Exhaust giving out lots of smoke?

[hussnainh8]

Hi,

Bought myself a edition 30 modified to 347BHP but having a slight problem ... Took the car too its top speed 2 days ago and when I realised it was nearly on red line I let the accelerator go and started braking so I didnt actually hit red line! Any way.. I then stopped at my work place and left the car running because I had just been blasting it and while I left it idling, I could hear the exhaust popping a bit on idle.. I didnt think much of it but then I blipped the accelerator to around 2000 RPM and heard a loud bang/pop in the exhaust and a lot of smoke coming out of the exhaust.. Looks exactly like this guys smoke ..

Got really scared and turned it off after 15minutes and my brother said top the oil so even though I had checked it the night before and it was on half, I thought lets top it up a bit more. Started the car up again and slowly took it home yet there is still a lot of smoke coming out of the exhaust. Everything runs as normal boost is kicking in as it should and the oil level and coolant level seem the same as well so what could it be?

Scanned with VAGCOM and VAGCOM shows this engine fault: 001089 - EVAP Emission Control Sys: Incorrect Flow P0441 - 002 - Intermittent

Can this fault cause the exaust to smoke badly and hear loud popping noises in the exhaust as if its trying to burn something?
 
Ever since the car still runs perfectly fine other than it smoking in first gear.. If I drive calmly there is no smoke or anything. Does the code have any thing to do with a lot of smoke coming out of the exhaust? the catalytic converter is a sports cat with life time guarantee and was only replaced a few months ago.. Can it be on its way out?

Thank You .. Would appreciate if any one can guide me on this as I do not want to dish out money on random parts.

[Juliand]

What does it smell like? What was the oil level after the incident, but prior to you putting more in?

Could it be oil burning?

Nearly red lining in top gear / top speed - what the heck were you playing at? Sounds like you ragged the ar*e off it.

Someone will have some more  expert knowledge / more constructive comment, hopefully......

[pudding]

There's only 2 ways a turbo engine can make smoke like that.

1) Oil gets past the turbo seals and burns in the exhaust.....but the turbo would be royally f'cked to make THAT much smoke.

2) Oil gets burned in the cylinders, which can be caused by cracked pistons, knackered valve guides, scratched bore, PCV dumping a ton of oil into the inlet after a hard boost session.

I would get it compression / leak down tested to confirm, but it could be a cracked piston.  Certainly sounds like it from your description.  The popping you heard was probably misfiring from a cylinder(s) being choked with oil.....and then out comes the smoke.

Also check the plugs for oil fouling.

[hussnainh8]

What does it smell like? What was the oil level after the incident, but prior to you putting more in?

Could it be oil burning?

Nearly red lining in top gear / top speed - what the heck were you playing at? Sounds like you ragged the ar*e off it.

Someone will have some more  expert knowledge / more constructive comment, hopefully......

There really was no certain smell of anything .. and I wouldnt know what the oil level was prior to putting more in because the engine was hot and I didnt have the time to wait there till it cooled down.. I know definately the night before the oil level was half way unless it sucked it all!!

I thought oil burning was a blue or green smoke? I was trying to show somebody the power of it and they where doing 120mph so I had to go faster and ended up at nearly 160mph.

Thanks for the reply.

[hussnainh8]

There's only 2 ways a turbo engine can make smoke like that.

1) Oil gets past the turbo seals and burns in the exhaust.....but the turbo would be royally f'cked to make THAT much smoke.

2) Oil gets burned in the cylinders, which can be caused by cracked pistons, knackered valve guides, scratched bore, PCV dumping a ton of oil into the inlet after a hard boost session.

I would get it compression / leak down tested to confirm, but it could be a cracked piston.  Certainly sounds like it from your description.  The popping you heard was probably misfiring from a cylinder(s) being choked with oil.....and then out comes the smoke.

Also check the plugs for oil fouling.

Hello

Thank you for the reply.. 1) the turbo was replaced on the car when it was on around 100k miles .. now its on 108k miles so turbo is pretty much new.. it was a reconditioned unit and it still works perfectly fine when giving it some gas.

2) funny that i say but the engine was also rebuilt the same time that the turbo was replaced.. the engine had actually seized up previously as the previous owner was racing with the car and the oil light had come on which he didnt pay attention too so it cost him a lot however he got the engine rebuilt by VW themselves and had the timing belt and turbo replaced as well exactly the same time so can it really be a cracked piston??

Also if a piston or anything was cracked or damaged then surely the car wouldnt drive perfectly like it is now? Dont know much about engine internals but surely it wouldnt be performing like it is? The only problem i have got is the evap fault and the smoke from exhaust... other than that.. the car drives perfectly normal and boost kicks in as it should..

Thank you.

