VWs are different

 

[Trav]

Get a rubber glove and put over the oil fill hole. If it blows the glove up, your pcv is bad. If it does nothing or sucks it in slightly your pcv is good. Volvo and VWs are different

A rubber glove blowing up can mean a bad PCV but it can also mean the engine is badly worn and has more blowby than a working PCV can handle. +1 some modern VW PCV systems are a different animal.

 

[TiGeo]

The PCV is definitely a wear part on these engines...I was having smoking on track after hard braking/right handers...replaced with "BL" revision.

A buddy of mine put this together:

 

[RooflessVW]

If after your PCV change the issue persists, I have found Liqui Moly Motor Oil Saver to work well for valve stem seals.

 

[Jackphom]

Seems the turbo itself could be the issue.

Just replaced the wastegate on this is20, no shaft play at all and didn't seem to have any oil in the inlet pipe.

 

[wlk]

A rubber glove blowing up can mean a bad PCV but it can also mean the engine is badly worn and has more blowby than a working PCV can handle. +1 some modern VW PCV systems are a different animal.

With the amount of oil he is describing in the other posts, I am pretty sure it is his pcv and not a worn motor. Could be yes but at just over 125k ish I think he said. It is probably the pcv but I could be surprised though stranger things happen.

 

[Trav]

Yes, I didn't mean his specifically just in general.