Touareg 3.0 TDI smoke on idle
Discussion
The car is a 2006 3.0 TDI V6 with 108k on it.
Only bought the car a week ago from the gent who has owned it all its life (maybe this is why he sold it).
Got in the car this morning, got onto the M1 and there was a crash so pretty much stationary traffic. Looked in my rear view mirror and smoke (it was dark but just looked like normal browny smoke) was coming from the rear on idle.
Quite a lot but not exactly bellowing out.
As soon as I started moving, it clears up and under any load, there was no smoke to be seen, only when idling.
I did notice on the way home on Friday that when I pulled away from a bit of traffic after idling, there was a tiny amount of smoke when pulling away but nothing like this morning.
Got the car running right now and it's up to temp and there's a bit of smoke coming out the exhausts. Just revved it a bit and more comes out but is that just clearing out what might be stuck in the exhaust?
Just smells like a dirty diesel and isn't blue/white in colour.
Any ideas?
Only bought the car a week ago from the gent who has owned it all its life (maybe this is why he sold it).
Got in the car this morning, got onto the M1 and there was a crash so pretty much stationary traffic. Looked in my rear view mirror and smoke (it was dark but just looked like normal browny smoke) was coming from the rear on idle.
Quite a lot but not exactly bellowing out.
As soon as I started moving, it clears up and under any load, there was no smoke to be seen, only when idling.
I did notice on the way home on Friday that when I pulled away from a bit of traffic after idling, there was a tiny amount of smoke when pulling away but nothing like this morning.
Got the car running right now and it's up to temp and there's a bit of smoke coming out the exhausts. Just revved it a bit and more comes out but is that just clearing out what might be stuck in the exhaust?
Just smells like a dirty diesel and isn't blue/white in colour.
Any ideas?
Edited by rich12 on Monday 6th January 10:07
Is it well serviced, decent air filter, decent diesel in the tank etc? Might be worth giving it a general once over, some fancy diesel in the tank combined with your choice of snake oil and then an Italian tune up and see if it improves.
Is the guy you bought it off likely to have stretched it’s legs at all do you reckon?
I’m not sure if the engine is variable vane or twin turbo. If it’s the former it’s possible it’s gunked up through lack of exercise. Any other symptoms; Lack of power, poor consumption of crap idle?
Is the guy you bought it off likely to have stretched it’s legs at all do you reckon?
I’m not sure if the engine is variable vane or twin turbo. If it’s the former it’s possible it’s gunked up through lack of exercise. Any other symptoms; Lack of power, poor consumption of crap idle?
Demelitia said:
Is it well serviced, decent air filter, decent diesel in the tank etc? Might be worth giving it a general once over, some fancy diesel in the tank combined with your choice of snake oil and then an Italian tune up and see if it improves.
Is the guy you bought it off likely to have stretched it’s legs at all do you reckon?
I’m not sure if the engine is variable vane or twin turbo. If it’s the former it’s possible it’s gunked up through lack of exercise. Any other symptoms; Lack of power, poor consumption of crap idle?
It was well serviced up to about 18 months ago but as it's only done 10k since it's last service I think the guy hasn't bothered.Is the guy you bought it off likely to have stretched it’s legs at all do you reckon?
I’m not sure if the engine is variable vane or twin turbo. If it’s the former it’s possible it’s gunked up through lack of exercise. Any other symptoms; Lack of power, poor consumption of crap idle?
Just getting a wheel bearing replaced then was going to do a oil/filter change.
I did wonder if it was just lack of use but didn't want to get my hopes up.
There is no lack of power, idles perfectly etc, just dirty smoke coming out.
I did want to change the oil and go all Italian on it but didn't want to just incase it was the turbo or similar and I completely reck it.
It was last MOT'd in Feb and has done less than 2,000 miles since then.
Oh and the oil is very black (Perfect amount but very black when looking on the dipstick/cap)
Edited by rich12 on Monday 6th January 14:32
How handy are you with the Spanners?
Is there easy access to the breather valve off the crankcase to see how much oil is going back in to the intake from there? Lots of short journeys and no right foot can see it build up in the intake and intercooler pipework on some cars, although I’m not sure how your engine is set up.
Whilst you’re in the area, it probably won’t be the hardest thing to take the pipe off the turbo and see if the turbo is swimming in oil.
For what it’s worth, I do think doing two oil changes around a weeks worth of good driving apart with an engine flush in the first set of oil you put in just before changing to the second isnt a bad idea on any car with less than an immaculate service history. It barely costs anything and helps liberate a lot of crap that might have built up in the engine before you bought it.
I’m not sure about your engine in particular so my advice is a bit generic, sorry.
Is there easy access to the breather valve off the crankcase to see how much oil is going back in to the intake from there? Lots of short journeys and no right foot can see it build up in the intake and intercooler pipework on some cars, although I’m not sure how your engine is set up.
Whilst you’re in the area, it probably won’t be the hardest thing to take the pipe off the turbo and see if the turbo is swimming in oil.
