Burning smell coming from engine compartment

Dday106

Member
Joined
Nov 14, 2020
Location
St. Louis
TDI
2013 Passat
Recently noticed my 2012 tdi having a burning smell when I exit the vehicle. Smell seems to be located around the front of the car. Also notice my engine fan runs even when i turn the car off sometimes. Temp Guage shows normal temperatures. Engine coolant is full. Any ideas?
 

pedroYUL

Veteran Member
Joined
Sep 8, 2011
Location
MI, USA
TDI
2015 Passat CVCA; 2015 GSW CRUA; 2012 wagon CJAA; 2004 wagon BEW
You do know about DPF regeneration, right?
 

Dday106

Member
Joined
Nov 14, 2020
Location
St. Louis
TDI
2013 Passat
No clue. Very new to diesel engines. Just looked into it. Thanks for the help. I'm going to read more into it
 

pedroYUL

Veteran Member
Joined
Sep 8, 2011
Location
MI, USA
TDI
2015 Passat CVCA; 2015 GSW CRUA; 2012 wagon CJAA; 2004 wagon BEW
Happy to help, and welcome to the forums. There is plenty of info here and extremely knowledgeable people, lot smarter than me. Also, there is a network of friendly vendors, so you don't have to rely on the dealer for parts.

These vendors offer the same or better quality parts at a much better cost: Cascade German, TuneMyEuro, MetalMan, IDParts and others (sorry to the rest if I forget).

Keep curious and reading, these cars can go for a very long time and miles, but better to be on top of issues before they become unsumountable.

Your CKRA engine code car, is a NMS (New Mid-size Sedan) body, it has a timing belt that needs changing every 130k miles with a new water pump, all rollers, and tensioner (and serpentine belt). Belt failure destroys at least the head.

I don't want to scare you, but your car has a few potential issues, in no particular order:
* weak turbo that can fail
* heater core that can get plugged (my 2015 too)
* High Pressure Fuel Pump (HPFP) that can fail. Same for my 2015, and all Common Rail (CR) VW engines with a Bosch CP4 HPFP
 
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pedroYUL

Veteran Member
Joined
Sep 8, 2011
Location
MI, USA
TDI
2015 Passat CVCA; 2015 GSW CRUA; 2012 wagon CJAA; 2004 wagon BEW
For me, information is power, hence reading about potential issues doesn't scare me any longer.

I did, however, for the longest time, worry sick about the turbo in my 2004 BEW engine wagon failing and taking the engine with it...hasn't happen yet, in fact, that car still has the original turbo on it after 420k km.
 

jetlagmech

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 1, 2009
Location
Toledo, WA
TDI
2010 jetta
The DPF regen that causes the burning smell and fans to run after shutdown. Every few hundred miles, or when the car computer deems needed, The car uses extra fuel to burn off in the DPF which burns off the ash that collects in there. creates a lot of heat, external in the engine compartment, the eng itself is not overheating, and the fans run to keep things cool. Normal operation.
 

Dday106

Member
Joined
Nov 14, 2020
Location
St. Louis
TDI
2013 Passat
All good to know. I put 35k a year in my cars driving. Took kind of a risk on this guy getting it with 90k miles and it sitting for years. They told me 70% of them come back with heater core issues. Drove it off the lot and 60 miles later a gasket or housing of some sort failed and it was dumping coolant. Luckily the dealer fixed it for free, I've done alot of business with the guy. I am aware of the transmission service every 40k. I was planning on the timing belt around 125k or so. It's a cool car. Hope it runs a long time.
 

Lightflyer1

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Sep 13, 2005
Location
Round Rock, Texas
TDI
2015 Beetle tdi dsg
Proper maintenance and care and knowledge is all that is needed. Lots of stuff here already to learn. Welcome!

There are some "tools" that will let you monitor the regens so you can tell what is happening. Vagdpf, Torque Pro, OBD11 and more. Also get a VCDS cable as well. If you are going to be learning might as well have the proper tool. I run Vagdpf on a spare old android phone and just leave it setup in the car. It is just another gauge then with full info.

 
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pedroYUL

Veteran Member
Joined
Sep 8, 2011
Location
MI, USA
TDI
2015 Passat CVCA; 2015 GSW CRUA; 2012 wagon CJAA; 2004 wagon BEW
...Almost forgot...every dieselgate car is covered by an extended warranty as part of the court settlement. You can check when was your car fixed here:

 

Tom in PT

Veteran Member
Joined
Jun 7, 2017
Location
Twilight Zone, WA State
TDI
2005 Passat sedan - SOLD; 2013 Passat DSG; both purchased new
Lightflyer1, what parameters in your app do you look at to see when a regen is coming up, or how many miles to regen start? a soot mass of 19.78 g does not mean much to me, looking to learn more.
 

Lightflyer1

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Sep 13, 2005
Location
Round Rock, Texas
TDI
2015 Beetle tdi dsg
24 or so is the start and 4-6 is the finish usually. On VAGDPF there is also a line that shows status just above the gauges that show a percent full. About every 200 miles is a regen, longer on all highway runs.
 

Tom in PT

Veteran Member
Joined
Jun 7, 2017
Location
Twilight Zone, WA State
TDI
2005 Passat sedan - SOLD; 2013 Passat DSG; both purchased new
Thanks. VAGDPF is apparently Android only. I need a similar product for an Apple iOS. I have EngineLink (which I like) but it does not seem to have a PID for soot mass or other regen-related items, except for exhaust temp.
 

Lightflyer1

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Sep 13, 2005
Location
Round Rock, Texas
TDI
2015 Beetle tdi dsg
Most of the tools like this I know of are Android based. Over the years I haven't heard too much about Apple. Seems like there were one or two though. Someone will chime in more than likely. Old used android phones are dirt cheap. Maybe pick one up.
 

Lex Tdi

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 4, 2016
Location
Lexington ky
TDI
2013 Passat
And as soon as that extended warranty expires (if youre driving that much like me it'll happen soon) look up getting your dpf deleted... these things are great cars once you take the biggest liability to car breakdowns off of them. Also you have oilhammer nearby.... lucky you!
 
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