MK3 PETROL VRS WHITE SMOKE

[Neoandsam]

Hi all,

I'm after some help and advice....we have a 2016 MK3 petrol vrs estate and we have an issue which skoda are refusing to fix. Basically when you are driving and you accelerate from 3000rpm on wards massive clouds of white smoke/condensation explode out the rear of the car. It like driving a james bond car or a steam engine as you cant see anything behind which I think must be very dangerous for the people behind! They are are saying it is a none fault however I have not seen any vrs cars smoking on acceleration!? This has done it from new. Any thoughts?

Thanks 

David

[banksie]

What's the driving profile of the car?

 

short trips/long trips?

[vRSAnt]

I agree with the above Its a good question. You could get a big build of moisture from the fueld in the exhaust through improper driving.

Does the coolant even go down ??

 

Before you make any assumptions it would make some sense to drive longer to be sure this is a clear repeatable "fault".

 

Thinking about it this has been mentioned before, but not indicating any serious engine fault from my recollection of the thread.

[MrAdamwood]

There was someone on here a few months ago complaining about the very same issue, even posted a video of it. 

[Esseesse200]

Yes first get the above all checked. However if it is repeatable and coolant is going down it could be head gasket issue. However I would have "thought skoda will have picked this. Does it mis-fire. 

[Neoandsam]

Normally does hops of about 10 miles each way to work then probably one or two runs of 50 to 100 over the weekend. We drove up to alton towers which is over 2 hour plus drive in the summer and even then i put my foot down and a large plume of smoke occured. We have also done a few trips down to devon and again still smoked dowm and back. It does look lile condensation if im honest as it covers the rear screen and dissapears fairly quickly when easing off. Coolant is fine and no missfires...it runs fun just looks like a james bond car. Hope this helps.

Edited 30 January, 2017 by Neoandsam

[Isocrem]

Mmm, without being able to do a direct comparison, I have noticed that under acceleration I can get quite a lot of exhaust output that looks like 'steam'. I've put it down to weather conditions when it's happened.  I've not owned the car during warm conditions, so will wait and see, however the car hasn't missed a beat and all levels are good. I wonder if it's the hot exhaust gas funneling through the cooler tips (as a complete unqualified and unscientific guess)

[BigEjit]

Had a load of moisture billow out the back when I booted it past a truck after an hours wafting around in eco mode on a cold damp day. Oil Temp was still relatively low so can only guess the exhaust system wasn't getting hot enough to evaporate the excess water out of the system. Gave it a bit more urgency in the driving style after that and it was fine for the following hour.

[ahenners]

22 minutes ago, Isocrem said:

Mmm, without being able to do a direct comparison, I have noticed that under acceleration I can get quite a lot of exhaust output that looks like 'steam'. I've put it down to weather conditions when it's happened.  I've not owned the car during warm conditions, so will wait and see, however the car hasn't missed a beat and all levels are good. I wonder if it's the hot exhaust gas funneling through the cooler tips (as a complete unqualified and unscientific guess)

 

I've noticed this a few times with mine, but put it down to the single figure temps outside. Good to see I'm not the only one noticing this.

[silver1011]

It's perfectly normal, as mentioned there have been a few threads on the exact same subject, try a quick search.

 

It is much more noticeable on the estate due to the vertical rear window.

[renton]

It was me who reported the same issue on my own car a few months ago. 

 

My car is a 2016 mk3 petrol estate and I get loads of white smoke/steam all the time in any weather and at various lengths of journey. 

 

Skoda had my car and did lots of testing but said they couldn't replicate the fault. They also did a pressure test over night and said it's holding pressure so no leaks however, I've been keeping an eye on the coolantevel of my car and I've topped it up once and now it's nearly on the min mark again. That's in 10k miles. 

 

It's going in for a service in a week or so and I'm going to mention it again as I'm sure it's not right. 

 

If it does turn out to be condensation then surely that is going to rot the exhaust from the inside out. 

 

However I'm sure that my car feels down on power sometimes too. 

