Smoking Exhaust

Gangles

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Jan 29, 2014
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East Coast of America
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2012 Audi A3 TDI Hatch
Recently I sprayed some PB Blaster on my VNT actuator to help resolve an underboost condition. It seemed to have worked as I have boost now. This was over a week ago. Drove home last night. 0 issues, no smoke. This morning, got in my car and it was fine for the first 10 minutes. Then I started seeing smoke, but no issues with acceleration or anything. The smoke got worse and was basically a James Bond smoke screen at times. On the highway, under load, there was not much of any smoke. On the back roads there was smoke when idling/letting off the gas, or if I pushed the pedal to the floor. After my 25 minute drive to work I parked it and took the video below. The smoke smells slightly of oil, though I wasn't trying to shove my face in it.

Head gasket? EGR cooler? Something else going on?

Video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6_5BYSeKuU

Also, I am assuming a compression/cylinder tester for a gas engine will not work for a diesel? The one I have I used on my former LS1 Trans Am. It screws into the spark plug holes in the cylinder head.

Thanks,

-Rick
 
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Gangles

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East Coast of America
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2012 Audi A3 TDI Hatch
Looks like its burning coolant to me. Keep an eye on the coolant level. Is there a loss of power?
Thanks. No loss of power. There is a crap-ton of oil on the outside of the intercooler - like it's leaking out onto the lower fascia. Oil level and color are perfect. Coolant level is perfect. The smoke 100% smells of burning oil.

Larger oil stain is NOT from my vehicle. The smaller oil drops are from my vehicle sitting for the past 1.5 hours:



 
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csstevej

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2001 golf tdi 4 door auto now a manual, mine, 2000 golf 2 door M/T son's,daughters 98 NB non-TDI 2.0, 2003 TDI NB for next daughter, head repaired and on road,gluten for punishment got another tdi 2001NB,another yellow tdi NB
Looks like it's time for a turbo.
Pull off the lower intercooler hose and drain out the oil out of the hose and mop out the intercooler with some rags and or paper towels.
How much do you have?
If it's more than a couple of tablespoons I wouldn't be driving it till I drained all the pipes, intercooler and replaced the turbo.
Last thing you want is a runaway with a hydro lock....... just my .02.
 

Gangles

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Location
East Coast of America
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2012 Audi A3 TDI Hatch
Took her to the local TDI mechanic (Also a member here):



Anddddd the verdict ... intercooler shroud was pushing against the intercooler and sliced the intercooler:



Replacement is in. Runs fine now.

-Rick
 

csstevej

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north nj
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2001 golf tdi 4 door auto now a manual, mine, 2000 golf 2 door M/T son's,daughters 98 NB non-TDI 2.0, 2003 TDI NB for next daughter, head repaired and on road,gluten for punishment got another tdi 2001NB,another yellow tdi NB
I stand corrected.......it still seems like a lot of oil in the pipes in my opinion.
 

BobnOH

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May 29, 2004
Location
central Ohio
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New Beetle 2003 manual
Thanks for posting back with the solution!
These are simple terms to help future searches-
smoke intercooler ic damage leak inter cool
 

Gangles

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2012 Audi A3 TDI Hatch
I stand corrected.......it still seems like a lot of oil in the pipes in my opinion.
I agree. That was a lot of oil. I'll see how things progress over the next weeks/months and see if the turbo is possibly starting to go.



Thanks for posting back with the solution!
These are simple terms to help future searches-
smoke intercooler ic damage leak inter cool
You're welcome! That's one of my biggest pet peeves when I find an old thread with my exact vehicle symptoms but they don't post the solution they found! I always try to follow up as much as possible.
 

Gangles

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2012 Audi A3 TDI Hatch
Update: Smoking again randomly. My girlfriend and I just drove 2000 miles to Charleston, SC, around that area, and back during the past week. It smoked bad last Monday morning (13th) heading to the grocery store, then stopped smoking on the way back. Then it smoked again on the day we were leaving, Sunday (The 19th). Last night it smoked for about a mile on my drive home. Today, it started smoking right as I pulled into Panera for lunch. When I left, I turned the car on. Saw smoke. Turned it off. Turned the car on/off a couple more times. Drove back to work with no smoking. This is definitely oil burning.

Perplexed at this point. Could this be caused by a bad EGR? Vacuum switch? IAT? Or similar? I'm hoping it's not the turbo ...

Thanks.
 

Gangles

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East Coast of America
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2012 Audi A3 TDI Hatch
Something new to add:

One day last week I had to hit the brakes HARD. Immediately as I did this and pushed in my clutch the car started to smoke. I shut the car off right there for about 30 seconds. I started it back up. It smoked for about 5-10 seconds then stopped. So weird ...
 

csstevej

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Location
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2001 golf tdi 4 door auto now a manual, mine, 2000 golf 2 door M/T son's,daughters 98 NB non-TDI 2.0, 2003 TDI NB for next daughter, head repaired and on road,gluten for punishment got another tdi 2001NB,another yellow tdi NB
Pull your lower boost pipe before the intercooler and see how much oil drains out. If you have more than a table spoon or two , epically since you just had a new IC installed.....yeah then it's a turbo in your future.
 

