Exhaust odour on start up

Hey guys, first post.

I have a 13 jetta TDI with 35K miles on it. On the last 4 initial start ups below freezing I am getting a strong alcohol smell. At first I thought it was washer fluid but I decided to get out an investigate. The smell is definately coming out of the exhaust. Coolant is possibly a bit low but its hard to tell as this is a new problem. There is no coolant in the oil. Car runs and drives fine, no lights, and the smell goes away after a couple minutes of warming up.

The car is still under warranty. I am a mechanic but not familiar with TDI. I am assuming that the EGR is cooled with the engine coolant and am thinking that the EGR manifold is leaking somewhere. I have seen this a lot on medium trucks.

Is there a TSB for this and has anyone seen this before?

Thanks

Jeremy

I think that's probably just the smell of the cold engine and cold emissions equipment.

My concern is that the smell is new and very strong. I will keep an eye on the coolant level. If it starts dropping I will talk to the dealer

VeeDub is right, sounds like NOX emissions from a cold start up. If you were burning anti freeze the exhaust would have a sweet smell to it. NOX kind of has a pungent alcohol smell to it, the fact that it goes away quickly after starting is a sure sign that it's cold start emissions.