The crank breather is what Im thinking thinking. Where would it be? I have found 2 hoses that go from the air intake to the oil filler pipe but these are both clear. Is there another pipe or hose or something I have over looked?

Did someone drove behind you while you were accelerating to look for smoke?
Sometimes under load it will only show smoke, while you are driving it might be to small to notice unless someone behind you can confirm.

Mine smoked sometimes when parking at a different angle and sometimes not, but at the end the rings were done (258000km's)

I believe the breather should have a little metal insert. Kinda looks like a wad of coarse steel scouring pad. Its in there as effectively an oil vapour trap. It stops excessive oil being thrown into the intake. Now i maybe wrong but it might be worth a look and a little more research

Like these you mean? I will have a look but I can blow down the breather pipe and it seems clear.

This is the one from my car, it looks clean enough.
Now I really havnt got a clue where the oil is going.
I will be back at college on Monday, we can get it up on the lift and I can get all the college tutors to help.

I had the car up on the lift and there is no oil leak. We did a leak down test and it seems the piston rings are knackered. Its burning oil but no smoke as the cat must be catching all the soot/carbon.

Thanks for all the advice fellas, it all helps.

As a beginning point my punto leaks no oil at all. So when you say there are no oil leaks i am imagining it is fairly wet and oily under there but you cannot see it dripping out?

as helpful valuable info can you provide any numbers ?
all 4 cylinders compression dry(bar/psi) , compression wet (bar/psi), leakdown %(I think)
and how he diagnosed the rings from leakdown and not valves for example.
ie he could hear air venting into breather/oil filler and not from say inlet manifold.
like this sort of thing?


also bad news now but whats the plan ?
try to fix , pass on car ,if try to fix is it worth a try of some magic ring cure treatment first?
that's why I asked on numbers, 1 broke ring or 4 worn rings /cylinders may sway your decision.

pedroofn19 said:

seems the piston rings are knackered.

Thanks for all the advice fellas, it all helps.

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It is a pleasure! sad to hear it is not a quick fix
Just remember to record the values of the compression test for history and share for others to compare.

I am going to see if I can get a part exchange on it somewhere. Im a student and it has cost me too much money to do anything else on it.
I didnt record the numbers, but I could hear air coming through the dipstick hole, and my tutor said its the rings. Good enough for me.
There is no oil leaking, and under the car is as you would expect. No oil splattered anywhere, because the engine burning it.
The exhaust gas looks good, so I can only guess the cat is catching all the soot.

pedroofn19 said:

The exhaust gas looks good, so I can only guess the cat is catching all the soot.

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That's not how a CAT works and isn't what its doing, if its burning it you'd see it at the back.

I'd get a 2nd opinion personally!

If it isnt burning the oil where do you think it is going? It gets through 1 litre of oil every 30 miles. The spark plugs are covered in black sooty deposits, if there is carbon on the plugs surely that must mean oil is being burnt?????
I go to college, doing motor repair and maintenance. My college tutor seems to think it is not an easy fix.
So please tell me what you think Most Easterly Pandas?????

If the car is still nice and you like it can you not just drop another 2nd hand engine in? Might work out cheaper than buying another car.

I think he means its not its design idea of the cat to catch particles like a dpf does.
anything inside the exhaust will absorb a bit of the burning oil and reduce what comes out at the end to some degree.
id also suggest a trip to an mot place and just get it checked on the gas anyliser(unless they have one at your tech ? you can use)
id imagine the hc results would be very high burning that amount of oil.

Yeah I thought about putting a new engine in it, but from what I can tell Stilos are not very good, and who is to say that another engine will be any good? Is it worth doing all that work just to find out the new engine isnt much better than the one I took out.
The car had an MOT done 3 weeks ago and passed, so its hardly worth doing an emmisions test on it.

is there any histoty with the vehicle and any old mots come with it ?
be nice to see if its a gradual decline or all of a sudden hc have shot up ?
I know not all to be trusted but ive seen a few youtubes of people having poor compression doing a simple oil flush( dedicated additive to fix compression)and a few more with another additive to leave in the oil recheck and seeing some good results.
all you need is a build up on a piston ring to jam it up in the groove.
we don't have all the facts, so just putting stuff out there ?
if the guy doing compression thought not easy fix, depends if all were bad or 1 particular really bad.

missed your last post
is there not an emisions sheet with that last mot then?
what brand of 10w40 are you topping up with ?
why 10w40 I think 5w40 is correct spec ?
if your thinking a thicker oil will burn less you really need a thicker when hot oil so a 5w50 oil would be better ?
also fully synthetic less likely to burn away than semi synthetic and no longer super expensive(theres 2x 5L bottles of fully synthetic 5w50 for £40)

pedroofn19 said:

Yeah I thought about putting a new engine in it, but from what I can tell Stilos are not very good, and who is to say that another engine will be any good? Is it worth doing all that work just to find out the new engine isnt much better than the one I took out.
The car had an MOT done 3 weeks ago and passed, so its hardly worth doing an emmisions test on it.

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Nah ****** mate. Stilo's are fine once you get the niggles sorted out. You have just been unlucky. Yeah 2nd hand is a gamble but some breakers will give you a few weeks warranty. You obviously can charm the lecturers so charm them to chop an engine over as a class lesson. You get a new engine for 150 quid (ebay link) free labor and they get to give a more interesting lesson. Win win.

**** news about the rings bud... but i dont understand why you would get rid.

your doing level 3 mechanics. i did NVQ Level 3 at college... please tell me the courses havent changed to the point where theyre telling you its not worth repairing!!!

you have 2 options engine strip and rebuild OR a replacement motor. worn rings are incredibly rare a) on Stilos and b) in general life. the old girl is well worth the effort to get it fixed. the chances of getting a dud replacement are soo slim it doesnt really bear mentioning. if you check it over before fitting and do the timing belt whilst it's out (as you wont know the history of it) then theres no reason why it cant last the life of the car.