How bad is the smell after DPF delete?

Hey guys!
I have owned the golf for more than 2 years now and i really like it so far, except for the regen ( i hardly drive more than 30km a day now) and for the last 8 months I keep having CEL codes for the emission system. I have been to the dealership at least 2times/months since last summer and it's getting old real fast..
I'd like to do a dpf/egr delete, but i am wondering how bad is the smell afterwards? I plan on installing a catted downpipe.. but if its going to smell awful, i'd rather sell the car ..

while I don't have a Cat on mine (deleted).... i'd say she'll have the classic diesel car smell. I don't mind it. It smells like a diesel.. a puff of blue smoke on cold mornings, and when someone is tailgating, drop a few gears, put the pedal to the floor and lug it hard, it must make a bit of stink cause most people back off.
Being in Montreal, you can get an awesome pipe from Rawtek and a tune easy enough from many places. The cruze down hwy 40 through the city will be so much funner.

Thunder Chicken said:

while I don't have a Cat on mine (deleted).... i'd say she'll have the classic diesel car smell. I don't mind it. It smells like a diesel.. a puff of blue smoke on cold mornings, and when someone is tailgating, drop a few gears, put the pedal to the floor and lug it hard, it must make a bit of stink cause most people back off.

Click to expand...

Smell? Thats anti Prius spray

My old Dodge truck powered by a Cummins 5.9 makes LOTS of Prius repellent if the RPM is low and you push the throttle to the floor. I accidentally filled the inside of a Tesla with Prius repellent a few weeks ago. Did not realize it until it was too late that the old dude had the window down. My bad.....

Not a problem at.all. Sure beats that nasty cat dpf regen smell.

Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk

iamatt said:

Not a problem at.all. Sure beats that nasty cat dpf regen smell.

Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk

Click to expand...

So it's not as bad as the regen smell? If it only smell diesel a little bit, I can live with it i guess!

TurboJay said:

So it's not as bad as the regen smell? If it only smell diesel a little bit, I can live with it i guess!

Click to expand...

You have a diesel so yeah if you remove the emissions things you will smell a little diesel smoke. It's way better then having to drop it off at dealership due to problems caused by running with it in tact. You'll be fine.

Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk

TurboJay said:

So it's not as bad as the regen smell? If it only smell diesel a little bit, I can live with it i guess!

Click to expand...

It may reek havok with common rail system (?), but without the DPF a little WVO will give it a nice french fry smell

I honestly wish there was a good option for a nice sized one-way catalyst for deleted CRs. Because with nothing at all, they smell worse than a stock VE does. Even with a low output tune, that doesn't really smoke except for a very minor amount on a floorboard acceleration, there is still a smell.

You don't notice it inside the car of course, but I can smell it after I get out of the car, and you can stink the shop up driving in and out if you are not quick about it.

oilhammer said:

I honestly wish there was a good option for a nice sized one-way catalyst for deleted CRs. Because with nothing at all, they smell worse than a stock VE does. Even with a low output tune, that doesn't really smoke except for a very minor amount on a floorboard acceleration, there is still a smell.
You don't notice it inside the car of course, but I can smell it after I get out of the car, and you can stink the shop up driving in and out if you are not quick about it.

Click to expand...

Rawtek sells a mid pipe with a cat in it. I have one one 2013 JSW

dlhovland said:

Rawtek sells a mid pipe with a cat in it. I have one one 2013 JSW

Click to expand...

Awesome! How is the smell? The fit?

It's definitely a more acrid diesel smell than the diesel trucks and tractors I grew up with. Probably due to the increased NOx/higher cylinder pressures.

I thought I would care about the smell or that it would be an issue so initially I left the second cat in place instead of using the full Rawtek pipe. I actually went a bit custom and bought a set of the v-band rings and welded the pipe so that I could keep that cat or swap the straight pipe in instead of the cat...

The smell actually isn't that bad. I use my TDI for "car camping" with the engine idling all night and there's no issues. The engine is running great with a Malone tune, although I probably should get the transmission tune one of these days. When you lay into it, sometimes the transmission feels like it skips a shift - that's actually the computer cutting the power b/c it is above the threshold of the trans tune.

This is my second Malone stage 2 JSW, first had a performance diesel exhaust (no longer around afaik, guy was out of Burlington, top notch service), resonator, no muffler, it was fine, bit of smell when cold, you might notice it in traffic or backing up with the windows down, I did not mind it, my wife occasionally complained. I did get a few more questions about the noise level than I really wanted while getting my inspection, "is that a leak or a cat back?" So the second time round I have the buzken exhaust, mufler no resonator, initially with no catalyst, its near stock noise, but maybe a hint of turbo. Smell didn't bother me, but My Wife is picky about chemical / exhaust smells, she can spend all week with a filthy horse blanket in her car, but if I open a can of MEK in the next county she's asking what I'm doing lol. anyways I got a 2.5" diesel catalyst from ID parts, its definitely cutting the smoke and smell, slightly quieter and wife only occasionally mentions the smell, but I still get to enjoy my tune. and she does not seem to show preference over my 202k tuned '11 vs her 60k stock '15 when we go places together.

