Stinky White Smoke!

[peacdun]

Hi everyone, just want to ask if anyone else has had the same "Characteristic" as my A4 Diesel SE 170 2.0, When 1st starting it up and sitting in the driveway, the white smoke out the exhausts smells and is quite dense. Read a couple of things on other NOT so good forums relating to the issue and they say to look to the head gasket but I thought the exhaust smoke would be more black than anything - burning oil??

It's my 1st diesel so not really sure what to expect....is this normal??? this forum normally sets me straight so fingers crossed this time too!

[iwaters]

It could just be water vapour. Especially at this time of year with the ambeint temperature being cooler you will see a lot more water vapour in exhausts. Does it go away once the engine has warmed up? If not then water is getting into the cylinders.

If there was a problem with your head gakset you would notice a problem with the performance of the engine. I assume there are no other symptoms?

[peacdun]

It could just be water vapour. Especially at this time of year with the ambeint temperature being cooler you will see a lot more water vapour in exhausts. Does it go away once the engine has warmed up? If not then water is getting into the cylinders.

If there was a problem with your head gakset you would notice a problem with the performance of the engine. I assume there are no other symptoms?

Cheers iwaters,

I've just taken it round to the local garage and they say the head gasket could be on it's way out as there's oil coming in to the water, the engine is rocking quite agressively stood still and there's a proformance issue there's no power at some points and then it catches you out! Not looking forward to the bill!!!

[iwaters]

Have the garage done a compression test? That would be a good idea, will identify if the gasket is going/gone or if the head is cracked.

Just hope it is the gasket and not the head.

[peacdun]

Have the garage done a compression test? That would be a good idea, will identify if the gasket is going/gone or if the head is cracked.

Just hope it is the gasket and not the head.

They haven't, I've taken it back to the place where I bought it and they're going to get their mechanics to have look over it, on further inspection there's smoke backing up and coming out of the dip stick and oil cap, oil in the header tank, powers been all over the place, engines rocking something cronic on stand still! Luckily it's still under warranty, just hope they pass it over to the local Audi garage as their mechanics aren't properly versed on the different parts as well as the Audi ones.......also asked if they would look and clean out the egr valve as the cars done 100K! Just a waiting game now to see if they actually do something! Sorry to ramble on!

[a8 tech]

Hi everyone, just want to ask if anyone else has had the same "Characteristic" as my A4 Diesel SE 170 2.0, When 1st starting it up and sitting in the driveway, the white smoke out the exhausts smells and is quite dense. Read a couple of things on other NOT so good forums relating to the issue and they say to look to the head gasket but I thought the exhaust smoke would be more black than anything - burning oil??

It's my 1st diesel so not really sure what to expect....is this normal??? this forum normally sets me straight so fingers crossed this time too!

Quite normal for this time of year and firstly you can not carry out a compression test on a 2.0 pd diesel but you can check the coolant level and the oil as well as smooth idle for injection deviation which would show a weak cylinder.

If there is coolant loss then unfortunately with this engine its either the cylinder head has a small hair line crack or the egr cooler is leaking into the exhaust manifold.

To test the cooler remove it and look for coolant traces, for the head then remove the exhaust manifold and pressure test the coolant for 48 hours and look inside the exhaust ports for signs of coolant.

Tell tale signs of coolant entering the cylinders (lumpy idle and delayed staring from cold or after leaving the vehicle for a couple of days)

However I suggest this is normal as my own 1.9 pd does this from cold overnight temperatures as well as my 1.7 dti astra van

Oil in the header tank suggest the common oil cooler failure, these engines breath very heavily so if you remove the dip stick or oil filler cap then it will appear
excessive but its normal,unless its really bad then this suggest the egr flap has broken away from the spindles and would explain the strong white smelly smoke and poor running

Uneven idle suggest the exhaust cam is incorrect after a cambelt (check mvb 4 zone 4 it should be 2.5) or egr flow due to soot build up keeping the flap open slightly and last but most expensive the injector seats are pitted dropping fuel pressure check mvb 13 if deviating negatively one one or more then remove the injector and check the head for pitting, if pitted replace the head.
Thats all for now without any fault codes or mvb to ponder over

[peacdun]

Quite normal for this time of year and firstly you can not carry out a compression test on a 2.0 pd diesel but you can check the coolant level and the oil as well as smooth idle for injection deviation which would show a weak cylinder.

If there is coolant loss then unfortunately with this engine its either the cylinder head has a small hair line crack or the egr cooler is leaking into the exhaust manifold.

To test the cooler remove it and look for coolant traces, for the head then remove the exhaust manifold and pressure test the coolant for 48 hours and look inside the exhaust ports for signs of coolant.

Tell tale signs of coolant entering the cylinders (lumpy idle and delayed staring from cold or after leaving the vehicle for a couple of days)

However I suggest this is normal as my own 1.9 pd does this from cold overnight temperatures as well as my 1.7 dti astra van

Oil in the header tank suggest the common oil cooler failure, these engines breath very heavily so if you remove the dip stick or oil filler cap then it will appear
excessive but its normal,unless its really bad then this suggest the egr flap has broken away from the spindles and would explain the strong white smelly smoke and poor running

Uneven idle suggest the exhaust cam is incorrect after a cambelt (check mvb 4 zone 4 it should be 2.5) or egr flow due to soot build up keeping the flap open slightly and last but most expensive the injector seats are pitted dropping fuel pressure check mvb 13 if deviating negatively one one or more then remove the injector and check the head for pitting, if pitted replace the head.
Thats all for now without any fault codes or mvb to ponder over

Cheers for the info A8 tech very much appreciated, might print the details off and give it to their mechanics as I'm not sure they know what they're doing....like I said was hoping they would just send it to the Audi garage and be done. There's another 2 months of warranty and didn't want them to fudge it and then everything falls apart after! is there any way of checking work like this after they have supposed to have completed it???
As you can tell I'm not much of an mechanic but pick things up along the way and this site is great for picking up tips when looking at problems from people such as yourself. so thank you for your reply.

Also Sorry to be a total noob but MVB?? you lost me with the zones thing. If you don;t mind explaining or point me in the right direction? cheers

[a8 tech]

Sorry its in depth but ask them to check the egr valve operation and in particular the flap as the weld brakes away from the spindle which in turn either shuts of the port or allows excess egr flow.
Good luck

[peacdun]

Sorry its in depth but ask them to check the egr valve operation and in particular the flap as the weld brakes away from the spindle which in turn either shuts of the port or allows excess egr flow.
Good luck

Will do, yet again thank you for your posts

[patrickhorton]

Peacdun - You are not alone with this problem (me too, same engine). Although you don't say, I suspect the engine is "stinky white smoke" free and smooth idling when warm. Also it may be ok from stone cold for the first couple of minutes?

One point of warning, unless you do a lot of long journeys, I don't recommend warming this type of engine up on the drive on cold mornings (i.e. in stinky smoke mode) else you'll have other issues. If like mine, even when cold the rich running that you are seeing does not happen out on the road - just when idling.

Patrick