Does the Bora burn engine oil?
2 Answers
Bora burns engine oil. The reasons for burning engine oil are as follows: Cold engine oil burning: When the car's temperature has not fully warmed up, the engine exhaust pipe emits a lot of blue smoke, but it returns to normal after the engine warms up. This phenomenon is caused by the aging of the valve stem seals. Due to the decrease in temperature, the rubber material of the valve stem seals becomes stiff, leading to incomplete sealing. Engine oil leaks from the valves into the combustion chamber and burns, resulting in the above phenomenon. Hot engine oil burning: After the car reaches normal operating temperature, the exhaust pipe still emits blue smoke. This indicates poor sealing of the piston rings. Poor piston ring sealing: Engine oil, under the action of the oil pump, directly enters the combustion chamber through the leaking piston rings and burns, causing the exhaust pipe to emit blue smoke. There are several reasons for this phenomenon, such as material aging, carbon deposits jamming, excessive cylinder liner wear, etc.
A veteran driver who has owned three Bora models shares his experience. My 2018 1.4T model does consume some engine oil, needing a top-up of half a liter every 5,000 kilometers. The mechanics mentioned that the valve stem seals in this generation of EA211 engines are prone to oil seepage, especially noticeable during highway driving. They recommended switching to 0W-40 full synthetic oil for better performance and advised me to regularly check that the oil level doesn't drop below the minimum mark. My friend's 12-year-old Bora has it worse - he keeps spare engine oil in the trunk, and the piston rings have been repaired twice. The newer models seem to have improvements, but us old-timers still feel safer keeping a bottle of oil handy.