The 2L and 3L VWs are fine since they have good catalysts. I'd keep the primary cat (pre dpf) on the 3L. If modding a 2L you can keep everything else on the exhaust stock and it'll run cleaner than a factory PD. Ran one of our dev cars like that for years and it's still kicking, cat has not clogged and it smells much less than a fully deleted car.

Some real snowflakes around here

Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk

oilhammer said:

Awesome! How is the smell? The fit?

Click to expand...

Far less smell when the cat gets up to temp much better. I is a high flow cat. When cold has diesel smell. Perfect fit when mated up to the rest of Malone system.

I have a 2013 Golf and had a Rawtek DPF delete (straight pipe eco kit) installed the other week.
I came home from the install and backed my car into my garage and could still smell diesel after 3-4hrs of it sitting idle.

In my opinion, the smell is very noticeable if the car is garaged. If it's parked outside, who cares.

A resonator and high flow cat leaves you with some smell after a cold start but once it warms up there is no noticeable smell.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Owain@malonetuning said:

The 2L and 3L VWs are fine since they have good catalysts. I'd keep the primary cat (pre dpf) on the 3L. If modding a 2L you can keep everything else on the exhaust stock and it'll run cleaner than a factory PD. Ran one of our dev cars like that for years and it's still kicking, cat has not clogged and it smells much less than a fully deleted car.

Click to expand...

I currently have your system stage 3 on 2013 JSW. With cat. If I wanted to clean up th smell some more would have to install nox cat and sulfur cat? What about the exhaust flap? Thanks David H

I'm curious if anyone else has a strong "school bus" diesel smell even when cruising at highway/interstate speeds with the windows down?

I did a buzzken delete and expected a smell out of the tailpipe and in the car when stopped or idling with windows down.

But I still get the diesel and NOx smell while cruising?

Naturally I checked for leaks on the nee exhaust to no avail. Retorqued the v-band clamp... tried reseating all connection points... added copper RTV sealant to sealing surfaces.

Marginal improvement at best.
I did have the EGR line to the intake crack and start leaking so I took that whole thing out (P.I.T.A.) and put the block-off plate on the exhaust manifold... same as above.



So is anyone else experiencing this or do I have a leak? I'm not nose sensitive so I doubt it's just me being abnormally sensitive.

Is there more noise coming from the engine (not exhaust) than before?

Not anymore.

There was a noise that developed after a week or so that I was able to pinpoint to a crack in the EGR tube that runs from the exhaust manifold to the intake.

Noise disappeared after I pulled that EGR pipe and moves the block-off plate to where the pipe bolted to the exhaust manifold (should have done it that way on the initial install. But I digress).

I've tried listening and feeling for leaks since then to no avail

LibertyHog1 said:

Not anymore.

There was a noise that developed after a week or so that I was able to pinpoint to a crack in the EGR tube that runs from the exhaust manifold to the intake.

Noise disappeared after I pulled that EGR pipe and moves the block-off plate to where the pipe bolted to the exhaust manifold (should have done it that way on the initial install. But I digress).

I've tried listening and feeling for leaks since then to no avail

Click to expand...

Check your rear hatch seal or rear door seals as the exhaust smell will come in around the hatch. My hatch is so rusted out that it leaks water around the brake light and washer arm.

Thanks for the suggestion. I'll give that a look

Sweet smell of diesel. Only notice it when windows are down or getting out of car.

Hayden9159 said:

I know this is an old post but figured I’d throw my two cents.. I just deleted my mk6 tdi I work as a diesel mechanic and did my delete on the weekend. I was blown away at how much that little diesel smells lol old mechanical big cam Cummins and 3406b Cats don’t smell that bad even modern diesels deleted.. probably how how the exhaust is lol

Click to expand...

This is my concern getting an EGR delete

Owain@malonetuning said:

The 2L and 3L VWs are fine since they have good catalysts. I'd keep the primary cat (pre dpf) on the 3L. If modding a 2L you can keep everything else on the exhaust stock and it'll run cleaner than a factory PD. Ran one of our dev cars like that for years and it's still kicking, cat has not clogged and it smells much less than a fully deleted car.

Click to expand...

Necro! Just want to ask some clarification on this... For the 2L, do you mean delete the cat & DPF combo, keep the 2 downstream cats?

I did a full delete and added a high flow cat, which does nothing, and it smells ridiculous. Comes right in through the hatch, can't drive slow with the windows down, it's awful. Everyone here who says otherwise is lying. "Smells like a candle, only at idle", and other such nonsense. Might sell mine on here soon after I pay it off. Drives great...

Something must be wrong with yours, I drive these all the time and never notice it like that. You probably have a leak somewhere.