Dian Cecht
Member
I have a golf mk4 BEW 330000 miles
So I had some white smoke, limp mode and it looked like thick gooey oily substance on the dip stick. I tried stop leak in the oil and stop leak in the coolant (the appropriate type for each.) No help. And then increased smoke, especially worse when I tried to accelerate, so much that I was pulled over because there was so much smoke out the exhaust that it was hard for other drivers to see, and the officer thought maybe my car was on fire, and he made me tow it home (yes, appropriately).
I thought it must be the head gasket, so I cleaned out my garage and did my first timing belt and head gasket job. I think it all went well. The gasket though, it looked old, but looked intact, there wasn't an area that looked blown out. I didn't know really what to expect, being the first head gasket I've looked at before (except the new one I ordered). The turbo was broken, the spinner on the air side was broken off and loose in the casing. But I was eager to see that replacing the head gasket did anything, even if I didn't have a working turbo.
Drove it two miles and still same white smoke. Again, a lot of smoke. No change.
I had ordered a new turbine for the turbo, just got it installed, which was non-trivial. All the little parts of the VNT ring system were covered in carbon to the point it was all seized up. I took all those bits off and cleaned them well, so they were all moving well again when I reassembled, the turbine turned smoothly too. I couldn't find a video of someone disassembling and rebuilding the turbo I have in my BEW. Mine has a circlip (internal snap clip/c-clip) holding the turbine into the casing on the air side, and I couldn't tell the rotational position, but I guessed, and was off by a bit (the intercooler hose wouldn't reach, took it back off, adjusted the rotational position and it fit.
But still have white smoke. There is not much while I left it run idling for a while. I think some less when I drove it, but still a lot. The check oil light came on when I was test driving it, but I had put just about 1 gallon in it before the test drive, so I looked on the dip stick while it was running and there were wafts of smoke coming from the dip stick hole. No smoke or bubbles in the coolant reservoir.
The smoke does not seem to smell sweet, nor does it seem to have a strong diesel fuel smell, maybe smells a little burnt? Idk, I didn't think it has much of an odor.
I didn't replace the O-ring on the turbo, could that be my problem?
I've read bad injectors can cause white smoke. Possibility it's the injectors rather than the turbo?
Any other ideas? How I should diagnose?
Thank you all so much for any help!
So I had some white smoke, limp mode and it looked like thick gooey oily substance on the dip stick. I tried stop leak in the oil and stop leak in the coolant (the appropriate type for each.) No help. And then increased smoke, especially worse when I tried to accelerate, so much that I was pulled over because there was so much smoke out the exhaust that it was hard for other drivers to see, and the officer thought maybe my car was on fire, and he made me tow it home (yes, appropriately).
I thought it must be the head gasket, so I cleaned out my garage and did my first timing belt and head gasket job. I think it all went well. The gasket though, it looked old, but looked intact, there wasn't an area that looked blown out. I didn't know really what to expect, being the first head gasket I've looked at before (except the new one I ordered). The turbo was broken, the spinner on the air side was broken off and loose in the casing. But I was eager to see that replacing the head gasket did anything, even if I didn't have a working turbo.
Drove it two miles and still same white smoke. Again, a lot of smoke. No change.
I had ordered a new turbine for the turbo, just got it installed, which was non-trivial. All the little parts of the VNT ring system were covered in carbon to the point it was all seized up. I took all those bits off and cleaned them well, so they were all moving well again when I reassembled, the turbine turned smoothly too. I couldn't find a video of someone disassembling and rebuilding the turbo I have in my BEW. Mine has a circlip (internal snap clip/c-clip) holding the turbine into the casing on the air side, and I couldn't tell the rotational position, but I guessed, and was off by a bit (the intercooler hose wouldn't reach, took it back off, adjusted the rotational position and it fit.
But still have white smoke. There is not much while I left it run idling for a while. I think some less when I drove it, but still a lot. The check oil light came on when I was test driving it, but I had put just about 1 gallon in it before the test drive, so I looked on the dip stick while it was running and there were wafts of smoke coming from the dip stick hole. No smoke or bubbles in the coolant reservoir.
The smoke does not seem to smell sweet, nor does it seem to have a strong diesel fuel smell, maybe smells a little burnt? Idk, I didn't think it has much of an odor.
I didn't replace the O-ring on the turbo, could that be my problem?
I've read bad injectors can cause white smoke. Possibility it's the injectors rather than the turbo?
Any other ideas? How I should diagnose?
Thank you all so much for any help!