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White smoke after warm

SoWalGTI

SoWalGTI

Autocross Champion
2012 GTI 60k miles, MT, K04 with 6k miles

Today I turned on the car and forgot some stuff in the house. When I came back out, I noticed a faint white smoke from tail pipes. I put the car in reverse and gave it some gas and noticed more white smoke. Immediately shut it down and began to check things.

So far, I've checked the following:

  • Oil level (3/4Qt low)
  • Oil color (clean with no signs of mixture)
  • Coolant level and color (pink and at max line)
  • Entire intake tract (no oil in tract at all)
  • Catch can (no clogged lines or excess oil)
  • Top side of turbo (no excessive oil and all oil coolant connections are squeaky clean)
  • Coil packs for excessive oil/flooding (clean and dry)
  • Scanned with VAGCOM, no faults

I thought for sure it was a failing PCV dumping oil into the turbo and then getting burned off, but that doesn't appear so. I guess I can check the intercooler piping, dv, etc to see if anything is dumping oil there.

One friend mentioned a leaking injector and some other major problems that could be determined by a compression test. Anyone else have any ideas or things I can look into?
 
fast2ghl

fast2ghl

Ready to race!
White smoke is usually an indication of coolant in the combustion chamber..... not good.

Likely a head gasket failure.
 
D

Dans GTI

Ready to race!
fast2ghl

fast2ghl

Ready to race!
If it is indeed a head gasket failure, dont drive the car anymore until its fixed, coolant in the cylinder can break down the oils lubricating properties and cause more damage to the engine long term.
 
SoWalGTI

SoWalGTI

Autocross Champion
fast2ghl said:
If it is indeed a head gasket failure, dont drive the car anymore until its fixed, coolant in the cylinder can break down the oils lubricating properties and cause more damage to the engine long term.
Click to expand...

Yea, car is not my daily driver, I only drive it like once a week. Will perform a compression test today or tomorrow and report back any findings.
 
fast2ghl

fast2ghl

Ready to race!
SoWalGTI said:
Yea, car is not my daily driver, I only drive it like once a week. Will perform a compression test today or tomorrow and report back any findings.
Click to expand...

Sounds good man. Let us know!
 
damagi123

damagi123

Go Kart Champion
subd
 
FF_animal

FF_animal

Ready to race!
How much white smoke are we talking about tho? Like your exhaust is vaping on .2 ohms or just a hint of smoke?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
SoWalGTI

SoWalGTI

Autocross Champion
I must be doing something wrong?

I warmed up the car, removed spark plugs, removed fuse 27 (15AMP fuel pump), threaded gauge into spark plug hole and cranked engine. I'm not seeing the gauge rise above 90PSI and when cranking I hear a chirping sound (sounds awful). 88-90PSI across all cylinders.

As a test, I put everything back together, car fired right up and runs perfectly, has plenty of power and holds boost. How am I failing at this compression test? Also as a side note, I no longer am seeing any smoke from tail pipes. I still want to do a successful test though.

Either I'm botching this test, the gauge is toast or my motor should be blown with readings this low no?
 
DarienMidnight

DarienMidnight

Ready to race!
I'm seeing white smoke for me also ..also my exhaust makes the ground wet rather quickly . And the fumes almost smells like gasoline ..but not quite ..what is going on
 
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