Now shes on the road, just a couple of little questions.........

[Dr Love]

Hi all, my landy flew through the m.o.t second time round with no advisories. woopie, but now shes on the road, just got a couple of little issues.......

1. Ive poured 3 litres of oil into it, and we have done 200 miles, so i think its burning it, although the bottom of the engine is quite oily, so we may be leaking some too. Ive been informed that on the diesels, if the piston rings are worn, this equals a drop in compression, and diesel landys dont like starting with low compression, but mine fires straight away, so im not sure whats going on, but the question is: how do i do a compression check on a diesel?

2. How many miles per gallon should i expect to get out of her, because shes supping away at more than her fair share i think!

Cheers for the replies, Tom

[Dave123]

best way to check for burning oil is look for blue smoke! I'd be surprised it it past the emission's test burning that much oil!

[Dr Love]

It passed the mot with no advisories, but there is presence of blue smoke leaving a trail behind me. grrrr 

[Dave123]

Hmm.. strange, what's the year? all of the series up to early S3's have a 'visual emissions check'.. after that they had the normal probe up the rear check! To check for compression, you'll need a compression tester.. I've never tested compression on a diesel, but on a petrol.. It's put the compression tester in place of the spark plug, turn the engine over and read what it says.. I'm guessing on a diesel it uses the glow plug hole instead but could be wrong! Do you have trouble starting in the mornings also? if you have recently changed glow plugs then bad starting can be from low compression ;)