to smoke or not to smoke

**gldgti** · 21-01-2009, 05:54 PM

well heres a question sure to raise a cross section of answers...

i have always preached the science about diesel soot being not as dangerous as people think it is, and that soot on hard acceleration is almost unavoidable if your going to make really good power. thats just fact.

theres a lot of members here that drive new, green tdi's and do so for the green reason (apart from having a smashing car). theres plenty of member that proclaim they despise soot.... but where do we draw the line?

i have to say that i check in the rear view mirror of my mk3 all the time to see if i'm smoking like crazy while i've got the pedal down, because i do care.... and i know that people get angry when they see it. but when i see a tdi make a puff of smoke at the traffic lights (it does happen, the drivers just cant see it) i smile! i love it!

a agree that an old toyota 2.8 belching smoke on a flat road shouldnt really be tolerated.... but i think people seem to get a bit too antsy about a little smoke here and there.

to top it off, i only use 100% biodiesel in my car anyway, and the smoke is totally different from normal diesel smoke. (smells like a fire in a noodle shop)

i guess the question i'm trying to ask is - how much smoke will we all tolerate? personally, i'm up for tolerating puffs of smoke under acceleration and at gear changes... but not sustained thick smog.

**Transporter** · 21-01-2009, 07:37 PM

Originally Posted by gldgti

well heres a question sure to raise a cross section of answers...

i have always preached the science about diesel soot being not as dangerous as people think it is, and that soot on hard acceleration is almost unavoidable if your going to make really good power. thats just fact.

theres a lot of members here that drive new, green tdi's and do so for the green reason (apart from having a smashing car). theres plenty of member that proclaim they despise soot.... but where do we draw the line?

i have to say that i check in the rear view mirror of my mk3 all the time to see if i'm smoking like crazy while i've got the pedal down, because i do care.... and i know that people get angry when they see it. but when i see a tdi make a puff of smoke at the traffic lights (it does happen, the drivers just cant see it) i smile! i love it!

a agree that an old toyota 2.8 belching smoke on a flat road shouldnt really be tolerated.... but i think people seem to get a bit too antsy about a little smoke here and there.

to top it off, i only use 100% biodiesel in my car anyway, and the smoke is totally different from normal diesel smoke. (smells like a fire in a noodle shop)

i guess the question i'm trying to ask is - how much smoke will we all tolerate? personally, i'm up for tolerating puffs of smoke under acceleration and at gear changes... but not sustained thick smog.

Do you mean in Australia?
I think that unless some one choke on it (exhaust smoke), than nothing will happen. Take for example Asbestos in brakes and gaskets thet was banned in2004 in Australia and more than 10 Years (maybe even 20 years) earlier in EU.
So, we are not looking after the environment very well in OZ.
I mean why would I be worried about a bit of smoke from my exhaust when people can do drifting as kind of motorsport and smoke tyres until they pass out.

I smoked the cop on motorbike once on the take off from traffic lights, covered him in black smoke since I wanted him to pull me over and defect my 3 months old T5 TDI, he overtook me and disappeared. That was in May 2005 and from January 2006 sulfur in diesel was reduced and my exhaust soot was cut to almost to half and I stopped worrying about it. But I hate the blue oil burning smoke from the old petrol cars.

Just look at the big trucks exhaust pipe they don’t smoke as much with today’s diesel fuel like they did 3 or 4 years ago. The amount of pollution from human activity in OZ must be nothing compared to the rest of the world.

Yes, you can smoke.

**GoLfMan** · 21-01-2009, 10:31 PM

i voted wrong and did smoke em baby....
however i love a good plume under hard acceleration (i always look in my mirror when i get up it for the soot

hehe)
but smoking all the time while cruising is just feral, and gives diesel a bad name!

**Greg Roles** · 22-01-2009, 09:55 AM

I'm fine with what a non DPF current TDI puts out, it's hardly a worry. Old landcruisers with dirty injectors that leave obvious black plumes, well, not a fan. I get upset when someone is producing that sort of obvious pollution and not getting any extra power from it. Drag diesels that run crazy times, well that's fine, at least there's a reason.

I'm aiming to have my TDI go like the clappers, and a full throttle style DPF bypass is in my plans, but again, if it produces anything over a "stockish" level of smog as I voted for, well I'd rather run a bigger DPF. It's a fine line for me. Personally I feel the need to combine my old bevan ways with doing my bit to minimise my impact on the environment.

I guess I'm a bevan hippie at heart.

**Buller_Scott** · 24-01-2009, 12:41 AM

i LIKE the idea of my tiny polo smoking under acceleration, but sadly, the only time it smokes is once i've just got it warm and i rev to 3000rpm for the first time.

Other than that, even if i jam my foot down, it hardly ever smokes, and check as i do in the rearview mirror when coming onto a freeway, there's no smoke to see in daytime light.

scott

**Spoddy** · 24-01-2009, 09:01 AM

Originally Posted by Buller_Scott

there's no smoke to see in daytime light.

scott

Try it at night with headlights behind you

**GoLfMan** · 24-01-2009, 12:15 PM

Originally Posted by Spoddy

Try it at night with headlights behind you

ohh thats a favourite pass time of mine

floor it, look in rear mirror at haze behind.... smile

**polo_spec_d** · 24-01-2009, 04:12 PM

My gives a nice plume when I give it some, but nothing like this.....http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=1fQ1cnpYHl4

I would love if I had a plume that big

**Pumpe-Düse** · 24-01-2009, 09:34 PM

I voted smoke 'em. I think the plume is hilarious. Facing reality, I only pick on equally slow and crappy cars in my Polo TDI, but gunning it off the lights to see a cloud cover the 1.5 Lancer super ricemobile next to you is so funny. Especially when they have the aftermarket fail xenons at night, you can see the diesel smoke so clearly... lmao.