Smoke when pulling away

[Jog]

I have noticed on a couple of occations that when I pull away quickly from standstill, a thin mist of smoke is obvious at the back of the car. I am not slipping the clutch or thrashing the nuts out of the engine. More noticable at the mo due to the darker evenings and the smoke showing in the lights of the car behind. Unfortunately, I cant see the colour of the smoke as I assume this could give an indication of the cause. Any ideas?

[Blue_Thunder]

Sure it's not just condensation? It has been pretty cold recently.

[pippyrips]

sounds like what Audi call carbon build up, or to the sceptical amonst us oil smoke.

[pippyrips]

sounds like what Audi call carbon build up, or to the sceptical amonst us oil smoke.

[Jog]

I did think about this and in away I hope it is, but it doesnt seem as dense as the white smoke visible on a cold start up.

[Jog]

sounds like what Audi call carbon build up, or to the sceptical amonst us oil smoke.

I have topped up the oil at the weekend. Is "oil smoke" a serious concern?

[rjkflyer]

This engine has a design that 'consumes' oil quite noticeably as a 'feature' of its lubrication process. If you read the manual, you'll see that the consumption might be as much as (if i recall right) a litre per 1000km.

To anyone, this will seem a HUGE amount, even if it is within limits. I know i felt this was after two M3s that used little oil but are similar performance engines.

I suspect that your 'smoking' is occurring soon after start up?

BTW, the R8 smokes heavily after start up sometimes - i had one on loan for 3 months and this was very noticeable.

Of course, any car will tend to push some smoke out if it's been driven in traffic for a while then booted.

[pippyrips]

This engine has a design that 'consumes' oil quite noticeably as a 'feature' of its lubrication process. If you read the manual, you'll see that the consumption might be as much as (if i recall right) a litre per 1000km.

To anyone, this will seem a HUGE amount, even if it is within limits. I know i felt this was after two M3s that used little oil but are similar performance engines.

I suspect that your 'smoking' is occurring soon after start up?

BTW, the R8 smokes heavily after start up sometimes - i had one on loan for 3 months and this was very noticeable.

Of course, any car will tend to push some smoke out if it's been driven in traffic for a while then booted.

Following on from rjkflyer's comments, if you're smoking on start up (blue/black as opposed to white condensation) then get the SW0090 software update, it made a big difference to mine.

Believe it or not the other way to reduce this ‘fog’ it is to take it up the rev range regularly as it blows the carbon build up out the back end!

[BlingBling]

It could just be carbon build up coming from the cats. When was the last time you drove it like you stole it? If you potter around then the cats will become clogged up. An Italian tuning will soon clear it up.

[PetrolDave]

I seem to remember a discussion on here a little while back where some evidence was shown that proves that FSI engines tend to produce carbon particles from the exhaust when revved.

[crispy]

I have noticed this a couple of times as well now the darker evenings are here. Tends to happen the first time I get to really boot it if I've spent time potterign round the city centre, then sitting in rush hour traffic.

Clear the city limits, approach the T junction, hit the "S" button, Flooor it up the road across the moors, hit 4K rpm, exhaust valves open, and cloud of dusty sh1te in the mirrors as once again I get to enjoy 8 miles of bliss on the way home

[gmk666]

What worries me most is other road users thinking I drive a diesel.

[rjkflyer]

Yes but think how blown away they'll be by the performance of that 'diesel'...

[Jog]

Thanks guys, I feel completely reasured. I feel the need to reach the red line (once warmed up ) on the way to work in the morning.

[Gecko]

I had the same here.
The problem started after Audi updated software to 0080 and was REALLY noticable. Floor it and the WHOLE intersection was covered in 'rich fuel black smoke'. It was like driving a 20year old bus!

0080 also gave problems with accel pedal travel to throttle change... i.e. what you did with the accel pedal isn't what the engine did!
We mapped it with VAG and via Audi. You could give the accel pedal a 'blip' of say 15% travel 10x in a row: 3x the engine will rev up say +2000rpm, 3x the engine will rev up say +4000rpm, 3x the engine will rev down say -1000rpm and the last time nothing would happen at all. Absolutely no correlation to what you wanted and the Audi techs just looked on in amazement.
Needless to say... it was a pig to drive!

Audi had the car for 2 days, verified everything was mechanically OK, so we decided to try software 0090.
WOW... just like a new car. I may even go so far as to say it's better than when I bought it.

The throttle problem is fixed completely.
90% of the fuels smoke problem is fixed but I put the remaining 10% to carbon build up.

Ask your dealer to try the 0090 software. It might just solve the problem for you.