hi all, i was on the motor way when my a4 tsi sport lost power, when i came off the motor way it started to make a spining noise, so i pulled over ,then it started smoking( i mean smoking so bad i called the fire brigade) , i turned off the ignition & removed the key but it was though the accelarator was jammed & it was on full revs ( remember no keys!) .It eventually stopped after about 5/10 mins when the fire brigade turned up one of the crew recalled a similar situation where it was down to a sensor on the cat, i have no clue under an engine, but hope someone who as experienced this may be able to shed some light please? thank you!
HELP!! smoking a4 also loss of power
- Thread starter mickyd82
- Start date
chrisash32
Registered User
Sounds like engine runaway. Im no mechanic, but ive read about engines that begin burning the engine oil, then get to the point where cutting the ignition does nothing. The engine runs , gathering speed , til either the oil runs out, or blows up, or seizes etc. Read about a Mazda 6 with dpf (diesel particulate filter) doing something similar, his oil to diesel ratio was way off. Think theres a few vids on youtube of this phenomenon.
chrisash32
Registered User
Thats exactly the point i was going to get to with my above question loll..
I am told it usually happens if you put too much oil in.
i would say it sounds like turbo seal failure with the engine running on the oil, although that is unusual for a petrol engine, normally more common to run away on diesel engines as petrol engine need a spark to ignite the fuel/air mix. To add to that, petrol engines compression is not enough to create the heat required on squish to ignite the oil residue... Hmmmm thinks
does that happen a lot as that is rather scary
http://www.youtube.com/watch#v=5zx3qKX_Pno&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch#v=5zx3qKX_Pno&feature=related
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scary though to think about i watched a other video on there where a guz was talking about it and what not to do and how to stop it if it happens
take off the air intake im thinking air box and stuff what ever rag you have in it to stop the air getting at it. and then its just a new turbo. or so he says.
take off the air intake im thinking air box and stuff what ever rag you have in it to stop the air getting at it. and then its just a new turbo. or so he says.
Why didnt you just stall the engine in top gear , all this talk of runaway engines and ragging up inlet baffles me
also ive only experienced this in my job with diesels that when hot will run up on there own oil for various reasons one of them being an overfilled sump and drawing oil up through a breather to name but one
never heard of petrols running on there own oil they would foul the plugs up and stop .
also ive only experienced this in my job with diesels that when hot will run up on there own oil for various reasons one of them being an overfilled sump and drawing oil up through a breather to name but one
never heard of petrols running on there own oil they would foul the plugs up and stop .
not sure of all the resons just had a look on line as the guy that just had it happen asked.
and it said mostly when the turbo leaks oil.
and it said mostly when the turbo leaks oil.
sorry all it is a tdi, i havnt topped oil up since 31st december when i was going on holiday, it did drive after but there was no power! im no mechanic so im baffled to why this has happened , but i will check if theres oil in the turbo tommorow, and keep you all posted, thanks all!
thanksYes the engine did stop after about 5 mins, So is this gonna sting me a few quid? anyone ever had this happen to them?
It's never happened to me thank god but i have seen it a few times in my job. You are very lucky that it did not rev to destruction as thats usually the case as a conrod tends to pop out the side of the block. I'm guessing your turbo is shot due to the excessive smoke then loss of power but you need to get it checked out pronto. Don't drive it anymore if you can get away with it and if it does rev out again do as suggested above and stall it in a high gear. Good luck.
Cheers its getting checked tommorow , and definitly wont be gettin driven lol ,hope its wot u say, but il keep u posted, and thanks again
if it is the turbo thats mangled can i only put the same type on or is it possible 2 put a bigger 1 on, (mines a 1.9tdi sport 100bhp) so would it poss 2 put say 1 off a 130bhp and so on ? and would it make much difference in power? thanks
hi, it was a white/grey & was spinning AS though i was dragging something along! everything seems to point to the turbo, but why did it carry on reving up( runaway) if its a turbo problem? also my wife just mentioned to me she thought it was slightly over reving in idle over the last couple of days! thanks again all
When the turbo goes the oil seals let oil into the inlet manifold which is burnt by the engine quite happily. The engine just keeps revving as there is no way for the management system to control it as the oil is leaking into the inlet manifold. The smoke is a combination of burnt oil through the inlet manifold and unburnt through the exhaust side again from the turbo seals. The scaping noises are either debris from the turbo or the turbine rubbing on the housing.
So ive been on the phone to a good friend of mine, (top mechanic) , he says the same but he has told me to make sure theres plenty oil in it, then remove the hose from the turbo & see if it spits oil out( which he says it will def be a new turbo) but hes also advised me to check all pipes / hoses for splits etc, does this sound about right?
If it is the turbo will it mean cleaning the inlet manifold, and replacing turbo, then job SHOULD be a gud un? thanks
Forgot to mention he is coming tommorow to check it over, im just eager to find out as much as poss, thanks again
Ideally you need to work along the outlet pipe from turbo to the IC & check this all the way to the intake mani for any debri/oil as mine flew into the IC & oil all way through, the oil literally ran out of the IC, so do it all along as little pieces of metal in the engine dont bode well with other parts huh, if the impellor shaft etc got damaged that is, dont chance anything.
hi all, quick update, cleaned all pipes/hoses, fitted a recon turbo, brilliant running sweet as a nut! for about an hour, drove it around locally as there was still a small amount of smoke from the exhaust( prob excess oil that remained) , smoke cleared then i went onto the local parkway(a road) to collect the wife from work, got upto around 60mph & it just lost power but no smoke this time! i now believe that the amount of oil through the exhaust as knackered the cat converter! anyone had this happen? does this sound right? thanks mick
Did you clean out the IC aswell as mine had loads sitting in it, did you clean through to the intake manifold, I removed mine & cleaned it out aswell, did you remove the cat & let the oil run out, I ran some water & some cleaner through my cat a few times to help & it seemed to work as I havnt had any issues since, leaving the oil in the cat doesnt help at all.
HI vcds, i cleaned out ic, however i never cleaned out the cat, is this what youd recommend? think it may solve the problem? cheers
Was the turbo recon or secondhand? Does it lose power when you accelerate up hill i'e under full boost? if so try switching ignition on the off and see if the power comes back.
hi, recon turbo, theres power until you get to about 60mph then goes flat, but when you turn off ignition it gains power again! going to have cat off tommorow & flush it as it is still spitting spots of oil from the exhaust so may be a chance the cat still as a good bit of oil inside! what were you thinking? many thanks
It's going into limp home mode you need to get it scanned. I'm thinking sticking turbo vanes but if it's recon it shoudn't be.
Turbo is fine (been checked) ,apparantly becos no lights on dash cannot scan for codes , now i really are baffled! thanks
That doesnt mean anything mate, you can still have codes thrown without lights, so get it scanned anyway as it may or may not have codes there to check.
