Hi Folks,

I'm hoping you can help solve part / all of the million dollar question I'm about to ask! I've got an Audi A6 Quattro 2.5 TDI 1997. It's done about 220,000 miles! It's got a number of symptoms at the moment which are as below so I'm gonna type it all up and hope someone can point me in the right direction.

First things first, on accelerating it's blowing massive clouds of black smoke (not blue so it's not burning oil). There's no loss of performance or stammering or excessive noise just big plumes of black smoke when i accelerate.

Secondly, it's leaking oil. Now - I can see where the leak is. If you're stood at the front of the car looking down on the engine on the left hand side just under the casing covering the engine is the turbo valve. That sits on top of a vertical pipe and where the pipe joins the engine there is a gasket which has blown so i need to replace it. Problem is i can't find part numbers or even what it's called. I wanted to replace it myself because I'm guessing it's a case of undoing the bolts, cleaning the two contact surfaces, replacing the gasket and doing the bolts up again (I may stand corrected).

I don't know if the two are related or separate but any help / advice would be great.

Cheers,

Andy