A new diesel MkV 2.0l TDi and smoke...

[GermanwithaVdub]

looks normal to me... get some better fuel thats what my money is on. i hope for your sake it is anyway.

[Spoddy]

Once again a big thankyou for the well considered replies.
vmq6695, you're a legend, I will go through the detail of your advice today and get back to you hopefully this evening.

[brackie]

I've worked with diesel engines since the early 1970s and I've worked on and used plenty of diesel engines that produce close to zero smoke (I own and operate three diesel engines at the moment).

Very impressive writeup. mate. Can you tell us which diesels you have had particular experience with? VWs? Pugs? Lots of us are keen to learn more about hi-tech diesels as we are pretty comfy with lo-tech motors but fazed by electronic engine management, IP technology and injector improvements developed in recent years.

Write away!

[Spoddy]

Sure looks like white smoke (but I'll add the weasel words that I've not colour-corrected my monitor; one of the pics looked a tiny bit bluish).

The car used lots of engine oil in the 1st 4,000km but hardly any since in the next 4,000km so I don't think it is oil related.

Your instantaneous fuel burn figure and the white colour suggest that we can rule out overfuelling at idle.

I agree and the VW dealer indicated (yesterday when they had it for the day) as nothing has shown up in diagnostics in that respect.

I reckon the two possiblities to eliminate next are:
(1) air being sucked into the fuel line; and
(2) water in the fuel.
Your Golf is still under warranty, right? Your dealer should look after you. But you can guide the dealers attention!

Warranty - absolutely. only 8,000km on the clock and 4.5 months old...)
They took the cover off the engine and checked the fuel lines and cleaned?/checked the filter. No evidence of leaks or water.

(2) get your fuel filter changed regularly; and
(3) when fuelling your car, look at the fuel to check its colour (water in the fuel is often discoloured; in critical operations, a couple of litres of fuel are pumped into a glass jar and allowed to settle while the tank is being filled, just to see if any water is in the fuel); don't just jam the nozzle into the filler throat and pump away - look at the fuel and see if it looks clear and bright - and then you can jam the nozzle down and fill the tank until the nozzle clicks off.

(2) How regularly?
(3) did this with an independant further up the mountains after asking around another deisel owner's (land rover) recommendation. Clean and $1.289/l

B. I note that you are in the Blue Mts and I therefore guess that you have a big difference between daytime and night-time temperatures.

I live in Glenbrook, not much higher than the hills district... and warmer than Penrith. The car is garaged too.

The dealer and now VW Australia agree there is too much smoke given the way it happens just rolling along on a light accelerator at 15km/r for a few minutes and not after running against the compession or during hard acceleration.
VW Australia requested copies of the photos, which I gave them, and they have since been in contact with me to drop the car back to the dealer to do further checks. This will happen on Wednesday 19th Sept.

Whilst thay had the car they also updated the software for the radio (they said they didn't know what it fixed) and the drivers door LED modules - they said it was required VW fix to stop the LED from staying on after unlocking and staying on whilst driving - It was doing this regularly and super bright and really bad at night. Anyway should be fixed now and time will tell.

The dealer also set the convenience options free of charge for me - very pleasing after they originally said it was a charged service... They were able to set the ones I wanted except for the dipping left mirror on selecting reverse; they found that my car does not have the option. Does this mean that the 2007 spec is inconsistent between early and late versions? They had no idea. The right and left do synchronise though and this is handy.

I'll post details of any further news after next Wednesdays check.

Again, Thanks for all the help and information.

[Spoddy]

Wednesday came and went, the dealer had the car for 15 minutes to do some further testing, not sure what but they said they sent the results directly to VW Aus.

Car is still smoking and they said they will be in touch in the next few days when they get a response back.

At least it doesn't appear to affect the performance of the car. Its amazing how it accelerates just as hard up a hill as it does down a hill... Love that torque.

[gldgti]

sounds like a stange problem to me...

to clarify one issue - overfuelling causes the engine to rev up in a diesel - a diesel engine does not have "mixture" because it is unthrottled. so, if there was too much fuel being injected, engine revs would increase (unless there was load on the engine)..

diesels typically produce white smoke when the injection occurs too late (retarded timing). since the new engines are electronically controlled, i would guess that some sensor that helps the engine management with timing information is reading wrongly or something like that at low revs and zero to small percentages of pedal.

when the problem occurs, do you notice the "diesel knock" is reduced? this is another symptom of retarded timing.

from the sounds of the problem, it seems unlikely that it would be detrimental to the engine, so its nothing to be overly worried about. however, if it is not a running in quirk, then maybe you should suggest about timing to the dealer - surely they can run get injection timing information from the diagnostics program???

hope that helps.

aydan

[Spoddy]

The dealer contacted me with the instruction to run 2 full tanks of BP diesel through and then make contact with them....

What is so special about BP diesel? Are they going to then ask to use another brand and report back as well?

BP is about 5c/l more expensive out my way....

when the problem occurs, do you notice the "diesel knock" is reduced? this is another symptom of retarded timing.

I don't get to drive the golf very often but I took the opportunity to get out and fill it with BP as it was near to the reserve. In terms of the diesel knock I assume you mean the rattle sound, if so yes it goes silky smooth/quite when it smokes but I assumed it was because of the very gentle accelerator application (otherwise I would run up the back of the car in front...)

Thanks for the info - I am learning a lot from this forum.
I wish I could fill up and not get that diesel on me all the time - is there a secret to filling and keeping the hands dry???

[GermanwithaVdub]

BP diesel is just the cleanest (i presume that means it has very low sulfur?) so i guess vw wants to rule out any issues with bad fuel which is actually fair enough, considering the amount of horrible diesel sold around town. (i still suspect this might be the problem, but my opinion is much less educated than others in this thread ) i say this because i lent my car to my mum and she filled it up (at the cheapest possible petrol station knowing her) and the car smoked like buggery that whole tank (much more smoke than in your pictures)

with regards to filling up, when your done filling, just drop the handle of the bowser down so that no more fuel can fall out the nozzle

[Seano]

I wish I could fill up and not get that diesel on me all the time - is there a secret to filling and keeping the hands dry???

Just do what some of us may do......and most truckies do do. Wear gloves whilst refuelling. I use a single right handed leather riggers glove that I keep under the seat (one day I will get a undertray rope box!!).

Even an old tea towel or some of the servo paper towelling is just as good.

Plus leaving the diesel soaked paper towel on the counter after you pay is a fairly forward way of suggesting that the station should take more care re. the cleanliness of their pumps.....

[BeigeJet]

.
I wish I could fill up and not get that diesel on me all the time - is there a secret to filling and keeping the hands dry???

Do what I do. I bought some disposable gloves from the supermarket (about $2.50 for 24) and wear one on while refueling. Then you can dispose of at the servo when finished. A box lasts a fair too if you only fill up once a fortnight like I do! And you don't get the smell on hands or in the car!