HELP PLEASE! Thick smoke and weird noise!

[Ada59]

I currently own an Audi TT Roadster 1.8L Turbo 147BHP.

I bought this car a couple of months ago and last month had a major issue, the car just stopped driving! I called the AA who told me it was the timing belt. I got towed back home and took it to my mechanic (thankfully my next door neighbour) and he fixed my car after about 3 weeks. I'm not too sure what he did, but he ordered a lot of new components including timing belt, valves, etc.

I've had the car back about a week and a half, and yesterday morning on my drive into work I noticed a weird high pitched "wooooooo" sound when accelerating, my wipers shut off mid wipe once, after being turned off/on this solved the issue. I called my mechanic as soon as I got to work who said he'd have a look at it on the weekend.

However, on my drive home from work - things took a turn for the worst. The 'wooooo' sound got much louder when accelerating and became very consistent and all of a sudden thick, grey/black smoke surrounded my car from my exhaust. Then the oil light appeared on my dash. I finished my drive back home (5 minutes away) and the smoke was unbelievable! Pretty bad!

I'm just wondering if anyone knows what the problem may be and how much it may cost to repair?

I have just paid £1,600 for the repairs by my mechanic

Any help would be appreciated!

[eybic]

Could well be turbo as they can make a noise like that when dying. I had an impeller shaft snap once and it sounded like a werewolf.

[Ada59]

Oh God! It did sound like that if I'm honest
Do you know roughly what the cost is to repair?
Thank you!

[eybic]

Turbos are tricky as it all depends what has broken and where it went. Worst case, it could crap bits of metal through the engine or best case you could just need to replace the turbo, best case will be a couple of hundred, worst case- no idea unfortunately.

Have you opened the bonnet? Is there any sign of an oil leak? The oil light coming on should really have prompted you to stop even if it is 5 minutes from home, that's potentially 10,0000 revolutions of the engine without protection (that's if you kept it no more than 2000rpm)

[DaveTheRave87]

Ada59 said:

I currently own an Audi TT Roadster 1.8L Turbo 147BHP.

I bought this car a couple of months ago and last month had a major issue, the car just stopped driving! I called the AA who told me it was the timing belt. I got towed back home and took it to my mechanic (thankfully my next door neighbour) and he fixed my car after about 3 weeks. I'm not too sure what he did, but he ordered a lot of new components including timing belt, valves, etc.

I've had the car back about a week and a half, and yesterday morning on my drive into work I noticed a weird high pitched "wooooooo" sound when accelerating, my wipers shut off mid wipe once, after being turned off/on this solved the issue. I called my mechanic as soon as I got to work who said he'd have a look at it on the weekend.

However, on my drive home from work - things took a turn for the worst. The 'wooooo' sound got much louder when accelerating and became very consistent and all of a sudden thick, grey/black smoke surrounded my car from my exhaust. Then the oil light appeared on my dash. I finished my drive back home (5 minutes away) and the smoke was unbelievable! Pretty bad!

I'm just wondering if anyone knows what the problem may be and how much it may cost to repair?

I have just paid £1,600 for the repairs by my mechanic

Any help would be appreciated!

You're driving an ambulance.

[J4CKO]

Am guessing its a Mk1, my advice would be to not lash loads more money on it until you know exactly what is wrong and be prepared to walk away.

They are very needy old cars now, or can be, mine was and I do a lot of stuff myself, including replacing all the wiper motor and mechanism.

Might not be that bad, pipe come off or something but being honest it sounds pretty bad really.

Sorry, cant be more positive

[Ada59]

eybic said:

Turbos are tricky as it all depends what has broken and where it went. Worst case, it could crap bits of metal through the engine or best case you could just need to replace the turbo, best case will be a couple of hundred, worst case- no idea unfortunately.

Have you opened the bonnet? Is there any sign of an oil leak? The oil light coming on should really have prompted you to stop even if it is 5 minutes from home, that's potentially 10,0000 revolutions of the engine without protection (that's if you kept it no more than 2000rpm)

I was actually on the motorway when the smoke appeared and live about 1 minute from the exit - just due to it being late at night and how long the AA usually take I didn't want to risk stopping on the hard shoulder

My mechanic has my car now and briefly said that it sounds like it might be the turbo too.

Not too sure of the final outcome yet but your answer was really helpful! Thank you!

[jagnet]

If you've driven home with the oil warning light on I wouldn't even contemplate getting the turbo replaced without a thorough inspection of the rest of the engine. The oil pressure warning light is telling you to stop immediately, your engine is already being damaged, not a "check things out at your earliest convenience" message.

It'd take a little while for a broken turbo to burn through a sump full of oil to the point that the warning light came on so I suspect that oil starvation for whatever reason was the root cause and the turbo failing a symptom, which could mean that your engine has been running with low pressure for a while, just not low enough to light the warning lamp.

[steveo3002]

next time you see an oil light on ...that means STOP now , not drive home and ask on the internet about it

good chance driving with low oil pressure has trashed the engine or done massive damage

[Ada59]

steveo3002 said:

next time you see an oil light on ...that means STOP now , not drive home and ask on the internet about it

good chance driving with low oil pressure has trashed the engine or done massive damage

This post is to ask for advice.

Clearly I don't know much about cars otherwise I wouldn't be asking would I.

[E-bmw]

Ada59 said:

steveo3002 said:

next time you see an oil light on ...that means STOP now , not drive home and ask on the internet about it

good chance driving with low oil pressure has trashed the engine or done massive damage

This post is to ask for advice.

Clearly I don't know much about cars otherwise I wouldn't be asking would I.

And, what you have been given sounds like sound advice to me.

[Tony1963]

I’d be going onto WeBuyAnyCar to get a value for the car as it was when working. When the mechanic gives you an estimate for repairs, decide whether you’re willing to give him the go ahead based on car value minus repairs. You’d get something at least for the car as is.

Bummer.

[PositronicRay]

Which oil light? Red (pressure) or Yellow (level)