[Bearcharlemagne]

I just bought a 1980 Rabbit diesel last Thursday. I am very excited happy about my purchase, but there seems to be a couple of problems that need to be addressed. The Rabbit has developed a case of blowby that was apparently from, in the previous owner's words:

"engine recently had some substantial blow-by develop after i used a semi-synthetic oil and I changed back to 15w-40 diesel oil with some Lucas diesel additive and it is much better but still has a small amount of blow-by."

My diesel is also not as fuel efficient as it could be (I'd say I get 35 to the gallon or so) and I am wondering if anything things the problems to be interrelated.

I am curious if there is a solution to this problem that doesn't involve replacing the piston rings. And if that ends up being the only solution available, how long of a project would it be to replace those rings.

The engine is the stock 1980 1.5L diesel.

Thanks, Ben