S3 emissions fail on Mot

Ryan s3

Ryan s3

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My car failed it's MOT today on emissions.
I have posted on here a lot as I have been suffering with blue smoke.
The car had a De cat fitted so I fitted the original cat prior to the test.
The car chuffed more than I ever had seen before when having it's emission test done, more than I have ever seen before !!!
The tester told me to scrap the car as it's not very well!!
I took the car away and I get a little puff here and there but nothing like when the car was constantly reving at 3k.
The car sat there on idle after and it was smoking out the car park !!
What is the likely issue here do u think ?
 
white smoke? thick smoke or rather thin smoke?

white thick smoke would probably get caused by a faulty pcv sytem. thinner smoke could be a water related problem, like ex. head gasket.
what was the current issue at MOT? high HC ppm and co? or was it lambda related?

edit: just read it's blue smoke. anyway, we need to know what the exact failure is on mot
 
being told to scrap an Audi S3 is a little harsh - they must realise they cost 3 times their value every couple of years.

find the source of the oil being burnt to determine the best route, I doubt you noticed the smoke whilst driving down the road.

scrap value for Audi S3's are still quite good
 
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The car is being looked at on Monday.
If the turbo seals are gone (causing the blue smoke) I presume this will effect emissions ?
The car is lovely just need to get this issue resolved
 
Stuart B said:
being told to scrap an Audi S3 is a little harsh - they must realise they cost 3 times their value every couple of years.

find the source of the oil being burnt to determine the best route, I doubt you noticed the smoke whilst driving down the road.

scrap value for Audi S3's are still quite good
Click to expand...

No u can't see the smoke while driving
When on idle yes and every start of the engine, warm/cold it does not matter.

But while the emmisions test was being done it was worse than ever
 
Something the tester did say was while holding the revs at 3k the engine would not hold and the revs died down.
It never stutters while driving and has a clean pull right across the rev range in every gear
 
What did it fail on? Excessive smoke? What's the mileage? It could be turbo, valve stem seals, PCV or it could be piston rings. There's things to suggest to help diagnose but if it's being looked at tomorrow you might aswell just leave it to them and see what they say.
 
blue smoke - burnt oil, so all your charge pipework may be full of oil...
pull some pipes off and confirm.. throttle body for instance.

you need to determin the source of the oil then.
clean all pipes out, fit catch can and segregate oil breather out of TIP, and run it for a while and see what smoke/oil you get..
 
JonnyDerv said:
What did it fail on? Excessive smoke? What's the mileage? It could be turbo, valve stem seals, PCV or it could be piston rings. There's things to suggest to help diagnose but if it's being looked at tomorrow you might aswell just leave it to them and see what they say.
Click to expand...

Replaced all pcv system recently as was all split when first started getting the smoke.
Failed on fast idle and exssesive smoke for turbo charged engine
 
Right so it's looking like turbo, steam seals or rings. What's the mileage?
 
Any idea if the turbo has been replaced in that time? At that mileage stem seals are a real possibility. Wouldn't account for the stuttering the mot tester is talking about though.

If you can't wait for tomorrow, pop the boost pipes off as Bill suggested and see if there's oil.
 
JonnyDerv said:
Any idea if the turbo has been replaced in that time? At that mileage stem seals are a real possibility. Wouldn't account for the stuttering the mot tester is talking about though.

If you can't wait for tomorrow, pop the boost pipes off as Bill suggested and see if there's oil.
Click to expand...

Got all the history for the car and no turbo according to that.

I checked the MOT history and blue smoke was advised when it was at 75k and on the 2013 MOT

The stutter I spoke about was when he was trying to hold revs at 3 k it seemed to cut the revs and would not hold at 3k.

The car has recently had a new throttle body just before I brought it.

On 2 occasions I have had no throttle response and by leaving the ignition on for a couple of minutes and it seemed to sort it out.

Don't know if it is connected or not ??
 
Sorry guys for all the questions. Just really bugging me at the moment.

I did hear a rotating grinding noise right when I first started noticing the smoke.

Only at slower speed (stuck in traffic )
And it sounded like it was coming from behind the glove box.
Could that be a symptom of a failed turbo ?
 
Turbo's are hard to give a life expectancy for, depends on many factors, but highly plausible it's failing at your mileage. I'd pop the boost pipes off and look for oil.

Sounds to me like you've got some seperate issue going on here, is it mapped? I'm no expert on it but sounds like potentially some kind of map issue or sensor etc. Where are you from? I'd be wanting to get that checked out by someone who knows these engines.
 
JonnyDerv said:
Turbo's are hard to give a life expectancy for, depends on many factors, but highly plausible it's failing at your mileage. I'd pop the boost pipes off and look for oil.

Sounds to me like you've got some seperate issue going on here, is it mapped? I'm no expert on it but sounds like potentially some kind of map issue or sensor etc. Where are you from? I'd be wanting to get that checked out by someone who knows these engines.
Click to expand...

