03 golf with occasional white smoke

I posted this over at vwdiesel as well, though no one has responded yet.
Recently started seeing white smoke on occasion. Started out any time the car would coast in 5th gear after acceleration to about 3k RPM. Would just be a puff.
I'm thinking it is oil, smelled like it, and the thinner bits had a bluish tint to it.
Just the other day, it bellowed white smoke for a bit until I pressed the clutch in while driving in a neighborhood.
Today, did the same for a few moments after stopping. Was doing about 40-50 in 5th, letting it sit less than 2k RPM and it smoked mayvbe for a few seconds at most.

Just shy off 200k miles on the car, though previous owner said the engine that is in it now is not the original.
Has malone stage 1, EGR delete and 2.5in straight pipe from turbo to back.

No sign of oil in the coolant or coolant in oil..


Thinking it's an issue with the turbo.
Seems to be pretty sporadic, it won't do it all the time, but when it does, it's a fair bit of smoke.

White smoke can be diesel fuel not burned...

That'd have to be a compression or timing issue unless you've got an injector bleeding down

Have you done a compression test and verified timing?

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk

Not yet. I'll ask around locally and see if anyone has a setup for compression testing.

Someone had mentioned a possible bad injector, and I assume they mean one that is sticking open and pouring too much fuel into the chamber.


Timing should be ok, belt was replaced last fall due to tensioner failing.
I'll double check it when I get access to VCDS. Neighbor has it.
And if I can remember to, I'll try to get a video of it in the act..

white smoke is usually diesel, would keep an eye on your oil level though.

- Are the injectors original
- Has the intercooler been off in the last year or so to drain it of oil
- Here's an iq adjustment link https://www.myturbodiesel.com/wiki/injection-quantity-adjustment-fuel-pump-hammer-mod/
- and pump timing http://www.ross-tech.com/vag-scope/TDIGraph.html

I'd also run some diesel purge through it and change the fuel filter if it's been 10k+ miles. Odds are an injector is sticking, a good clean will probably help.

If the smoke gets worse avoid driving the car hard since it could overheat one cylinder.

Owain@malonetuning said:

white smoke is usually diesel, would keep an eye on your oil level though.

- Are the injectors original
- Has the intercooler been off in the last year or so to drain it of oil
- Here's an iq adjustment link https://www.myturbodiesel.com/wiki/injection-quantity-adjustment-fuel-pump-hammer-mod/
- and pump timing http://www.ross-tech.com/vag-scope/TDIGraph.html

I'd also run some diesel purge through it and change the fuel filter if it's been 10k+ miles. Odds are an injector is sticking, a good clean will probably help.

If the smoke gets worse avoid driving the car hard since it could overheat one cylinder.

Click to expand...

Yes, original injectors as far as I know.
No it has not, was told to check it by others. Gonna do that when I change the oil this week.
Fuel filter is also gonna be changed as well. And I'll double check the injection timing. I'll pick up a can of diesel purge and run that through when I change out that filter.



Sticky injector makes the most sense to me, since it's an intermittent issue that only comes up when driven hard, but I'll see how much oil comes out of that intercooler piping. I'm hoping it's not the turbo, but I do get overboosts as well, figured that was the actuator acting up more than anything else.


It might be worth noting that I have been seeing lower fuel economy lately as well, but I have also been doing a little less highway driving. If that is connected, would that be more a sign that an injector is acting up?

update: Changed the oil, air filter, fuel filter and ran DieselPurge through it.
Seems to run a little nicer, sounds smoother, but still getting the smoke. It's just on hard acceleration, often times after stopping. It's a thick grey/white smoke. I can't tell what exactly it smells like..

I'm thinking the next thing I'll try will be to pop the injectors out and take a look at each one, see what's going on with them.


Coolant temps are a little high still. Had it peak at around 103*C, but just after hard acceleration. The heat and increased acceleration makes it seem like it might be an injector issue, but I'm not too sure....

Any other ideas or suggestions?

What's your IQ set at? I've got a hotter tune and even on a 1600f run (wasn't watching EGT) I didn't see the temp gauge move, I noticed some higher coolant temps when I was running the steep grade in the fast lane running 85 but it took a few minutes.


Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk

I'll need to checkl that.

Yea, the temp wasn't enough to move the needle on the gauge much, but scangauge showed it. Normally, I'm used to seeing it sit around 93*C or so and hardly budge. It ramps up somewhat quickly.

Any updates?

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk

PD engine?

I would start by looking for oil on the intake or the fuel filter. Are you loosing coolant?

k_pt said:

PD engine?

I would start by looking for oil on the intake or the fuel filter. Are you loosing coolant?

Click to expand...

ALH.


Replaced the fuel filter last week. Changed oil too. Haven't seen any real oil loss either.
Have not seen any signifigant coolant loss. No oil in coolant or vice versa.
Smoke isn't constant. Just after accelerating hard in 4th or 5th (good example is shifting from 4th to 5th. Get it to like 3k or so quickly and when you let off to shift it'll sometimes to it. Not always. Lasts a few seconds.)
Checked the IQ, all that seems fine. Ran dieselpurge, no real change.
Checked the boost to pancake pipe to intercooler, nothing signifigant there. Was halfway expecting a quart of oil to pour out.




All I can think of at this point is a seal on the turbo starting to go bad, but not bad enough to smoke constantly. That or the turbo impeller has enough play that it lets some oil past into the exhaust side.
Boosts fine for the most part, has an overboost condition on occasion, but I've been chalking that up to the actuator more than anything else, but I suppose it could be sticky vanes.

vmb said:

Checked the boost to pancake pipe to intercooler, nothing signifigant there. Was halfway expecting a quart of oil to pour out.

Click to expand...

There wasn't much in the inlet of the intercooler?

First time I pulled my intercooler out to clean it a lot of oil came out when I tipped it over. (few years of not checking it)

What does vcds say your fuel temp is at?

It sounds like it's in your pump but not sure what or how it is doing it as a sticky QA would or should cut both ways as in weird acceleration/codes but I think the white smoke for you is fuel or in the Injectors...did you say they were refreshed or how many miles on them...did you swap out all of them with no change?

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk

wonneber said:

There wasn't much in the inlet of the intercooler?

First time I pulled my intercooler out to clean it a lot of oil came out when I tipped it over. (few years of not checking it)

Click to expand...

Hadn't checked the intercooler, just the boost pipe from the turbo.
It's interesting actually, the clip on the boost pipe to pancake pipe was put back on loose, so there was a massive boost leak as it came open. During that time I didn't see any white smoke, just black from the ECU not knowing the turbo was not working, letting the pump give it more fuel, like it would under boost. Didn't notice the oily smell that's been about when I drive either.


Went under to reattach the clip and get the hose reseated, took a closer look at the turbo. Saw a fair bit of oil around the compressor side, couldn't pinpoint where it was coming from, but seemed to be coming from the turbo itself.

What does vcds say your fuel temp is at?

It sounds like it's in your pump but not sure what or how it is doing it as a sticky QA would or should cut both ways as in weird acceleration/codes but I think the white smoke for you is fuel or in the Injectors...did you say they were refreshed or how many miles on them...did you swap out all of them with no change?

Click to expand...

That I'll have to look at. Neighbor said it smelled more oily than fuel so.


I think I am going to replace the turbo and see what happens. The oil I saw around it was enough to be concerning. Plus I'm planning on a road trip next month; would rather see if this helps and fixes it than have the turbo potentially fail on that...