TDI Jetta excessive smoke?

[Jettadelight]

Have driven 37,347km in my first year with a standard Jetta TDI, DSG, MY08 and love it.
Fuel efficiency 5.543 L/100KM for the year. I drive for comfort and economy.
I use mainly BP and am interested to try Ultimate if it arrives in Sydney.

In response to some other threads, I use 6th whenever practical and certainly above 70kph. I have found that in line with belated dealer advice, vehicle uses about 1 litre of oil per 5000km.

My only abiding concern is that if I forget I am not driving my old Mazda 6, and I push a little too hard, I observe a huge pall of black smoke behind me that had you asked me I would have said was not possible. (dealer = normal!)
Incredibly embarrassing. I have serious doubts about it being normal.

To you who know please.
Does it have a particulate filter? (dealer = yes).
Is it normal for such a huge sooty display?
Kindest regards to all fellow VWers.

[jettapilot]

Apparently it is normal and clean for diesels to smoke. have a read of the thread 'To smoke or not to smoke'.

http://www.vwwatercooled.org.au/newforum/upload/showthread.php?t=25078

[neil]

Have the same vehicle as you and also drive for comfort and economy.
I also use BP and get the smoke signal from the rear when putting the boot in occasionally.
I don't think you have a problem its most likely your driving style, Diesels like to work hard
not cruising around like your doing. Try putting the boot in more often and Im sure you will see a decrease in the smoke, but you will still get some.
I'd be a bit more concerned with your oil consumption, is it still using 1 litre every 5000k's after 37000k's???
I have never had an issue with oil usage and now have 16000k's and my over all fuel consumption is 4.8L/100... 95% freeway work.

I presume from your fuel figures you would be traveling on Highways??
Due to your comfort/economy driving I think you should also look at the threads on the EGR issue as from what I have read driving for comfort might cause you to have problems down the track with the EGR.
Neil.

[Greg Roles]

It's a worry when dealers have no idea.

ONLY the GT TDI Golf had a DPF out of the Polo / Golf / Jetta range in 2008.

I can't ever see anything out the back of my GT, and I've followed a mates GT and it was smoke free as well, yet the 103TDI / Jetta range I see in the traffic can give a bit of haze on acceleration. It's very normal. Ultimate diesel will help keep your injectors clean, which is a common reason all those old diesels smoke so bad, yet do so little. Wouldn't hurt to put a bottle of Fuel Dr or Diesel fuel cleaner through it once a year, supercheap have a good range.

Some additives also apparently reduce the amount of smoke, but none will stop it.

[gregozedobe]

...... and I push a little too hard, I observe a huge pall of black smoke behind me that had you asked me I would have said was not possible. (dealer = normal!)
Incredibly embarrassing. I have serious doubts about it being normal.

To you who know please.
Is it normal for such a huge sooty display?

I wouldn't have thought it should produce "a huge pall of black smoke" in any circumstances. Can you describe just how big this pall is (ie in cubic metres), how thick it is (can you see through it) and how long it lasts in the air ?

Maybe get your dealer to demonstrate to you another VW car with the same engine to prove that it really is "normal" (ie other cars do do it the same as yours). Unfortunately some dealers seem to have an aversion to doing any warranty work, so you need to make it hard for them to wriggle out of doing it.

[Jettadelight]

Thankyou all

Thankyou all for your comments and ideas.

Jettapilot - agreed and understand. Had read. I have not seen anything like this amount of smoke from a diesel car. Most of the time I see none.

Neil - understand and you may well be correct but prefer steady drving.
When on longer trips I run at 110 when allowed, otherwise 90. The boot when applied is as decscribed, however . . .
Oil consumption at 7500 was very low and drew a comment. Chatswood service were quite clear when I rang, 1L per 5000km!!! And I was told it is in the manual - will look. 4.8 is impressive (manual?) On straight run to Vic (37psi) from Sydney, 110Km/h, air on, = 5.2L/100km.

Cogdoc - ta!! I find the dealer staff a little too smug at times and very quick to say - Normal. When I asked about the filter, I was told at Chatswood Service it would not run if it was not in place!!!!

gregozedobe - 5m diam dense in centr. car behind disappears or on one occassion SWERVES to avoid smoke!! Thank you for ideas. I took car to a non VW mechanic and he said he does not think it is normal. I'll go to a different VW service centre and insist on a drive with service staff. We shall see.

Again, thank you all.

