Oil in exhaust

[Dre]

Guys I'm quite concerned with the discovery of oil in my exhaust tips. I've had a search on the internet and it all seems to relate to big problems.

I've got a 2008 gti with a bwa engine. Mileage is just under 130,000.

I noticed that there was white smoke coming from my exhaust when the car was warm and up to temperature. The smoke isn't excessive I'd say it smokes no more than a car does on a cold start up. The colour of the smoke appears white to me and I can't notice it being blue given that theres oil in the exhaust tips.

The car was in for its MOT in December. The MOT tester mentioned that there was a slight oil leak on the turbo inlet pipe but this was only a slight leak and wasn't anything out of the ordinary.

I'm not the most mechanically minded so would appreciate the help.



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[titchy]

Ps head gasket get the cooling system pressure tested could be cracked cyl head

[shail]

How often are you having to top up your oil, and how much?

[Dre]

I put in less than a litre of oil since August when I got the car

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[LC5F]

I put in less than a litre of oil since August when I got the car

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How full is it now? - if oil was coming out the exhaust I would have thought you would have gone through more than a litre of oil & you should have been prompted to fill up.

How sure are you it’s oil? -carbon dust mixed with water can dribble out the tips

To me it sound like particularly damp conditions you have been driving in, condensed water in the exhaust - this is normal steam

[Dre]

I only topped the oil up 2 days ago and haven't driven it more than a few miles since. I only do 4/5k miles a year but will monitor the oil consumption going forward.

When the engine was warm and still had white smoke coming out of the exhaust I touched the inside of the tips and got a wet black substance on my fingers which I assumed was oil.

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[colesey]

Give it a good hard run to dry / clean things out.  Also suggest switching to 5/40 oil which is a bit thicker and commonly used on tuned GTi engines.

[Dre]

I've got a motorway journey to make this weekend. Will see if it's still happening after that trip.

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[f00glee]

I only topped the oil up 2 days ago and haven't driven it more than a few miles since. I only do 4/5k miles a year but will monitor the oil consumption going forward.

When the engine was warm and still had white smoke coming out of the exhaust I touched the inside of the tips and got a wet black substance on my fingers which I assumed was oil.

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I've had similar concerns with an old Eunos I picked up in the summer. Soon as its turned colder it continues to chug out white smoke (steam) for quite a while. It also produces black wet spots out of the exhaust sometimes on a cold start for a few minutes. I'm now convinced this is just water vapour/soot mixing in the exhaust on cold/damp days and not oil.

Best piece of advice I got was the following, which I've nicked from an mx5 forum; to wipe your finger round the inside of a cool exhaust and examine.

Gray and dry soot: Good.

Black, feels oily, washes off easily without soap: Leaking coolant - head gasket?

Black, feels oily, need soap to wash off: Oil

Not dry, but not oily, but smells like gas: overly rich mixture

See no reason this thinking wouldn't be the case for all cars, though I can't vouch for the accuracy of these statements. Seems logical though.

[Dre]

Did what f00gle advised this morning. I've attached a photo of the results which I think is soot. Colour is gray (although it was darker before I rubbed it) and it was dry. It did wash off though without any soap.

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[f00glee]

Hopefully that points at nothing major being wrong then. I do find the tail pipe on mine to get black around the end pretty quickly between washes, seems to be the norm for these cars. As others have said, keep an eye on your oil usage for a bit and if you want further piece of mind get yourself to a specialist such as AKS or RTech for a proper inspection.

For reference, I think VW say anything up to 1L oil per 1000 miles is normal. I reckon I'd start getting worried at less than half of that usage. Mine uses about 1L every 5000-7000 miles. I'm on 50k miles and stage 1 using 5w/40.

The most important thing is to enjoy the car! Something I have to constantly tell myself as I have a habit of focusing on small issues.

[colesey]

I have similar oil consumption to f00glee on a 31k stage 1 car using 5/40.