 

Cheers. 

 

Steve. 

[Item]

I get some rear window misting/moisture on acceleration first thing in the morning or when it is cold, but literal clouds of white smoke would surely be something else altogether?

 

I have never had anything like that on my petrol VRS...

 

 

[bigman1976]

I noticed a worrying amount of what appears to be steam on the rear window under hard acceleration but, as plenty of people on here have said, it appears to be totally normal. I would be more worried if there was lingering smoke in the air behind the car - that would indicate smoke as opposed to the steam that many get. 

 

I presume the aerodynamics of the estate cause this to happen as well as carry loads of dirt up off the road and onto the back of the car. 

[SuperbTWM]

I can understand condensation at the start of a journey and at idle, especially in cold weather, but getting large plumes of it on acceleration when the engine is up to temperature well into a journey just doesn't seem right to me.

 

Does the petrol engine have an EGR/cooler?

[banksie]

You might be surprised just how much water is in the exhaust at various points if your doing short runs.

[WesternDuke]

I had this on my Mk2FL and now on the Mk3.  It varies according to external temperature and humidity outside - it is water vapour rather than smoke and no levels were affected.  I was told 'they all do that' so have ceased to worry about it.

[renton]

Mine does it all the time. 

 

Doesn't matter if I've done a short journey or long journey. 

 

Hot or cold. 

 

 

[Neoandsam]

1 hour ago, WesternDuke said:

I had this on my Mk2FL and now on the Mk3.  It varies according to external temperature and humidity outside - it is water vapour rather than smoke and no levels were affected.  I was told 'they all do that' so have ceased to worry about it.

Thats what ive been told but skoda dont spend millions developing a car that does that surely? My car is sat with them still today so will see if they do or say differently today

[Jaco2k]

Actually, count me in - mine has done the same since I got it. Even after driving one hour on the motorway/highway, if I put down my foot in 3rd/4th gear, the embarrassing "cloak mode" cloud of mist comes.

It does look more like mist than smoke.

[SC03OTT]

I'll chip in as well and confirm my TSI has also done this from day one. Now 3 years and 36k on it's still running fine. 

[FluffyEyeball]

13 hours ago, renton said:

It was me who reported the same issue on my own car a few months ago. 

 

My car is a 2016 mk3 petrol estate and I get loads of white smoke/steam all the time in any weather and at various lengths of journey. 

 

Skoda had my car and did lots of testing but said they couldn't replicate the fault. They also did a pressure test over night and said it's holding pressure so no leaks however, I've been keeping an eye on the coolantevel of my car and I've topped it up once and now it's nearly on the min mark again. That's in 10k miles. 

 

It's going in for a service in a week or so and I'm going to mention it again as I'm sure it's not right. 

 

If it does turn out to be condensation then surely that is going to rot the exhaust from the inside out. 

 

However I'm sure that my car feels down on power sometimes too. 

 

Cheers. 

 

Steve. 

 

It shouldn't be loosing any at all. Has yours had the coolant pump replaced under warranty? Common fault with the TSI's leaking coolant, relatively simple warranty repair to replace the faulty part(s). Might explain excessive steam too if some of the coolant is leaking into the engine.

[glosrich]

Yeah someone else had this problem last year. Didnt his end up having the water pump and/or manifold changed?

 

Might be wrong but I think there was a small crack that was allowing coolant in when the engine was hot, creating the steam from the exhaust.

[Orville]

They all do it (including mine). So long as the smoke is white and you are not losing coolant then there is absolutely nothing to worry about.

[Spongefactory]

Mine has done this for the past 2 years so I assume nothing to worry about.

[Shmoo]

My new MK3 petrol vrs does the same. I assumed it was due to the recent cold weather and the relatively short runs its has mostly done so far. Mine is still just sub 1000 miles, so I have yet to test it on a proper long run. I do think it looks pretty bad though and may well be inconvenient to whoever is driving behind. Will keep an eye on the levels and see how it goes - but it seems to run perfectly fine, so hopefully nothing to worry about...