Hi folks, picked up a 2007 2.0T around a month ago and it had a stainless catback system fitted and from what i gathered the car wasnt being driven much as the previous owner was ill. I drove it home from Leeds to Edinburgh and there wasnt much smoke from the exhaust. I dont use the car for long journeys per say so kind of put the issue down to condensation in the exhaust. I have fitted an induction kit and decat with heatwrap and have also had the car remapped. The smoke is the same as before but now happens as soon as the car starts to idle. I'm aware these engines do use a small amount of oil, topping up a very small amount every 3-4 weeks. Ive read up also it could possibly be piston rings? The car has only covered 93k miles and has been well mainted (fsh) and plenty of receipts for anything spent on the car.

Can anyone shed some info on this if possible? Or am i being paranoid? 😄

1 hour ago, VRSDAR said:

Can anyone shed some info on this if possible?

What colour is the "smoke"? What, if anything, does it smell of?

5 minutes ago, KenONeill said:

What colour is the "smoke"? What, if anything, does it smell of?

Its translucent/white and smells more like petrol than oil

10 hours ago, VRSDAR said:

Its translucent/white and smells more like petrol than oil

Your engine may be running slightly rich then. Oil smoke would be blue and actually smell of oil.

28 minutes ago, KenONeill said:

Your engine may be running slightly rich then. Oil smoke would be blue and actually smell of oil.

Kind of thought that, just wanted someone elses opinion for peace of mind dude 🤘 appreciated.

In all my years I have never seen  a rich mixture on a petrol engine result in white smoke, black yes, never white,  any modern closed loop engine running rich enough to produce visible smoke would trigger a MIL light, even running on a limited operating strategy due to a Lambda sensor failure the mixture would be close enough to stochiometric to not cause smoke. The remap may have significantly altered this.

 

 

White smoke will be either condensation from a cold exhaust system on a cold dry day, less than 10°c, otherwise it will be engine coolant or brake fluid being combusted, a head gasket leak would manifest under load and not at idle, a coolant leak into the inlet manifold would manifest under high vacuum conditions ie tickover.

 

The photograph looks like the exhaust smoke produced by any engine through a cold exhaust on a cold day, removal of the catalyst will make it worse than an unmodified car but no worse than an older non cat equipped vehicle.

 

If the photo was taken within a few miles of start up on a dry day below 10°C I would not be concerned.

1 hour ago, J.R. said:

In all my years I have never seen  a rich mixture on a petrol engine result in white smoke, black yes, never white,  any modern closed loop engine running rich enough to produce visible smoke would trigger a MIL light, even running on a limited operating strategy due to a Lambda sensor failure the mixture would be close enough to stochiometric to not cause smoke. The remap may have significantly altered this.

 

 

White smoke will be either condensation from a cold exhaust system on a cold dry day, less than 10°c, otherwise it will be engine coolant or brake fluid being combusted, a head gasket leak would manifest under load and not at idle, a coolant leak into the inlet manifold would manifest under high vacuum conditions ie tickover.

 

The photograph looks like the exhaust smoke produced by any engine through a cold exhaust on a cold day, removal of the catalyst will make it worse than an unmodified car but no worse than an older non cat equipped vehicle.

 

If the photo was taken within a few miles of start up on a dry day below 10°C I would not be concerned.

It probably doesnt help to indentify any issue due to the fact i dont think the temp has been anywhere near 10°c on any day since i bought the car 😆 its not losing any coolant either. Thanks for the input J.R, i'll keep an eye on it for now 👍

Once the car is properly up to temperature including the whole exhaust system, a good proper drive you should not see any water vapour from the exhaust, it's possible that the removal of the catalytic convertor makes your vehicle produce more condensate than an unmodified one but once properly warm it should subside.

 

There is an exception to the above, if the vehicle was driven for a long time with a blown head gasket then after the repair vapour can be apparent for a week or so from where the excess has collected in the silencer boxes unless the vehicle has done a 100 mile plus fast motorway journey to clear it.

 

Same deal for a big quantity of oil or brake fluid in the exhaust system.