[boblamb58]

Just wondering.. how much smoke is normal upon acceleration?

If I let the RPMs go over about 2250 before I upshift, I get a real large cloud of diesel smoke behind me. This is especially evident at night when followed. (Although, I do see this as a benefit, as in most cases tailgaters tend to back off after a second treatment)

 

[hannaco]

Do you have a chip or large injectors installed? Has this happened from the time the car was new?
Soot is an indication that you either are using a higher sulfur content fuel, or lack of air. Have you checked the intercooler and the EGR/intake manifold for blockage?
Or, just do as I do, run it up to about 4k rpm every now and then. It blows all that nasty soot right out the tail pipe.

 

[The Cheat]

Do you have a chip or large injectors installed? Has this happened from the time the car was new?
Soot is an indication that you either are using a higher sulfur content fuel, or lack of air. Have you checked the intercooler and the EGR/intake manifold for blockage?
Or, just do as I do, run it up to about 4k rpm every now and then. It blows all that nasty soot right out the tail pipe.

That and biodiesel keep my intake so fresh and so clean. Stick around a while hannaco, I like your knowledge. :bigthumb:

 

[hannaco]

BioDiesel is a good thing. Just be sure it is the good stuff.
This is a photo of what can happen to good biodiesel. Both bottles are from the same batch. One bottle was left uncapped, while the other had a cap screwed on. The bottles were left out for about a month. We live near the coast, and get fog a couple of times a week. So lots of water was absorbed by the biodiesel.
When the temps warm up into the 60s, the biodiesel on the left once again becomes crystal clear. So, if you buy B100, and store it, keep it tightly sealed.
Water is not very good for the injectors, or the injection pump.

 

[maxforce]

I put a quart jar of the bio I buy in the fridge for three months. no top, it stayed golden, never turned at all. Max

 

[DR.billZ]

My Bug doesn't smoke much at all but our 2.0L Passat really smokes when you open it up.

 

[Growler]

my TDI will put out a pretty good puff of soot on the 1-2 upshift, and thru 2nd above 3k rpm if I really get on it.. I figure Im doing my daily italian tuneup..

mind you its barely a haze seen in the lights of the vehicles behind me.. its certainly not a black james bond style cloud by any means.

 

[boblamb58]

my TDI will put out a pretty good puff of soot on the 1-2 upshift, and thru 2nd above 3k rpm if I really get on it.. I figure Im doing my daily italian tuneup..

mind you its barely a haze seen in the lights of the vehicles behind me.. its certainly not a black james bond style cloud by any means.

Yeah. a gray/blue haze... I don't think I ever got a black haze. I guess I'm normal then

 

[Slug]

Keep an eye on your oil...it may not be fuel related.

 

[Growler]

Keep an eye on your oil...it may not be fuel related.

my oil level hasn't changed at all during this oil change interval. (10,000 miles)
I will be changing my oil next weekend. no worries mate.

 

[boblamb58]

Keep an eye on your oil...it may not be fuel related.

Is OK every time in 4.75 years of services

 

[maxforce]

burning b100 no smoke at all. Fall is in the air though and I will soon have to start blending it with dino diesel.

 

[Dorado]

I put a quart jar of the bio I buy in the fridge for three months. no top, it stayed golden, never turned at all. Max

The fridge is 40-42F or so, and B100 biodiesel is fine at that temp. It only begins to cloud in the 30's towards 32F/0C. So if you put the jar in the freezer instead, no doubt it will cloud.

 

[Dorado]

Just wondering.. how much smoke is normal upon acceleration?

If I let the RPMs go over about 2250 before I upshift, I get a real large cloud of diesel smoke behind me. This is especially evident at night when followed. (Although, I do see this as a benefit, as in most cases tailgaters tend to back off after a second treatment)

On a stock TDI, if you run clean and high cetane diesel fuel, it will not smoke at all, as people can see all the stock TDI's running as taxis over in Europe. Now, here in the US most diesel fuel is not up to the specs that VW recommends for the TDI. So you have about three types of options:

(1) Run on biodiesel (no sulfur, high cetane, more oxygen), and get it from a good source: see www.biodieselnow.com ...
(2) Run on low sulphur high cetane fuel, not easy to find: see www.tdiclub.com ....
(3) Use a cetane boost additive like PowerService, Amsoil, etc.: PowerService you can find at Walmart, PepBoyz, etc.

When we first got the TDI we took the smoke in the headlights at night as a sign of bad diesel, and that way we eliminated from our list many stations and brands in this area. Now with biodiesel in the tank, you can still run on some bad petro-diesel and not have the car smoke at all.

Summing up: a stock TDI will not smoke if you run on good fuel, which will also help prevent clogging with soot the EGR and intake manifold. Due to the EGR, any smoke you see at the back end is also coming around into your engine too!

 

[mgwerks]

When it comes down to it, the heavier smoking is from one thing - overfueling. Whether this is because of chip/injector mods, intake clogging, or crankcase oil from the turbo, it amounts to not enough air/too much fuel (yes, crankcase oil can be a fuel for the TDI - but you never want to see it happen!). I'd say normal is a light haze under mid to heavy accelleration. This is much easier to see at night when headlights are following.

I fyou are using taxed (non-dyed) diesel in your properly tuned vehicle, it should not smoke any heavier than a haze as described above. Running off-road (construction/ag) dyed diesel could smoke a lot more - it has tons more sulfur in it than road diesel. And it could get you in expensive trouble. Yet another reason to run BioD - doesn't smoke like DinoD...

There is something satisfying, however, in dumping a heavy, black, locomotive-like cloud on a tailgater....

 

[Pelican18TQA4]

With my car there's a small puff of smoke just as the car start accelerating, and that's only if I'm using heavy on the go pedal from a standstill. Another benefit of the DSG, no loss in boost during shifts so no smoke during shifts either. Of course, if I get on the go pedal pretty heavy the car starts to emit a haze of smoke and full-throttle yields a nice cloud of black smoke!

 

[Dorado]

Yes, smoke is from overfueling, or from low cetane diesel fuel that does not burn completely. Now, you can see TDI's and other modern diesels in Europe, and believe me they step on the pedal, and they don't smoke or leave haze. The difference is in the quality of the diesel fuel. Our refineries in the US have been granted several delays to adopt Ultral Low Sulfur Diesel (ULSD), from 2006 now to 2007 (and who knows...?). So we won't see national availability of clean burning diesel fuel for some time. Super high profits from 30 yr old refineries rule!

 

[JetPuf]

If you have alot of smoke you likely have a problem. On the other hand, a slight haze is just fine... and here I thought this thread was for people smoking their tires in TDI's! (I may be able to post something to that effect soon)