[splashalot]

White smoke can be a head gasket.  Is there any coffee-coloured sludge inside the oil filler cap?

[Dan_FR]

That looks like oil smoke to me, and a lot leaking past the turbo.

Code is unrelated, sports cat is quite possibly ruined now with that much oil going through it....

Do you have one of those silly PCV deletes fitted? If so, refit the standard PCV and see if it helps

[pudding]

There's only 2 ways a turbo engine can make smoke like that.

1) Oil gets past the turbo seals and burns in the exhaust.....but the turbo would be royally f'cked to make THAT much smoke.

2) Oil gets burned in the cylinders, which can be caused by cracked pistons, knackered valve guides, scratched bore, PCV dumping a ton of oil into the inlet after a hard boost session.

I would get it compression / leak down tested to confirm, but it could be a cracked piston.  Certainly sounds like it from your description.  The popping you heard was probably misfiring from a cylinder(s) being choked with oil.....and then out comes the smoke.

Also check the plugs for oil fouling.

Hello

Thank you for the reply.. 1) the turbo was replaced on the car when it was on around 100k miles .. now its on 108k miles so turbo is pretty much new.. it was a reconditioned unit and it still works perfectly fine when giving it some gas.

2) funny that i say but the engine was also rebuilt the same time that the turbo was replaced.. the engine had actually seized up previously as the previous owner was racing with the car and the oil light had come on which he didnt pay attention too so it cost him a lot however he got the engine rebuilt by VW themselves and had the timing belt and turbo replaced as well exactly the same time so can it really be a cracked piston??

Also if a piston or anything was cracked or damaged then surely the car wouldnt drive perfectly like it is now? Dont know much about engine internals but surely it wouldnt be performing like it is? The only problem i have got is the evap fault and the smoke from exhaust... other than that.. the car drives perfectly normal and boost kicks in as it should..

Thank you.

An engine can still run OK with a damaged piston......to a point, and then it will smoke / misfire.  It's only because you mentioned misfiring that I suspected a piston, and it's a very common problem on these engines when tuners request ridiculous boost pressures from the tiny little stock turbo.  Running double the standard pressure can also kill off the turbo bearings quicker unless running a top notch oil.  But as Dan said, it could just be oil leaking into the exhaust past the turbo seals if it's smoking like the video.  Hence why it needs some further testing to confirm.

160mph on public roads     Be careful man.....if you get caught at that speed, things won't go well for you!

[hussnainh8]

White smoke can be a head gasket.  Is there any coffee-coloured sludge inside the oil filler cap?

Hi,

There are no coffee coloured sludge marks inside the oil filler cap.. The coolant level is the same as when I bought the car from him 4 days ago and the oil is also still perfectly level. Why would the head gasket be gone when I had only accelerated it to 6000RPM and ones I saw the speed, I let go of the accelerator? The previous owner tells me the car can easily take 170mph so you doing 160mph shouldnt have blown the engine or messed with the turbo.. its all not making any sense.. Im not even driving it because I dont want to do more damage to it :(

Thanks for the reply..

[hussnainh8]

That looks like oil smoke to me, and a lot leaking passed the turbo.

Code is unrelated, sports car is quite possibly ruined now with that much oil going through it....

Do you have one of those silly PCV deletes fitted? If so, refit the standard PCV and see if it helps

The oil level is still perfectly fine and how could the turbo seals or the turbo have gone bust when a reconditioned turbo was fitted to it only 8000 miles ago? Turbo's dont give up after only 8000 miles! :( No it still has the standard PCV valve on it.. I thought it could be that so I asked the previous owner when he replaced that and he said he never did.. so potentially, the same PCV valve is on the car for 2 years! Was actually thinking to delete the PCV valve so that I do not get any problems in the future from the PCV valve.. Maybe the PCV valve has gone but its not showing any errors related to it?

Thanks for your reply.

[pudding]

Factory ED30 is limited to 155mph, and only runs 0.9 bar boost.

Your car is very different.  Double that boost and derestricted.  The turbo gets mega hot when nailing it round to those speeds because of gearing and wind resistances.  99% of people rarely exceed 100mph in this country, too many people, too many sh*t drivers, too dangerous.  160-170 is uncharted territory for these cars and UK tuners.  Max speed they see is flat out in 4th on the dyno, so 120ish.  In other words, although you may not understand it, it is possible to cause damage to a tuned engine running it flat out for an extended period.

[hussnainh8]

There's only 2 ways a turbo engine can make smoke like that.

1) Oil gets past the turbo seals and burns in the exhaust.....but the turbo would be royally f'cked to make THAT much smoke.

2) Oil gets burned in the cylinders, which can be caused by cracked pistons, knackered valve guides, scratched bore, PCV dumping a ton of oil into the inlet after a hard boost session.

