B6 Passat DSG Estate 2007 55k - Clouds of black exhaust smoke when accelerating hard in top gear

[John Whyteleafe]

Hello and Happy New Year!
I normally drive the car as smoothly as possible (only social and pleasure) and try to avoid short journeys - average about 30-60 miles - getting 50+mpg. Never usually see any exhaust smoke and the car passes the MOT no problem.
When I accelerate hard for instance joining a motorway I sometimes get a black cloud of exhaust - seen in the rear view mirror and therefore embarrassment!
Could this be a build up somewhere? The car does not have a DPF.
Regards
JDW

[billythetidd]

I used to get a big plume when under hard acceleration in my old 2008 PD B6. Just a build up of soot as you say you don’t tend to drive hard so just “cleaning the pipes”. Diesels like a good drive like you stole it moment sometimes. Unless you have noticed any major drop in mpg or any thing like that I wouldn’t worry too much. ��

[John Whyteleafe]

Thanks for your reassurance
JDW

[Quatrelle]

"The car does not have a DPF." There's your answer. Has it been removed by any chance?

[John Whyteleafe]

Hello Quatrelle,

I don't think my car was supplied with a DPF. I have had it from new and it has an engine code BKP. Is there a way of checking?

[billythetidd]

Same here, I don’t think my 58 plate estate BKP had a DPF. Did they not come in late 2008 with the new common rail engine?

[Quatrelle]

Well that was a bit of a red herring, sorry! I was under the impression that most BKP engines, especially those starting 2007, had DPF, and that prior to that it was an option. There should be a coded list of options on the label that's stuck in the boot, and there used to be a website that decoded them which is now unfortunately not available (I've been down this road myself when I was sure I didn't have one on mind, and the code said I had).

A removed DPF is usually the reason for the black smoke. What's the state of your air filter?

Might be worth doing a search for a list of the codes.

[John Whyteleafe]

Thanks everybody.

I looked on a website http://prsearch.planetvag.com/ where you can enter all the 3 digit codes on the Vehicle Data info in the service book. I have the code 0GG which = Emission Standard EU4. If the car had been fitted with a DPF the code would have been 7GG = Emission Standard EU4 DPF.

I took the car out today for a 10 mile run and 'used' the power a bit more and under acceleration there was no evidence of black smoke.

So I have come to conclusion that perhaps a similar run regularly would be beneficial.

[Quatrelle]

Well I'm glad that the site I referred to is no longer working, because I have the code 0GG and it stated there that 0GG indicated DPF fitted, and so for the past 11 years I've been convinced mine had a DPF. I bought mine in Dec 2006 and it was just in the changeover period. I think 'serendipity' is the word that covers it, so I'm glad you raised this.

Mine rarely gets used for short trips (we use our old Laguna for those), and I make a point of revving it out in one of the gears (there's a long uphill stretch of dual carriageway nearby) to give the turbo a good spin, and to help clean out the now non-existent DPF!

[John Whyteleafe]

Thanks Quatrelle - hope the MGB still goes well.