A3 TDI 170 - White Smoke

[codfather14]

Hi All,

I have an A3 sportback 2L TDI 170 2007. Intermitantly I get white smoke when idling at the lights. The exhaust fumes seem to smell rich and not like normal smoke if that makes sense. When I put my footdown it can momenterally lose power but once warm it seems to be fine. When i shut the power off and put my foot back down it seems to do it more often but again when warm its fine. I have had it plugged in and there ar no fault codes showing. I have been told it could be the EGR Valve? Hoping it wasnt the turbo...

Any help would be much appriciated

Cheers Dave

 

[phil76]

White smoke is normally water,condensation,that could be in fuel or in exhaust etc,if its pale grey smoke on tick over which clears when revved then goes back the same on tick over it could be the turbo,but with out someone properly looking at it these are all just guess work,i cant see it been the turbo or water in the fuel though on a 170,EGR i have never seen one which is suffering with the issues to know what the symptoms are.

 

[retroted]

Is the car loosing any coolant ?

 

[M88UES]

I have this problem with mine, and a shakey idle. but my coolant level is normal. Gettin peee'd off with these problems now. only gt 70k on the clock nd seems all these 170's r fallen apart. surely audi should know about this!!

My 170 stinks of something rich, def not diesel. only had my car a few months and had injectors done then it started with a shakey idle. but always had the smelly white smoke just not noticed it as much till now.

 

[Sidhu88]

I too have this exact same problem. Struggles to start most mornings as well as the smokey idle. Seems to be a little low on power too. From what the guy i bought it from said, its a DPF problem, the car isn't regenerating, he reckoned it needed a force regen, but theres not a massive amount of info about that. The DPF has been replaced once already at the cost of just under 2 grand. I'm not forking out that sorta money, if i find out for sure this is the problem its gonna be removed. I've noticed my batteries not quite upto scratch either. I only get the smoke after the engine has gone completely cold, not just in the mornings. I do however get the overpowering smell, it comes into the cabin aswell even with all the windows closed. Even when fully warm and idling its always there with or without the smoke. The cars going for a service soon so i wana see what audi say, I'm planning to check over and the clean the EGR and i don't know if its possible on this but i may do an EGR delete and see how that works out. If the EGR is causing problems im assuming its putting additional oil into the combustion chambers hence the smoke.

 

[M88UES]

be sure to post the outcome please Sidhu88, so all of us can get an idea of what it could be since we have same faults.

 

[mike foster]

White smoke usually indicates water/coolant in the oil. When you remove the oil filler cap is there any sort of milky emulsion type liquid ?

 

[M88UES]

Checked oil and coolant today . Oil is black and normal . Coolant level normal. Could it be turbo seal a can smell . Although no white smoke when i started it up tday.

 

[M88UES]

Checked yesterday Mike and no milky emulsion just black as normal. Its hard to describe the smell its like burning rubber but couldnt be 100% on that. Ive still got the car under warranty and been in a few days back for a new AUX belt because had a bit of a stuttery start up. Going to have to ask them to look at it again for this smell and constant white smoke, surely the garage seen this when they were testing it on start up. Sick of bothering garages to get it looked at it but if its a serious problem i dont want to be paying for it since i only bought the car 1 month ago.

 

[MyMateDaveDJ]

Brought a 2007 170 TDI Quattro on Friday and noticed this issue as soon as I got it home

Lots of exhaust fumes on startup, regardless of the weather outside. No fumes at all when driving, only when idle.
Turbo is also very whiney now so Im wondering if thats related.
Its my first TDI so I can't say for sure if theres any affect on power, it's driving fine but Im not pushing properly until I can find out more info on this.

Has anyone had any info after getting Audi to diagnose, or any update on this??

 

[immo]

No smoke from mine but it does stink when stationary. A very rich potent smell

 

[evildream]

Just found out this post.
I also brought a 2.0 TDI 170 from 2007 a few months ago.
Is the exhaust strong/acrid smell (no smoke) when on idle normal on this engine - I've had other diesels? I've searched a lot but no conclusions or fixes.
I've spoken with other people with same engine and DPF delete and they say smells the same or worst so I assume it's not DPF related...

 

[Liam Hutchison]

Has anybody fine out what course of this as my 2009 Audi A3 2.0 tdi Quattro idles at 1000rpm and smoke only under power when my fuel gauge goes Below quarter of a timer

 

[aqibi2000]

Just found out this post.
I also brought a 2.0 TDI 170 from 2007 a few months ago.
Is the exhaust strong/acrid smell (no smoke) when on idle normal on this engine - I've had other diesels? I've searched a lot but no conclusions or fixes.
I've spoken with other people with same engine and DPF delete and they say smells the same or worst so I assume it's not DPF related...

Fixed this on my 170 PD by adjusting the Camshaft timing for the exhaust manually, took me a long time to figure out the root cause of trying to find a leak such as replacing the exhaust manifold gasket, DPF to turbo gasket etc etc.

Adjusting the timing was by a few degrees was the fix, did this 2 years ago so can’t recall if it was advancing or retarding but was as verified by locking tools it was not set to factory (with intake cam position checked with Vcds).

This disgusting acidic smell has not returned since, it too only appeared at idle. It’s been fine for well over 2 years now.