the t5 wont quit smokin!

[Alex p]

Hi people I have owned my 2014 t5 180HP with dsg for a few months now and occasionally it has a bit of a smoke up!! I thought it was the particulate filter doing it's clean up but it keeps doing it every now and again and it stinks... also it scared the wife when it did it as she stopped at a set of lights with a van full of kids!! It's only 3 years old and very low mileage 12k so I thought a good old 2000 Mile trip to the south of France might clear the old girl out but it still did it after a 2 1/2 hour motorway stint at 130-135kph.... does anyone know if they do a burn while your not doing 2500 rpm?? It's booked for its first mot next week so I will ask the dealer to check it but has anyone else experienced this?? I'll put a few clips up of it... sorry for (A) poor music choice (B) moaning wife...!

 

[Alex p]

Hi people I have owned my 2014 t5 180HP with dsg for a few months now and occasionally it has a bit of a smoke up!! I thought it was the particulate filter doing it's clean up but it keeps doing it every now and again and it stinks... also it scared the wife when it did it as she stopped at a set of lights with a van full of kids!! It's only 3 years old and very low mileage 12k so I thought a good old 2000 Mile trip to the south of France might clear the old girl out but it still did it after a 2 1/2 hour motorway stint at 130-135kph.... does anyone know if they do a burn while your not doing 2500 rpm?? It's booked for its first mot next week so I will ask the dealer to check it but has anyone else experienced this?? I'll put a few clips up of it... sorry for (A) poor music choice (B) moaning wife...!

 

[Alex p]

Can't upload MP4 clips.... hmmm

 

[Alex p]

Try this!!

And this:

 

[WelshGas]

Hi people I have owned my 2014 t5 180HP with dsg for a few months now and occasionally it has a bit of a smoke up!! I thought it was the particulate filter doing it's clean up but it keeps doing it every now and again and it stinks... also it scared the wife when it did it as she stopped at a set of lights with a van full of kids!! It's only 3 years old and very low mileage 12k so I thought a good old 2000 Mile trip to the south of France might clear the old girl out but it still did it after a 2 1/2 hour motorway stint at 130-135kph.... does anyone know if they do a burn while your not doing 2500 rpm?? It's booked for its first mot next week so I will ask the dealer to check it but has anyone else experienced this?? I'll put a few clips up of it... sorry for (A) poor music choice (B) moaning wife...!

I have the same vehicle/engine and due it’s 1st MOT in 7 weeks. Never seen anything like that in the 58000 miles done to date. There is something significantly wrong.
I would get that seen ASAP. Could be some fluid dripping onto a hot exhaust, manifold or DPF. It could be unsafe.
I thought you meant smoke from the tailpipe NOT from under the bonnet.
Get it in while still under warranty.

 

[Tufty_B]

It might be an issue with the engine auxillary coolant heater, which should only kick in at temperatures below +5C.
Does it smell of diesel exhaust?
I have a Touran that has a similar issue, when I was looking into the cause I found this video
VW - Fixing & Issues:

our car occasionally smokes like the one in the video, but only on cold mornings. The fix is very expensive for the Touran so it's not cost effective do in my case due to the labour cost as it takes several hours to replace the glow plug.

 

[Alex p]

I have the same vehicle/engine and due it’s 1st MOT in 7 weeks. Never seen anything like that in the 58000 miles done to date.
OK cool cheers gaz. I opened up the bonnet and had a good look around but couldn't find a source of oil or fuel. I have some clips now so I'll show the van center!!

 

[Alex p]

It might be an issue with the engine auxillary coolant heater, which should only kick in at temperatures below +5C.
Does it smell of diesel exhaust?
I have a Touran that has a similar issue, when I was looking into the cause I found this video
VW - Fixing & Issues:

our car occasionally smokes like the one in the video, but only on cold mornings. The fix is very expensive for the Touran so it's not cost effective do in my case due to the labour cost as it takes several hours to replace the glow plug.

Yes it does smell of diesel exhaust so maybe it's that... thinking about it yes it really stinks of diesel exhaust..

 

[WelshGas]

It might be an issue with the engine auxillary coolant heater, which should only kick in at temperatures below +5C.
Does it smell of diesel exhaust?
I have a Touran that has a similar issue, when I was looking into the cause I found this video
VW - Fixing & Issues:

our car occasionally smokes like the one in the video, but only on cold mornings. The fix is very expensive for the Touran so it's not cost effective do in my case due to the labour cost as it takes several hours to replace the glow plug.

On the T5 the Auxilliary Coolant Heater exhaust is into the L/Nearside Wheel arch not into the engine compartment so I would be very surprised if that was the cause in this case.

 

[WelshGas]

Yes it does smell of diesel exhaust so maybe it's that... thinking about it yes it really stinks of diesel exhaust..

Diesel leaking from an injector seal or high pressure fuel line onto a hot engine .

 

[Alex p]

Diesel leaking from an injector seal or high pressure fuel line onto a hot engine .

