white exhaust smoke (not to be mistaken for water vapour)

[kozmos]

I have 12,000km on my RS4 and noticed this for the first time yesterday when my wife drove out of the garage. Engine started cold in the morning,
ambient air temp 25degrees, car moves off and some white smoke is seen coming out from both exhaust pipes as she drove off slowly.

This smoke is NOT the usual water vapour seen on a cold day.

Has anyone seen this? Doesn't look normal to me.....

Help

[pippyrips]

This may sound a strange question however did you notice any smell etc?

[audijohn]

I had a "Smog" happening the other night, I changed down from 6th to 4 th and blasted it at about 70MPH and got this smogg out the back for a coulpe of 100 meters, there after nout, I changed from 6th to 5th and blasted later on and nothing!!!!

[SimonFV8]

Is this Audi's way of justifying £300 road tax???

[reevesroadster]

£500 from next April!!

[Andyuk911]

Yes this is normal, but only when cold and left for a few days .. If this happens when hot you need to get it checked.

I have seen one toasted engine ..

Black smoke is just caused by being rich and is not a problem .... this is often seen from 'daisy' drivers of RS4, like John, LOL

Andy

I have 12,000km on my RS4 and noticed this for the first time yesterday when my wife drove out of the garage. Engine started cold in the morning,
ambient air temp 25degrees, car moves off and some white smoke is seen coming out from both exhaust pipes as she drove off slowly.

This smoke is NOT the usual water vapour seen on a cold day.

Has anyone seen this? Doesn't look normal to me.....

Help

[SR71]

Andy,

What is the reason for this behaviour?

Is it unburnt fuel pooling in the exhausts or oil seaping past rings/seals?

[Andyuk911]

I am unsure of the cause, all that is important that it does not do it when hot.

[simple1]

There are several threads about smoking RS4's, do a search.

[pippyrips]

£500 from next April!!

From what reg onwards?

[SR71]

There are several threads about smoking RS4's, do a search.

I've read all the threads and aside from some vague comments about tolerances, I have still not seen a sensible answer as to why the car is doing this and why it should only be one bank that typically produces the smoke?

Go on, help us out bearing in mind your car has been in to Audi for analysis....

What did they say and why were you content with such vagueness?

Conversely, why aren't you telling us exactly what the source of the issue is?

As t_urbo has said, if its a known fault, there must be some reasonable explanation and the fact that it is only one exhaust typically smoking means the right bank is somewhat different from the left bank in its plumbing...

I was down at Opie Oils yesterday and Guy was commenting on how, in his experience, all RS series cars tend to be relative oil burners.

I'm just trying to decide whether my car needs to go into Audi.

The amount of condensation it produces is huge, but every now and again a whiff of fuel vapour and some more significant oil smoke is suggesting to me that somehow, either fuel or oil is collecting somewhere.

Fuel vapour seems likely to be rich running but where is the oil coming from?

Can someone post a schematic of the oil system perhaps?

That said my car is using oil at the same rate as many cars here - 1.25L in just under 4K miles.

[S4INT]

Mine smokes on cold start fairly regularly - especially so if the engine only ran for a few minutes when previously started, for example when moving it from the driveway to the garage the previous night. The oil consumption is also quite high, I would say I have put in at least 4 litres in the 8000 miles I have covered in it. (14k on the clock now).

[ChuckUK]

My oil consumption is terrible, 4800miles and I'd guess 5ltrs.

Finished the 1ltr supplied in the boot and at least 4ltrs into a 5ltr can, gonna need another one soon.

[audijohn]

My oil consumption is terrible, 4800miles and I'd guess 5ltrs.

Finished the 1ltr supplied in the boot and at least 4ltrs into a 5ltr can, gonna need another one soon.

That is very heavy consumption, mine has used 3/4 of a ltr in 6K miles.
Did have a service at 4K though, this may have had some influence, not sure.

[simple1]

My car used very little oil, say 1lt in 4000 miles, but did smoke heavily on cold start especially after being sat for more than a week, by this I mean it would fill the garage to the point you could not stand in it. Car went into Audi where the problem was replicated, and diagnosed as being the right hand bank. Engine was duely stripped, the right hand head removed and pistons removed, eveything was carefully measured and found to show no wear from manufacturers measurements and the engine was put back together with new head gaskets, valve stem seals and whatever other bits they needed. They ran the car for a couple of days then parked it for a week. On restart it would not smoke, and has never done it again since. So either the engine was not put together correctly in the first place, or taking it to bits and putting it back together solved the problem. Car now has 8k miles, has had a total of 2 lts of oil added to it in that time, one at CC after a days thrashing. It does not smoke, does appear to leave a 'vapour trail' when booted hard in the dark, as you can see a mist in the lights of car behind.