Now that I hear back from everyone, it just may be the valve guide seals,
or the guides themselves, or both.   I recall when I swapped in a slightly
'performance' cam and also when I moved the head over to my current
block...something about the valve stem seals....trying to 'make' a spring
compressor to remove the valves and then giving up..it is probably time for
a reworked head soon anyhow...lottsa miles piling up on this head I have
been using, untouched pretty much, since I got the van about 60k miles ago.

   I see them listed, rebuilt with new valves and everything for around
$275..that ain't too bad.   Maybe next spring...thanks all
  Don Hanson

On Sat, Oct 19, 2013 at 3:36 PM, Scott Daniel <scottdaniel@turbovans.com>wrote:

>  is it blue are black smoke ?
>
> Worn guides or valve seals is what I'm suggesting right now.
>
> you're not running a cat.
> I think that most cars, like 80's and forward, with 02 sensor and cat can
> burn oil 'nicely' and not smoke ..
> in that the 02 is helping adust perhaps ...for oil burning in the
> cylidners ...
> and the cat cleans it up.  I've seen cars that use a qt of oil in 500 to
> 1,000 miles and never smoke at all. ..
>  perhaps lack of a cat is a factor.
> I like to have at least looking like it has a cat, since having one on a
> gasoline van of that year was stock in all 50 states.
>
> I4 VW engines were well known for valve seals and /or worn valve guides.
>
>
>  On 10/19/2013 9:21 AM, Don Hanson wrote:
>
>   I sometimes see a nasty grey cloud of smoke from the exhaust of my 84.
> Digifant EMS on an inline VW motor.   I am guessing it may be a faulty
> throttle switch that sometimes goes to 'full rich' for whatever reason.  By
> intermittent I mean....When I go to town, perhaps 1 trip of four, this
> smoke shows up.   It doesn't smoke at every signal....It may do so for two
> in a row, then no smoke at all the rest of the driving around.   It
> sometimes even smokes breifly on start up, but very seldom...
>
>   Here are the specifics of how this occurs and when:  It normally happens
> in the city when I am stop and go driving or hitting traffic lights.
> Everything might be normal without any problem then I will roll up to a
> signal and idle there while the light cycles then as I leave, the van puffs
> out an embarrassing cloud of grayish exhaust smoke, lasting perhaps two
> seconds before the exhaust clears back up and is again invisible.    I have
> also noticed that on start up, then coasting down a longer hill the exhaust
> will backfire....I do have an air leak in my exhaust system which probably
> allows air in to make the loud bang more likely...
>
>    I see no smoke on long hill descents.   Nothing when I redline the motor
> to 6000rpm.   I don't burn much oil for a VW inline, but I do have a slight
> leak at my homemade filler when I park with the nose up on a steep
> incline...a quarter sized puddle below maybe.
>
>    I think my throttle switch is NLA...I think it is the longish leaf
> springy looking type...It seems to click correctly with linkage movement
> and it clicks off when the throttle is closed...when I do it in the engine
> by hand...consistently and correctly..
>
>   Anybody have any other ideas about this stinky cloud of smoke I sometime
> see?   I hate puffing that into our air, though it's probably nothing
> compared to, say,  a coal fired power plant...a minor 2-second visible
> exhaust puff a few times a week...
>
>
>
>