Cold weather and warm up issues

[Reinsung]

Hi,

 

Car is Superb 2.0 TDI. Seems like bellow 0 degrees my car takes forever to warm up, about 20 minutes drive to work and when i am at the parking spot then it kind of warms up. Also white smoke is coming out of the exhaust pipe, but when it's warmed up then there is less smoke. Could it be some injector problem? I thought it was spark plugs problem because previously i had problem that car took sometimes more than needed to start up, but now i am thinking the proble might be worse...

 

Any ideas?

[langers2k]

Pretty sure that's a normal warmup for a VAG diesel.

 

Might be worth checking the thermostats are in good working order?

[Reinsung]

Don't know if that amount of smoke is normal, it's like some of the fuel is not being processed correctly... Looks kind of funny, white smoke coming out of the exhaust pipe and white vapor coming out of the window  

[Ootohere]

It can not be a spark plug issue as if it is a diesel / TDI there are none.

 

?

Do you mean for the heater in the car to heat or the coolant to show 90*oC or the oil to get to an efficient operating temperature.

 

Takes me 6 miles from starting until the indicated oil temp gets to 50 *oC, but maybe 20 miles before the Oil indicates 90*oC or higher.

But with Ambient temp around 0*oC or lower the cars heater is putting out heat after about 5 minutes of the cars engine being started.

& That is what i have experienced with different Euro 5 or Euro 6 TDI's.

[Russ77]

Funnily enough, before the water pump actually failed in my MK3 Octavia, I thought it was taking too long to warm up (a possible side effect of the pump failing) but having had a new pump fitted on Friday, with the ambient temperature around 10C, it takes about 7 miles/12 mins for the coolant temperature to get to 90c although the heaters start becoming from around 60c which tends to take about 2 miles/5 mins of conservative driving.

 

If I drive a little harder it does heat up quicker.

[TheRobinK]

4 hours ago, Reinsung said:

Also white smoke is coming out of the exhaust pipe, but when it's warmed up then there is less smoke. Could it be some injector problem?

 

One of the primary causes for white smoke on diesels is a fuel injector issue - either an injector is faulty or the injector(s) timing is out. This leads to unburnt diesel getting into the exhaust system and coming out as white smoke. The timing can mean the cam belt.

 

1) Was the belt changed recently and/or is it due? What mileage is on the engine?

 

2) Is the car running roughly or smoothly?

 

3) You say that when it is warmed up there is less smoke. Can you clarify that this means you are always getting some white smoke (that smells of fuel/raw diesel) and that it is is not just water vapour ?

[penguin17]

Have you checked the coolant level? 

[Reinsung]

55 minutes ago, TheRobinK said:

 

One of the primary causes for white smoke on diesels is a fuel injector issue - either an injector is faulty or the injector(s) timing is out. This leads to unburnt diesel getting into the exhaust system and coming out as white smoke. The timing can mean the cam belt.

 

1) Was the belt changed recently and/or is it due? What mileage is on the engine?

 

2) Is the car running roughly or smoothly?

 

3) You say that when it is warmed up there is less smoke. Can you clarify that this means you are always getting some white smoke (that smells of fuel/raw diesel) and that it is is not just water vapour ?

Injectors would be my first guess. 

 

1) Good question, when... I bough this car ex. a year ago and turned 279k km  mileage. 

2) Car otherwise runs okay I guess, previously i told spark plugs, i ment glowing plugs. I have had issues that car throttles when starting, just takes ~10secs and goes smooth again, but loads of white smoke comes out

3) Kind of smells like fuel, exhaust smell is still coming to the saloon.

[TheRobinK]

I'd see about getting the car scanned for faults. My first guess would be an injector problem due to the level of smoke and the smell - but it is still a guess. 

 

If you don't know whether the timing belt has been done and you've got 279K km (173K miles) on it, plus its 5 years old - then I would be getting this done using the VAG kit or equivalent (i.e. belt, water pump and tensioners)

 

As Penguin17 says above - check the coolant level. If the pump is leaking and or/coolant is getting past the manifold, that may tell you.  

[linni]

White smoke appears also when DPF is doing regen. Lots of white smoke. If commuting only urban, the distance between regens could be only 100 kilometers. And at city speeds regen could take 30 - 40 minutes. So it could seem that the engine emits white smoke all the time.

All previouus goes for dieselgate engines, after emissions software update.

 

Now warming up. If your car is imported from Europe, then 20 minutes to warm up is totally fine in our climate. If bought new in Estonia, then your car should have additional electrical heater (works autonomously) and it will take about 5 minutes to get warm air out of vents.

[Reinsung]

Okay got home now, took wider route with higher speed. Reached 90 degrees and when parked the car went outside to see, no smoke came out this time. Coolant level was also fine, before driving checked, was bad to see because of the pipes but seemed like a bit over suggested level . But oh my when someone was behind me in the city and lights were showing, then the smoke amount that was came out was huge.

[linni]

Buy ELM327 OBD II dongle:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/OBDll-Bluetooth-OBD2-ELM327-MiNi-Car-Auto-Diagnostic-Scanner-Adapter-Reader/112083289796?_trkparms=aid%3D555017%26algo%3DPL.CASSINI%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D55149%26meid%3De0f4cc62337a485b988add7016270f80%26pid%3D101006%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D1%26%26itm%3D112083289796&_trksid=p2045573.c101006.m3226

 

Download VAG DPF app:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.applagapp.vagdpf

 

And you are able to observe when it smokes and when it regens and if the two things are connected.

 

[Reinsung]

Oh and just to clarify, there is no DPF, it has been removed, since it stopped working correctly a while ago.

[DEL80Y]

On 03/12/2018 at 18:51, Reinsung said:

Oh and just to clarify, there is no DPF, it has been removed, since it stopped working correctly a while ago.

Has it definitely been mapped out of the ecu 
As I know someone that just removed the inners thinking  this would fix his problems

[Reinsung]

Hi,

 

Yeah, physically took out and programmed out, also chipped to 125kw from 103kw, also asked if i want to remove EGR but didn´t do that. DPF was removed because it once every 2 days showed that burning is needed and i drove for miles and miles for that burning proccess.

[chimaera]

14 minutes ago, Reinsung said:

Hi,

 

Yeah, physically took out and programmed out, also chipped to 125kw from 103kw, also asked if i want to remove EGR but didn´t do that. DPF was removed because it once every 2 days showed that burning is needed and i drove for miles and miles for that burning proccess.

At a certain point, the DPF will have filled with oil ash and require replacement: this is more than likely what happened to yours.

 

Regarding the white smoke, as has been mentioned already, you have two possibilities:

1. It's unburnt fuel, which points to issues with fuel injection timing. Since the timing is controlled entirely by the ECU, this could point to issues with your remap.

2. It's water/steam, which points to issues with the head gasket. Check your coolant level and see if it's dropping. A good mechanic will probably have kit for checking for the presence of combustion products in the coolant too.

[linni]

Could be also EGR.

[PipH]

Have you got the DSG gearbox.

The DSG oil cooler thermostat commonly sticks open.

Coolant can then by-pass the engine thermostat & engine can take for ever to warm up properly.

[TLV]

I suspect it's just water vapor. When it gets cold, it's normal. It smells like fuel like it does on any other car. Stops doing that once the car has blown all the water out the exhaust.

 

Due to the way a DPF restricts exhaust flow, having it removed probably plays a part in the situation. With having the car remapped, such phenomena could appear, depending on the quality of the remap. With the car probably running richer, it would make sense if there was more unburnt fuel being dumped out.