[BeetleDub]

I've got what appears to be exhaust coming from behind the engine (2000 1.8t). It happens in spurts (5-ish seconds at a time), only happens after driving around, and stops after idling for a couple minutes. Sometimes it seems to appear in the middle, and other times on the driver side, but there is no clear source (I've looked all over with a camera scope). The clouds of exhaust just appear.

There is no sound to indicate an exhaust leak. Maybe something EGR or PCV related?

Any ideas/suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

 

[billymade]

So, are you saying; there is smoke appearing behind the engine and no loud exhaust leak? If there are burning oil smells, smoke; you might have a oil leak, say from the valve cover gasket and the oil is running down, it is burning, causing smoke from the hot exhaust manifold.

The valve cover gasket, is a classic source of 1.8T oil leaks and burning oil smoke, bad smells.


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[billymade]

For checking for exhaust system leaks; you could try blowing air with a shop vac and spray bottle with soapy water?

Exhaust leak testing shop vac - Google Search

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[BeetleDub]

So, are you saying; there is smoke appearing behind the engine and no loud exhaust leak? If there are burning oil smells, smoke; you might have a oil leak, say from the valve cover gasket and the oil is running down, it is burning, causing smoke from the hot exhaust manifold.

The valve cover gasket, is a classic source of 1.8T oil leaks and burning oil smoke, bad smells.

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Thanks; I appreciate the suggestions.

It doesn't look or smell like it's burning oil or coolant. It's a lot fainter than a typical smoke, and it just smells like exhaust. I don't see any signs of leaks either. I recently replaced the engine with one that's only 46k miles (and did the timing, water pump, and misc other general maintenance), so I got a pretty good look at it then as well. The oil plug was leaking a tiny bit (fixed now), but that doesn't get hot enough to burn the oil. .. I'm stumped.

For checking for exhaust system leaks; you could try blowing air with a shop vac and spray bottle with soapy water?

I'd heard about testing an exhaust system with a shop vac, but forgot to actually try it. I'll give that a shot; thanks!

 

[bigblur]

Sometimes the exhaust gasket can be loose just a fraction and when the engine is up to temp, it is sealed off, when engine cools , it leaks. Something is obviously loose. My guess

 

[billymade]

If this is a used installed engine; sometimes, there is residual, stuff that burns off and smokes for awhile.

Any updates and how long has the new/used engine, been run?


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[Thejarhead]

The flex pipe can also be an exhaust leak source.

 

[BeetleDub]

Thanks, all!

This is too high to be the exhaust pipe fitting, but could be from the manifold. It's got a new gasket though, with the surfaces cleaned and nuts/bolts properly torqued, so I wouldn't expect that to be the issue. Maybe something around the turbo, but those are all new gaskets as well.

It is a used engine (only 46k miles though), and several nuts/bolts did require a fair amount of PB Blaster, so that could just be burning off (along with whatever else may have been on it). The engine has been run very little since I swapped it; maybe 30 minutes idling, and another 20 driving around. I was initially seeing the issue while idling, but then it would only happen after driving around for a few minutes, and the last time I drove it I didn't see it. So it does (hopefully) sound like that may be what's going on. I'll run it some more and see.

I haven't had a chance to do the exhaust check with a shop-vac yet though, as I found half my coolant was missing (and all over the transmission), so I got side-tracked with finding the leak. Hopefully I'll have the new fitting in a couple days, and can get back to this issue.

Thanks again to everyone for your input; I really appreciate it!

 

[BeetleDub]

Update: The issue has stopped, and the car seems to be running well, so I think it was just stuff burning off.

Thank you all for your input; I really appreciate it!

 

[billymade]

Glad you figured things out; good work!


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