I would get it compression / leak down tested to confirm, but it could be a cracked piston.  Certainly sounds like it from your description.  The popping you heard was probably misfiring from a cylinder(s) being choked with oil.....and then out comes the smoke.

Also check the plugs for oil fouling.

Hello

Thank you for the reply.. 1) the turbo was replaced on the car when it was on around 100k miles .. now its on 108k miles so turbo is pretty much new.. it was a reconditioned unit and it still works perfectly fine when giving it some gas.

2) funny that i say but the engine was also rebuilt the same time that the turbo was replaced.. the engine had actually seized up previously as the previous owner was racing with the car and the oil light had come on which he didnt pay attention too so it cost him a lot however he got the engine rebuilt by VW themselves and had the timing belt and turbo replaced as well exactly the same time so can it really be a cracked piston??

Also if a piston or anything was cracked or damaged then surely the car wouldnt drive perfectly like it is now? Dont know much about engine internals but surely it wouldnt be performing like it is? The only problem i have got is the evap fault and the smoke from exhaust... other than that.. the car drives perfectly normal and boost kicks in as it should..

Thank you.

An engine can still run OK with a damaged piston......to a point, and then it will smoke / misfire.  It's only because you mentioned misfiring that I suspected a piston, and it's a very common problem on these engines when tuners request ridiculous boost pressures from the tiny little stock turbo.  Running double the standard pressure can also kill off the turbo bearings quicker unless running a top notch oil.  But as Dan said, it could just be oil leaking into the exhaust past the turbo seals if it's smoking like the video.  Hence why it needs some further testing to confirm.

160mph on public roads     Be careful man.....if you get caught at that speed, things won't go well for you!

Hello,

I didnt mention misfiring.. I just said I heard a pop in the exhaust.. The Ko4 turbo was reconditioned and surely it can take 3 seconds of 160mph? It was literally only 3 seconds of it so how could it have packed up straight away haha.. Its the same sort of turbo that is in the audi s3 and thats known to be highly modified. How can I check if the turbo seals are worn? Yes I learnt my mistake and will be calm with this car now.. I only wanted to show matey what a machine it was and he had a black GT and was doing 120mph.. I had to get passed him so had to do more. Never again.

[hussnainh8]

Factory ED30 is limited to 155mph, and only runs 0.9 bar boost.

Your car is very different.  Double that boost and derestricted.  The turbo gets mega hot when nailing it round to those speeds because of gearing and wind resistances.  99% of people rarely exceed 100mph in this country, too many people, too many sh*t drivers, too dangerous.  160-170 is uncharted territory for these cars and UK tuners.  Max speed they see is flat out in 4th on the dyno, so 120ish.  In other words, although you may not understand it, it is possible to cause damage to a tuned engine running it flat out for an extended period.

It was literally 3 seconds.. I saw the speed at 160 and revs at 6000 and thought this is too much and let go of the accelerator.. its still running perfectly fine other than the silly smoke I do not seem to understand. Lets hope I have not broken it. Just paid £6500 for the car :(

[Dan_FR]

You've obviously broken something - Not sure what you are expecting when running flat out - things get hot and go bang.

Whether it is the turbo, or something engine internal related remains to be seen, further investigation i.e. stripping down will be needed to resolve.

I'd be pulling the downpipe and checking the hotside of the turbo for play and evidence of oil leakage, I'd be dropping a boost pipe and checking if it is full of oil to see if originating from the cold side, I'd pull the intake and check for evidence of oil originating from the PCV feed in to the turbo housing, along with the PCV on the front of the engine going in to the inlet manifold to understand where the oil is originating from. Don't fit a silly PCV delete - if the current one is working correctly (5 seconds to check) then leave it be

[pudding]

Factory ED30 is limited to 155mph, and only runs 0.9 bar boost.

Your car is very different.  Double that boost and derestricted.  The turbo gets mega hot when nailing it round to those speeds because of gearing and wind resistances.  99% of people rarely exceed 100mph in this country, too many people, too many sh*t drivers, too dangerous.  160-170 is uncharted territory for these cars and UK tuners.  Max speed they see is flat out in 4th on the dyno, so 120ish.  In other words, although you may not understand it, it is possible to cause damage to a tuned engine running it flat out for an extended period.

It was literally 3 seconds.. I saw the speed at 160 and revs at 6000 and thought this is too much and let go of the accelerator.. its still running perfectly fine other than the silly smoke I do not seem to understand. Lets hope I have not broken it. Just paid £6500 for the car :(

It's probably the turbo then if the engine is still running smoothly and pulls well, but you'll need to get it checked out as per Dan's suggestions.  Turbos are easy to come by, so not the end of the world.  If it was rebuilt 8K ago, perhaps there's some recourse with the reconditioner.  Any paperwork with the car for the rebuild work?