Gangles

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Pull your lower boost pipe before the intercooler and see how much oil drains out. If you have more than a table spoon or two , epically since you just had a new IC installed.....yeah then it's a turbo in your future.
Thanks - I'll try to give that a shot. We are looking at ridiculously hot temps here (90's-100) and being garage-less makes outdoor wrenching no fun.
 

coalminer16

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Central Wisconsin
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Golf 2004
Curious on how your injector nozzles are too. If they aren't atomizing the fuel right some goes put the back vs getting burned. How's mpg? Drop over time? How many miles on nozzles? Doesn't take much fuel with water in it to burn up nozzles as the water flash explods in the holes and enlarge it. John Deeres have even blown tips off from too much water.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
 

Gangles

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2012 Audi A3 TDI Hatch
Curious on how your injector nozzles are too. If they aren't atomizing the fuel right some goes put the back vs getting burned. How's mpg? Drop over time? How many miles on nozzles? Doesn't take much fuel with water in it to burn up nozzles as the water flash explods in the holes and enlarge it. John Deeres have even blown tips off from too much water.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
Have not checked the injectors and they have not been replaced under my ownership (Since February 2014). Fuel efficiency was 42 MPG highway on my last two runs to Charleston, SC. But, that was at 70 MPH average with some traffic, AC on. And, my engine splash shield is gone so the under vehicle aerodynamics are not what they were when I was hitting 50.

The white smoke smells ... I'd say like burning oil. I don't smell any hint of diesel or diesel fumes in the smoke. Would a bad injector(s) cause constant smoke or intermittent?

Thanks,
 

Gangles

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Also - wanted to add that there is a noise - almost a whistle - I've been noticing during the 2500+ RPM range. It does increase slightly as the RPM's increase. It's not the typical whistle from the turbo. I'd say it's a similar noise to the sound when you let off the gas after a harder acceleration. Not quite a blow off valve sound, but similar. This is constant under heavier acceleration above 2500 RPM.
 

Nutsnbolts

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A blown intercooler won't explain the smoke, especially if it smells oily. There are only a few things it can be, especially at that volume of smoke. As ccstevej has suggested, pull your lower intercooler hose off ASAP. This condition can be caused from oil being drawn up into the intake when the level in the hose gets high enough that it restricts airflow. Also, make sure that your ASV is not trying to shut the air supply off when the car is running- that can cause smoke too. But pull that lower intercooler hose off first! You must verify that you won't have a runaway, which if your turbo is going, is a very real possibility.
 

Gangles

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2012 Audi A3 TDI Hatch
A blown intercooler won't explain the smoke, especially if it smells oily. There are only a few things it can be, especially at that volume of smoke. As ccstevej has suggested, pull your lower intercooler hose off ASAP. This condition can be caused from oil being drawn up into the intake when the level in the hose gets high enough that it restricts airflow. Also, make sure that your ASV is not trying to shut the air supply off when the car is running- that can cause smoke too. But pull that lower intercooler hose off first! You must verify that you won't have a runaway, which if your turbo is going, is a very real possibility.
Thank you - will get to that this weekend or next week if I have a free moment. Would a clogged/bad EGR cause intermittent smoking?



This was taken back in 2015, but I haven't been in there since and honestly don't recall if I even cleaned it, or just opened it to check carbon buildup. Will have to check that again.

Thanks.
 

BobnOH

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New Beetle 2003 manual
Well it won't help. That photo looks pretty typical, also associated with intake clogging. I'd clean it, be careful, there are some rubberized paper parts in there. Be sure to check intake it'll be nasty, but as long as the opening is more than 50% open, I'd guess it's O.K. You'll want to verify the EGR is working when you're done.
Keep your wits about you, this interweb reads like a bad turbo, you're doing the right thing ruling out other stuff, but if turbo is pooched it could cause a runaway.
 

Gangles

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Well it won't help. That photo looks pretty typical, also associated with intake clogging. I'd clean it, be careful, there are some rubberized paper parts in there. Be sure to check intake it'll be nasty, but as long as the opening is more than 50% open, I'd guess it's O.K. You'll want to verify the EGR is working when you're done.
Keep your wits about you, this interweb reads like a bad turbo, you're doing the right thing ruling out other stuff, but if turbo is pooched it could cause a runaway.
Thanks. Just wanted to update again: When the James Bond smoke screens occurred it was in 95 degree (Or hotter) with 90%+ humidity. I've been driving the car almost daily since the last time it happened. I have not had any smoking issues and temps have been in the 80's, 70's, and 60's for highs. Very odd.
 

Gangles

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For whatever reason I put the engine cover back on year or two ago. Just did the diesel purge and the car stalled half way through. Removed the cover to bleed air out of the injectors (Worked great) and noticed this:



I'm assuming head gasket? Looks like it's pushing out through the crank due to pressure ...
 

Gangles

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2012 Audi A3 TDI Hatch
That's the valve cover gasket. It looks like it's just drooling out the fill.
Issue is the color/consistency. It's silver/gray.

EDIT: Though I guess that could also be the oil mixing with water/dirt on the outside of the valve cover?
 
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joep1234

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Take a couple of drips of your crankcase oil and drip it on a hot manifold. If it spreads out and smokes there is no water in it. If there is water in it will bubble up like crazy. Quick and easy check for water/coolant in oil.
 

Gangles

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Took it to my local TDI guru. Hopefully this helps:



The car does drive much better now, pulls harder as well. Have only driven it twice since getting it back on Saturday. Time will tell.
 

Gangles

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2012 Audi A3 TDI Hatch
An update:

As you can see from above, my EGR and check valve were kaput. They were replaced. Having driven it daily to/from work the past 3 days I can say the car has a ton of power now! It's like a new car. The old actuator was not holding pressure. My mechanic tested the "new" one he installed to confirm it held pressure. Thus far, I have not had any smoke issues other than the typical TDI startup smoke (30's/40's in the morning currently). Will continue posting here with any updates.
 
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