Not mapped as far as I know.
One of the fails on the MOT was no brake lights which was the brake light switch.
I changed it and did discover that a boost gauge has been fitted at some point.
So possible could of been mapped at some point.
I'm from Ashford I'm Kent and any advice would be very helpful.
I'm all for getting it repaired but just fed up of spending in vein.
It's going in to a friends garage tomorrow.
They specialise in commercial vehicles but hopefully they can pin point the issue.
I'm ok with the spanners, I can do a cam belt, change a clutch etc but this is over my head.
I just need somebody to diagnose and I think are be ok from there
 
Should be straight forward to diagnose the oil burning. The other issue I would want looking at by someone in the know if it was me. AKS is not far from you if you don't want to travel far. Never been myself but heard good things about Alex and staff there. Hopefully some more knowledge members will contribute with a better idea of what that issue could be.
 
JonnyDerv said:
Should be straight forward to diagnose the oil burning. The other issue I would want looking at by someone in the know if it was me. AKS is not far from you if you don't want to travel far. Never been myself but heard good things about Alex and staff there. Hopefully some more knowledge members will contribute with a better idea of what that issue could be.
Click to expand...
Ok.
Do u have an address/phone number for these guys ?
This is the first turbo car I have owned
Could a problem with a previous map cause poor emissions and smoke ?
 
Contact Information
A map could cause emissions to be high but not smoke. Only impact a map would have on smoke is if it's running too much boost or the higher than stock boost has caused the turbo to wear quicker. At 126k mileage, running stock a turbo would be getting tired regardless.

Personally I see it as two different problems. Smoke is a mechanical issue (rings, stem seals or turbo) and the other issue you mentioned is electrical (map, sensor etc). Other than a map contributing to a quicker wear rate on a turbo I don't see them as being connected.
 
JonnyDerv said:
Contact Information
A map could cause emissions to be high but not smoke. Only impact a map would have on smoke is if it's running too much boost or the higher than stock boost has caused the turbo to wear quicker. At 126k mileage, running stock a turbo would be getting tired regardless.

Personally I see it as two different problems. Smoke is a mechanical issue (rings, stem seals or turbo) and the other issue you mentioned is electrical (map, sensor etc). Other than a map contributing to a quicker wear rate on a turbo I don't see them as being connected.
Click to expand...
Thank you
 
What about Bill at Badger 5? Why not phone him and see if he can fit you and have a quick look to help you find out the cause of ur blue smoke. If i remember rightly you have had this now for a few months cause i remember you saying about changing ur pcv system to new pipes and it not helping. Hope you get this sorted soon as possible mate.
 
Ok ,
Had a call about the car. They didn't get to spend much time on it and will be keeping it another day.
Found some oil in the down pipe but will give me another update tomorrow.
I do hope it's not awful news !!!
 
There was always going to be oil in the downpipe if it's burning oil (rings, turbo, stem seals)
 
JonnyDerv said:
Depends if he's willing to travel from Kent or not. AKS are nearby.
Click to expand...

lol Bedford is not near Kent its about a 5/6 hour round trip + 2 hours in AKS with nothing but Tavistock Street Massage Parlours :).
(depending of course on whereabouts in Kent)
 
Ryan s3 said:
Ok ,
Had a call about the car. They didn't get to spend much time on it and will be keeping it another day.
Found some oil in the down pipe but will give me another update tomorrow.
I do hope it's not awful news !!!
Click to expand...

why are they taking off the downpipe? I assume you mean charge pipe!
 
Stuart B said:
lol Bedford is not near Kent its about a 5/6 hour round trip + 2 hours in AKS with nothing but Tavistock Street Massage Parlours :).
(depending of course on whereabouts in Kent)
Click to expand...

Yeah if you drive like Miss daisy or live in like the furthest part of Kent such as Folkestone. It's like 4 hours round trip from Maidstone. Its still closer than Gloucester.
 
I was surprised when someone drove from just the other side of the Dartford Tunnel to get to me in 1.5 hours on Saturday night - but they said they were not hanging around - considering the M25 to the A1 is average speed cameras I'm surprised they didn't go up the M11 then across at Duxford but I am 30 minutes from oakley - I bought my first car from there a T Reg 1.1 Mark 2 escort was a 1.3 lump in beige it was £275 and the insurance was £275 - safe

to be fair I wouldn't dare drive an S3 more than 20 miles at a time - without a support crew following :)
 
There not that bad I got mine on 124,000 drove 24,000 in the 1st year with a boot full of tools and never had any real issues Apart from a dodgy haldex it was the second year all my headaches started
 
yeah I'm on my 3rd year where all the previous repairs need dong again :D still waiting for a high pressure power steering pipe to arrive.
 
Ok.
I've got the car through mot and it failed due to the lamba sensors.
This was the reason for the emmisions problem not the blue smoke as I thought.
I have quite a bit of play in the turbo and this would be the first fix for the car and then see what happens after.
If anybody knows of a used turbo for BAM engine code in good condition I would be very interested.
Looks a bit of a pig of a job.
Would the best way to change it be from underneath or from the top of the engine bay ??
 
There is a quite a lot of s3's on ebay and gumtree of people breaking them. Im sure if you have a read threw some of them soom might have what you need. Im no expert on fiiting turbo's but i think its from the top you work from.
 
Best bet is probably eBay for a turbo unless you want to contact somewhere like turbo dynamics for a new one.

Fit the turbo from the bottom, it's a bitch of a job and will involve, subframe drop, downpipe out the way, can't remember if you need to drop the transfer box or can get round it. Personally I would get a garage to do it unless you're very competent with spanners.
 
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