Think I might use me mini till I get it in the shop!! If it were the auxiliary heater I assume I could just turn it on with the remote and it would create the same smell and smoke affect?? I haven't used it yet??

 

[WelshGas]

Think I might use me mini till I get it in the shop!! If it were the auxiliary heater I assume I could just turn it on with the remote and it would create the same smell and smoke affect?? I haven't used it yet??

Different Heater. NOT the Parking Heater.
The Auxilliary Coolant Heater helps the engine warm up quicker by warming the Coolant . It only works at temperatures below 5c . It is completely automatic in function.

 

[Tufty_B]

Think I might use me mini till I get it in the shop!! If it were the auxiliary heater I assume I could just turn it on with the remote and it would create the same smell and smoke affect?? I haven't used it yet??

As @WeshGas says. I think that you might be confusing the interior auxiliary heater with the engine auxiliary because you won't be able to manually start (well not on UK models) the engine aux heater, I think it is controlled by the ECU on the T5.
Do you have a air-con ECON mode, if so, try setting the air-con to this mode because it might stop the engine aux heater starting up if it is the issue.

 

[Alex p]

As @WeshGas says. I think that you might be confusing the interior auxiliary heater with the engine auxiliary because you won't be able to manually start (well not on UK models) the engine aux heater, I think it is controlled by the ECU on the T5.
Do you have a air-con ECON mode, if so, try setting the air-con to this mode because it might stop the engine aux heater starting up if it is the issue.

OK thanks.. can't find anything about that heater in the manual... I'll mention it to the vw centre but i have only owned it in the summer so something is not right...

 

[bigmac77]

Have you popped the bonnet when it's smoking to see where it's coming from?

Edit. Just watched you film and yes you have.

 

[Ryemslie]

How's your coolant levels been?

 

[Alex p]

Have you popped the bonnet when it's smoking to see where it's coming from?

Edit. Just watched you film and yes you have.

Hiya naa had a good look under the bonnet to try to see oil of fluid but it was really hard to see with all the smoke and it only does it for a bit. 5 mins or so then it's all back to normal!!

 

[Alex p]

How's your coolant levels been?

No change there, still the same as it has always been.... i hope the dealers can find something as it is really odd....

 

[Alex p]

Update: the dealer found no problems... they had and tested for two days and found no leaks or problems... hmmmm. There advise keep using it until it goes or gets worst. So now traveling with fire extinguisher in the boot... just in case

 

[WelshGas]

Update: the dealer found no problems... they had and tested for two days and found no leaks or problems... hmmmm. There advise keep using it until it goes or gets worst. So now traveling with fire extinguisher in the boot... just in case

Did the Dealer see the smoke?
If not I would drive around until engine warm and smoking. Arrive at Dealer with it smoking and leave engine running. Saunter in and ask the plonker on the Service desk to dial 999 as your vehicle is on fire. Park right next to the building and new vehicles.
Stand back and wait for the panic. Quietly remind then they told you there was nothing wrong.

 

[Rich20]

Did the Dealer see the smoke?
If not I would drive around until engine warm and smoking. Arrive at Dealer with it smoking and leave engine running. Saunter in and ask the plonker on the Service desk to dial 999 as your vehicle is on fire. Park right next to the building and new vehicles.
Stand back and wait for the panic. Quietly remind then they told you there was nothing wrong.

well put WG.

 

[Ryemslie]

By no leaks did they do a coolant pressure test? Reason I ask & why I previously asked about your coolant level is that I had similar with my BMW X3. I could smell exhaust fumes through in the car coming through the fans & a couple of times I was convinced there was smoke coming from the wheel arch but it got to a point I was loosing coolant. The BMW garage did a coolant pressure test & still found nothing, a fortnight later I had to top up the coolant again so called & got it booked in. In the end they found a hairline crack in my egr cooler. Replaced it FOC as at the time my car had only done 40k & this to them was unacceptable. Perhaps you have similar but I'd imagine it'd be easy to spot coming from the calis egr cooler at the front of the bay

 

[Tufty_B]

I'd recommend writing or emailing the dealer (ideally stating the person you've been in contact with by name) stating the issue that you're experiencing including the fact that you've supplied video evidence and very importantly getting the dealer's response also in writing, just in case you need to take matter further in the future and the dealer isn't cooperative. Hopefully it won't get to this stage but you need to be prepared just in case.

Also I'd advise making full notes of dates, times and when you noticed the smoke as well as when and who you spoke to with the names of people, phone calls, inspections, etc, otherwise known as 'contemporaneous notes'. Also noting when the issue occurs might assist in determining when it happens and therefore get to a solution quickly.

Hopefully you'll get the problem resolved with minimal fuss.

 

[Ocean Spirit]

Agree with WelshGas...
Often Dealers report that they can't replicate the problem but if there is a problem with yours that wasn't a burn off from a spill then they are not trying very hard.

 

[Alex p]

Yer I know what you mean... still it's a problem if it only does it now and again so I'll keep rolling and see what happens.... !