[mtj007]

Both my Golf and my mum's Passat (both 103 TDIs same as the Jetta) send out big clouds of smoke if they haven't been booted for a while. I have a more "aggressive" driving style in terms of acceleration so mine is normally fine. I took the Passat for a drive today and when I booted it to get across a busy intersection it sent out a large cloud. It's pretty embarrassing.

Also I am sure your car does NOT have a particulate filter. Only the Golf GT TDI, the new Golf VI TDI, Passat 125 TDI and Tiguan (Edit: and the Eos) have diesel particulate filters.

There would be no smoke coming from your car if it did have a filter.

In regards to oil, both of our TDIs consume little to no oil. The Golf has done 3700ish km and the Passat has done 24 000ish km. Only the Passat has required a top up outside of dealer servicing and that was within its first 12 months/12 000ish km.

[Transporter]

Have driven 37,347km in my first year with a standard Jetta TDI, DSG, MY08 and love it.
Fuel efficiency 5.543 L/100KM for the year. I drive for comfort and economy.
I use mainly BP and am interested to try Ultimate if it arrives in Sydney.

In response to some other threads, I use 6th whenever practical and certainly above 70kph. I have found that in line with belated dealer advice, vehicle uses about 1 litre of oil per 5000km.

My only abiding concern is that if I forget I am not driving my old Mazda 6, and I push a little too hard, I observe a huge pall of black smoke behind me that had you asked me I would have said was not possible. (dealer = normal!)
Incredibly embarrassing. I have serious doubts about it being normal.

To you who know please.
Does it have a particulate filter? (dealer = yes).
Is it normal for such a huge sooty display?
Kindest regards to all fellow VWers.

I use The Moreys Diesel Engine Smoke Killer in my T5 ($20 from Super Cheap Auto or similar - it is a concentrate and it last a long time it is also te Cetane booster) every time I fill up it helps with the reducing the visible smoke a lot. Also I would top up the engine oil only if the level drops down to minimum mark or bellow minimum on the dipstick and not every time it falls bellow the max. mark. It is also important to give your engine full throttle at least once a day (I do it when driving up the hill) to keep the turbocharger in good condition it also helps with contaminants in the intake system.

[silvershadow]

[quote=mtj007;299020].......
Also I am sure your car does NOT have a particulate filter. Only the Golf GT TDI, the new Golf VI TDI, Passat 125 TDI and Tiguan have diesel particulate filters.

quote]


Hey - don't forget the MY09 Eos - it has one as well.

[Greg Roles]

Virtually all new diesels will have to have a DPF to pass the Euro V emissions that came in last year, and they have even more emission systems now!

[gldgti]

OP - an explanation for your oil usage: if you drive the car sedatley, and rarely rev the engine up much, you will find that your oil consumption increases. the reason for this is because at low engine speeds, blowby gasses increase the crancase pressure and carry oil vapours into the intake.

furthermore - on the odd occasion that you give it full throttle, all of the built up oil in the intake tract of your engine (which is long on a modern diesel) gets sucked in and burned - causing extra smoke, on top of that caused by likely partially fowled injectors.

to top it all off, if the car has been driven sedately since day 1, its likely that the piston rings are not bedded in as best they could be.

all of these things add up to the simptoms you have described.

no-matter what the dealer, or anyone else says, there is no real "normal". the fact is that the reliability and charactersitics of your diesel engined vehcile are vastly governed by the way it has been treated throughout its life. sheer statistics tell the clear story that a good diesel engine is one that is maintained well and used frequently, and often to capacity. if you're driving style does not take care of the second part, you'll probably just have to live with the smoke

i hope i've helped you to understand better.

[Russ59]

The first thing I would be doing would be checking to make sure the correct grade of oil has been used in the engine. When we bought Cam's '07 Comfortline TDI, the stupid Toyota dealership we purchased it from put the totally incorrect grade of oil in it and it smoked like a reefer addict. They decided to change the oil and used Toyota diesel oil 25w50 or the like, fortunately we had the car shipped up from Melbourne by carrier it was only stopped and started a couple of times to get it on and off the truck. Just a thought anyway.


Russ

[droplet]

[QUOTE=silvershadow;299057]

.......
Also I am sure your car does NOT have a particulate filter. Only the Golf GT TDI, the new Golf VI TDI, Passat 125 TDI and Tiguan have diesel particulate filters.

quote]


Hey - don't forget the MY09 Eos - it has one as well.

The MY09 Jetta 103TDI does now too. It uses the new common rail 2.0L engine and is also equipped with a particulate filter. But no, the parent poster's MY08 Jetta does not have a DPF.