Bad Emission smell.Help, please

vitaliy

Active member
Joined
Oct 22, 2004
Location
Liberty Lake, WA
TDI
'13 VW Passat TDI SE Sunroof/Nav,DSG
Hello!My name is Vitaliy. I am from Sacramento, CA.
I just bought my first TDI (http://forums.tdiclub.com/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=873683&an=0&page=4#873683) from a TDIclub member in Oregon, and he filled up with B100 for me.I liked the car and did not notice anything strange at the time of purchase. On my way back to California( after driving about 620+mi), I put about 2 or 3 gal. of diesel #2 on almoust empty tank( I did not have any Diesel Kleen or anything with me), and I've noticed a realy strong emission smell( No smog, no power loss), just strange smell simular to burning propaine(guy told me that car had 3 full tanks of biodiesel before).At first I thought it's a bad quality fuel, but after I got home I put 14.2gal of good fuel with about 8oz of Diesel Kleen( silver bottle), but smell still there, and it comes from under the hood( from tailpipe I can bearly smell it).Previous owner told me that he did clean intake system(from snow screen, EGR, intercooler etc.)also he did adjust timing in advance.
So any help would be greatefully appreciated.

P.S. I tried to contact the seller but he did not respond to my e-mail.
 

tadc

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Apr 13, 2001
Location
Stumptown
TDI
Golf GLS TDI, '01, Black
is the CrankCase Vent intact? Look for a round "hockey puck" looking thing on the drivers side of the valve cover. There should be a small u-shaped hose connecting it to the intake manifold.
 

vitaliy

Active member
Joined
Oct 22, 2004
Location
Liberty Lake, WA
TDI
'13 VW Passat TDI SE Sunroof/Nav,DSG
Any other ideas? Could it be related to advanced timing, or should I look for any air leaks around EGR valve(since it was taken a part for cleaning)?
Thank you
 

tadc

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Apr 13, 2001
Location
Stumptown
TDI
Golf GLS TDI, '01, Black
well...
1) the exhaust (burned diesel) smell should be very different between B100 and regular #2
2) Advancing the timing and/or adjusting the EGR duty cycle *does* change the exhaust odor
3) Why would it come from the front of the car? Maybe leaky EGR from the cleaning, that seems most likely. Perhaps you are not familiar with the exhaust odor from modern Ultra-Low Sulphur diesel? If you happened to tank up with some ULSD(quite possible in CA), it doesn't smell much like the typical diesel exhaust I'm familiar with.
Perhaps you are smelling fuel leaking from the injector-return lines? Again, should smell significantly different between B100 and #2.

The EGR valve will shut off after idling for a minute or so. Maybe that will stop your EGR leak (if it is leaking) and help you identify the problem. When my EGR was leaking (thanks to Dick Hannah Volkswagen), it would whistle under load. At first I thought the turbo had gotten louder, but later traced it to the EGR leaking.
 

vitaliy

Active member
Joined
Oct 22, 2004
Location
Liberty Lake, WA
TDI
'13 VW Passat TDI SE Sunroof/Nav,DSG
Thank you Tadc for replying!
Well, even it's my first VW TDI in California, this is not my first diesel car, so I am used to diesel smell, and I have a friend here in Sacramento with 1998 M-B 300TD, who actually used a same Gas station same day as I did, and his car doesn't smell this way.
I was also thinking about leaking connections around EGR, so I ordered a few new gaskets in beetween EGR and manifold, EGR and L shape metal hose under EGR ( I don't know proper names for those parts),because I saw a kind of oilly residue on the bottom of EGR as well as same staff on valve cover behind oil filler cap. Gaskets should be here tomorrow.Hopefully it'll fix the problem, if not... than I dont know what else I can try, I guess I'll have to try to find somebody with vag-com to set timing back to original numbers?????????
Vitaliy
 

GotDiesel?

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Jul 11, 2000
Location
Pacific NW
TDI
2001 Jetta GLS
The exhaust out of TDIs smells different than it does out of older diesel vehicles.

My TDI has always produced somewhat acrid exhaust fumes. I suspect that when the exhaust goes through the catalyst the chemical processes alter the smell.

My dad had a couple of diesel trucks (big rig tractors) and a couple of diesel powered fishing boats while I was growing up.

I liked the smell those engines put out... kind of sweet.

The only TDIs that have pleasant exhaust in this country run on Bio-D. And that smells nothing like the diesels of old.

In London and Paris last summer I saw and heard lots of diesel powered cars (and even rented a diesel Peugeot 307 for a couple of days). Never smelled them though. The fuel there is so low in sulfur that there's not enough to make a stink.
 

tadc

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Apr 13, 2001
Location
Stumptown
TDI
Golf GLS TDI, '01, Black
If you're getting oil from the EGR, I'd bet that is the source of your leak.

The L-shaped pipe is probably the EGR cooler. It's got a number of small tubes running through a jacket of engine coolant to help cool down the exhaust before it reenters the intake.

Good luck with your problem.
 

vitaliy

Active member
Joined
Oct 22, 2004
Location
Liberty Lake, WA
TDI
'13 VW Passat TDI SE Sunroof/Nav,DSG
Thank you for your help Tadc! I just checked status of my order and looks like I'll get it on Friday, so it's going to be my weekend project.
Thanks.
 

lutefisk

Member
Joined
Apr 19, 2002
Location
Vermont
TDI
Golf, 2002, dirty polar bear (white)
My Golf has an acrid exhaust smell, too, not from the engine compartment but from the pipe. Acrid and unpleasant like burning rubbish, not sweet like a diesel truck (at a distance). It began after ~30k miles. Could it be related to overfilling the crankcase? The dealer did it once, and I generally have the oil between the upper line and the upper bend on the dipstick.
 
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