For what it’s worth, I do think doing two oil changes around a weeks worth of good driving apart with an engine flush in the first set of oil you put in just before changing to the second isnt a bad idea on any car with less than an immaculate service history. It barely costs anything and helps liberate a lot of crap that might have built up in the engine before you bought it.
I’m not sure about your engine in particular so my advice is a bit generic, sorry.
That's a very helpful post so thanks.
Picked it up from the garage this evening and got onto a dual carriage way and kept going up and down the gears and no smoke at all. Got to traffic on the M1 and couldn't see any so hopefully I can service it tomorrow and go out for a proper blast and see if that helps.
Either it will help or I'll be calling the AA with a very serious engine issue.
Picked it up from the garage this evening and got onto a dual carriage way and kept going up and down the gears and no smoke at all. Got to traffic on the M1 and couldn't see any so hopefully I can service it tomorrow and go out for a proper blast and see if that helps.
Either it will help or I'll be calling the AA with a very serious engine issue.
rich12 said:
That's a very helpful post so thanks.
Picked it up from the garage this evening and got onto a dual carriage way and kept going up and down the gears and no smoke at all. Got to traffic on the M1 and couldn't see any so hopefully I can service it tomorrow and go out for a proper blast and see if that helps.
Either it will help or I'll be calling the AA with a very serious engine issue.
That’s good to hear; hopefully it just needed the cobwebs blowing away. Let us know if it goes back to smoking. Picked it up from the garage this evening and got onto a dual carriage way and kept going up and down the gears and no smoke at all. Got to traffic on the M1 and couldn't see any so hopefully I can service it tomorrow and go out for a proper blast and see if that helps.
Either it will help or I'll be calling the AA with a very serious engine issue.
Nothing to report this morning but the traffic wasn't too bad so not a direct comparison.
Have changed the oil which desperately needed doing so hopefully that helps things.
I'd love to know why VW thought it would be a good idea to put the sump plug directly above a cross member. Oil went EVERYWHERE!!
Have changed the oil which desperately needed doing so hopefully that helps things.
I'd love to know why VW thought it would be a good idea to put the sump plug directly above a cross member. Oil went EVERYWHERE!!
It's happening still. Obviously haven't had similar styles of traffic.
Only ever happens when stuck in traffic for more than say a minute and once I start driving it will stop doing it.
Googling comes up with valve stem seals but it never does it on start up or when the engine isnt up to temp.
Only ever happens when stuck in traffic for more than say a minute and once I start driving it will stop doing it.
Googling comes up with valve stem seals but it never does it on start up or when the engine isnt up to temp.
Tony1963 said:
E-bmw said:
If it happens more in cold conditions it is quite likely to be just steam.
Steam is clear. The white clouds you see are condensing water vapour. The OP has said a few times which colour it is. However the word "steam" is generally used to refer to "wet steam" as in water vapour, which is to what I was referring. So that part of your statement is correct.
You are right the OP has said it isn't white, but he has also said it smells like "a dirty diesel smell" and I for one don't know what a dirty diesel smell is, hence why I had to mention the possibility again.
If it is diesel then the car is over-fueling & so not burning all of the fuel being injected, but that isn't "dirty diesel", so no joy there.
The OP also says it was brown, which he saw in the dark through the rear window presumably with his tail lights on, and I for one can't see how that colour combination would be possible to be categorical about under those circumstances.
The 6th of January was a cold morning IIRC.
If there were other symptoms I would have thought they would be obvious to the OP.
I still say it is likely wet steam/water vapour & the easy way to tell is start the car & see how much it "smokes" get it up to temperature & make sure the exhaust itself is hot towards the rear & then see how much it does it.
If it dissipates rapidly it is also likely to be wet steam/water vapour, put your hand in it whilst it is at its worst, does it feel like diesel.
GreenV8S said:
Spirited driving shouldn't cause error codes, so the codes you saw could be a clue to the problem. Did you save them?
I cleared them but obviously took those photos if that's what you mean by saving them?In regards to a dirty diesel smell.. You know when you see proper ropey old diesel cars when they floor it and you're left with a plume of smoke behind it.. That!
Just so I can get it out my head, is it possible for there to be a blockage somewhere and unless the car is under load, it can't get through the exhaust?
rich12 said:
Just so I can get it out my head, is it possible for there to be a blockage somewhere and unless the car is under load, it can't get through the exhaust?
No. If anything the opposite is possible in that at higher loads it is possible for a cat to be blocked enough to not flow enough exhaust gas & to limit the performance.
E-bmw said:
No.
If anything the opposite is possible in that at higher loads it is possible for a cat to be blocked enough to not flow enough exhaust gas & to limit the performance.
Hmm maybe I'll look into the egr fault then. If anything the opposite is possible in that at higher loads it is possible for a cat to be blocked enough to not flow enough exhaust gas & to limit the performance.
I hope it's nothing too serious (expensive) as I really like this car but having just spent £600 on wheel bearings and an oil service, I don't have much money to spend on it.
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