vRS white smoke from exhaust?

[liveseytowers]

I've noticed that when I accelerate hard in my 2022 vRS (petrol) I get quite a bit of white smoke from the tail pipes when I get past 5000rpm. It's done 1800 miles (run in period observed) and I only put my foot down once oil temp is above 90c. Should I be worried or do they all do this? I sometimes have to put the rear wiper on the wipe the back window as it clouds up. 

 

Any ideas? 

 

And on a side note, is there a nack to getting the dipstick out? I went to check oil at weekend and was in a rush but couldn't get the dipstick out. 

[TechieAli]

Surely it’s just condensation in the cold from water in the exhaust.

[liveseytowers]

I did think this but its 11c outside so not exactly cold. And would that happen every time you rev it hard or just the first few times? Curious to know if anyone else with a vRS has noticed this. 

[zetzet]

Is your coolant level going down? If it's not then it's condensation. 

[parsey83]

As above perfectly normal if all levels are good

[timster]

I noticed the same thing on a test drive PHEV RS. Not sure how to explain it with the petrol version. Maybe colder nights?

[TomTom88]

Yeah i noticed that too on my '22 vRS. But not sure is it smoke or smth else. Manual reads, that oil consumption is normal in break in period (mines done about 5k km now). 

[SC03OTT]

Sounds like the same condensation “issue” that’s frequently reported on the Mk3. It’s nothing to worry about. 

[liveseytowers]

Checked it just now, oil is fine and has about 80% oil left on the dip stick.  Coolant does seem pretty low though, i've never had to top it up on any other car so i'll get it booked in to get checked out.

[zetzet]

But it's not low, it's in the middle between min-full. Which is where it should be. Also it depends on how hot the engine was when you checked, if this is cold level then it seems fine to me.

[billblacoe]

I think its condensation, as when it happens it ends up on the rear windscreen and the wipers then just take it off . Don't know why its so obvious though, more on any other car that i've had . Must look to cars behind that its smoke 

[liveseytowers]

Took it back today and they did some checks, including a pressure check and confirmed no issues and it's just condensation. 

 

I saw a post of FB where the owner has removed the back boxes on his exhaust and he said you could hear water sloshing around in them. That would cause steam/smoke out the back too. Back to occasionally flooring it without worrying. 

[MiniNinjaRob]

If you drive round town a lot then you’ll get more condensation inside the exhaust. As you said a fast road jaunt will clear it out. 
Back in the past when all exhausts were mild steel it was the city driven cars that went through exhausts fast as the condensation would sit in the back boxes or other low points and rot them away pretty fast. 

[SurreyJohn]

14 minutes ago, MiniNinjaRob said:

If you drive round town a lot then you’ll get more condensation inside the exhaust. As you said a fast road jaunt will clear it out. 
Back in the past when all exhausts were mild steel it was the city driven cars that went through exhausts fast as the condensation would sit in the back boxes or other low points and rot them away pretty fast. 

Much higher levels of sulphur in leaded petrol was also a contributor.  It would condense and then got something closer to sulphuric acid than pure water in the exhaust

[Breezy_Pete]

If you regularly park nose-down on a slope, try parking the other way round so any liquid water can run out of the exhaust with gravity.

 

Not everyone realises that this condensed water does not come out of the air, it comes from the combustion process.

The two main products of combustion are carbon dioxide and water. It's in invisible steam form when it exits the engine, but depending on exhaust design, length, mass and temperature, and the rate of flow and temperature of the gases at the tailpipe, a lot can be deposited in the exhaust system during short runs and may not evaporate away if the exhaust doesn't get hot enough for enough time.

 

The amount of water created is surprising. I did a calculation many years ago that suggested it's in the order of magnitude of a litre of water per litre of fuel burnt.

[therams]

On 04/04/2022 at 20:13, liveseytowers said:

I've noticed that when I accelerate hard in my 2022 vRS (petrol) I get quite a bit of white smoke from the tail pipes when I get past 5000rpm. It's done 1800 miles (run in period observed) and I only put my foot down once oil temp is above 90c. Should I be worried or do they all do this? I sometimes have to put the rear wiper on the wipe the back window as it clouds up. 

 

Any ideas? 

 

And on a side note, is there a nack to getting the dipstick out? I went to check oil at weekend and was in a rush but couldn't get the dipstick out. 

dipstick is deffinatly tricky getting out, i spin it 90 degrees and get middle finger in the loop while resting other fingers on the engine cover, and pull

[TheWanderer]

4 hours ago, therams said:

dipstick is deffinatly tricky getting out, i spin it 90 degrees and get middle finger in the loop while resting other fingers on the engine cover, and pull

 

Glad to know that I'm not the old one who found it nigh on impossible to get the oil dipstick out of the engine. I was swearing at it. Good job I checked it, it needed about ½ ltr.