Assessing the condition of this motor, and oil consumption

[greenStar]

Hi guys, my b6 just jumped timing and the whole intake and upper timing covers are off the car now due to an attempted "quick" repair by a shop, so the car isn't running and sitting in my yard. Now I am in a position and on the fence about whether to pull the motor and fix it, or not if it is just a junk motor anyways, after realizing this will cost me a few grand and some time. The car was consuming quite a bit of oil before this all happened and so I'd really rather not do it if this motor is just bad and its going to keep drinking oil. (I was adding almost 1-2 quarts PER WEEK! which is too much!).

I suppose I need to do some proper diagnosis now to see if this motor is worth saving and putting back on the road.

I guess I need to do a leak-down test, boroscope the cylinders to look for any scoring (although some is normal, correct?), and then check the valve seals and valve stems to make sure they are good and not leaking.?.
I'm a little new to this sort of work. I've done compression testing, but thats as far as I've gone in the past as far as this diagnostics. Could anyone point me in the right direction.

Will all of these tests, if done correctly, tell me yes or no whether the engine is worth salvaging? Is it pretty cut and dry and obvious or not once these tests are done, if I go through the trouble of doing this? i am holding onto hope that the motor is still good. I have been reading more and more about these engines for a few weeks now all over, and heard about dozens and dozens of other's trials and tribulations, and from what I am learning is that it really can be a whole lot of various different things that could be causing oil consumption, and sometimes people may even be condemning their car's engines prematurely as "oil burners/the engine is bad" when it could be replaceable repairable parts and seals and gaskets and all kinds of other little things on the motor. These engines can also leak and seep from over a dozen different locations on the motor I have heard.

Can someone shed some light on any of this, i would really appreciate hearing from the experts? I want to get to the bottom of this.

COURSE OF ACTION:
From what I have heard is i HAVE to put the car into service position to turn the engine over by hand
and then take the valve covers off to make sure all valves are closed on each cylinder in order to do a leak down test on that cylinder (I will try to youtube this), and then is there any way to rent a leak-down tester, or how much is an inexpensive one? or is anyone in the Boston area up for coming to help me? i will pay you a pile of cash.
I want to get to the bottom of this. Mice are probably already starting to build nests in this thing it has been sitting for so long.

Is it Valve seat seals....OR valve stem seals that leak the oil out?


Where are all of the other potential external leaks coming from specifically:

-valley pan gasket
-check valves
-oil filter housing gasket
-valve cover gaskets
-half moon gaskets?
-crank seal
-rear main seal
-oil pan gasket
-?? oil cooler lines?

..there's got to be other locations

Thanks so much for reading and any constructive feedback, in advance. Ben

[greenStar]

ughh :(

[ak-s4]

Well, since crickets, my 2 cents:

Given that 2005 and 2005.5 models brought quite a few desirable changes from 2004, and that many of these are selling for under $10k now, running and driving, I think you've got an uphill battle on your hands, budget-wise.

My first step would be to put a camera in each cylinder to look for scoring and severe valve/piston contact, carbon buildup and any lip at the top of the cylinder. Any of these would probably convince me to bail on any further engine repairs. Doing a compression and leakdown test right now seems almost impossible, and inaccurate, in my opinion given the current state of the engine.

I don't see how any scoring would be considered "normal", but sure, it is common and many folks just keep driving for 10s of thousands of miles without a further drastic turn for the worse. But if you're spending much money on the top of the engine, I'd say the block needs to be in good condition to make it worth it from a budget perspective, unless you're just trying to get it back on the road for dirt cheap, at which point go for it, but it will still be an iffy motor when you're done.

1-2 quarts of oil a week seems easy to figure out. I'd say check the plugs (and scoping), and visually inspecting the engine/bay for TONS of oil would be my suggestion.

If the engine has any major damage, I'd just start looking for a used one instead and throw that in.

[greenStar]

Dude, THANK YOU SO MUCH for the very helpful response, this car has me losing sleep not knowing which way to step and not wanting to throw money down the drain.

Can a boroscope see all of that very clearly? What kind do you use (my friend's never would be able to accurately see that kind of detail, or see back up inside to the valves. His had trouble seeing the cylinder walls even. It was very stiff and could only really see down, straight.
I can see how a compression check would be impossible, because there is no cranking the motor over..
But can't a leak-down be done? Don't you turn the motor over by hand until you make sure all the valves are closed on the respective cylinder, and then just pressurize it with compressed air? Will it not tell me much for some reason? (I'm a little new to leak-down testing, so I really appreciate your opinion on this).

I'm a little confused what you mean about a "lip" on the top of the cylinder.

Thank you very very much for all the advice. God will reward you, I promise. What goes around comes around! Thank you brother!

ben

[ak-s4]

I personally don't have a boroscope. I brought my car to a shop in Seattle and looked over the mechanic's shoulder. For sure it was clear to see that the top of the piston was clean, cylinder walls were smooth with no vertical scratch marks, etc. I don't think you would look back up into the valves, but you'd probably see valve contact marks on the top of the pistons.

Seems like the leakdown test would be hard to do right, if the timing is off. You'll have to get it back in time, and keep it in time for all cylinders. If the guides are broken, then it just doesn't seem reasonable for a Saturday mechanic. Maybe someone can chime in here?

The lip mention is just something I learned a while back when checking out some old motors. The principle is that the rings wear down the cylinder wall, but only to the top of their travel. So it develops a small lip. No idea if anyone has seen this issue on this motor or not...

Did the timing go while the engine was running? If so, I'd say for sure you'll need to pull the heads off and replace some valves at minimum.

If this were my car I'd pull the motor out and remove the heads for a nice close-up look. But I guess if I could scope the cylinders and see scoring, I'd bail on the car completely, or swap in a used motor and not even pull the old one apart, except for some lazy weekend when I have nothing to do...