Exhaust Soot on Polo GTI

[Pere]

My car is 2 weeks old ( 250kms) and I read about this problem before picking my car up and hoped I wouldn't be one of the unlucky ones.
But to my disappointment my girlfriend noticed black soot all over the hatch on Thursday night and at first I was in denial, but now I'm off to wash it and call the dealer on Monday morning.
So sad.


Polo GTI 5 Door Candy White

[polo]

Seriously what a crap way to enjoy a new car...

[Gambit]

Anyone Here consider running an aftermarket oil air separator?

[Pere]

Just an update.

I took my Polo GTI back to the dealership and they told me that VW head office told them to replace a 'breather hose' and do an upgrade. Now my car is covered in even larger black spots of oil and the oil temperature is running about 10c higher than before. Called them today and oddly the Service Manager is away until monday and they told me come in after that and 'they will have a look at it'
I don't know what they are going to look at in the engine bay when the black crap all over my back hatch should be enough evidence that there is something seriously wrong.

[gldgti]

Is it really an crankcase vapour problem?

Seems like all the new turbo direct injection petrol's, especially the 'hot' ones (the R, GTI's etc) make a lot of soot on hard acceleration. I see quite a lot on my daily commute (F3 freeway), and on several occasions I've seen a GTI accelerate up a steep hill on the freeway and literally belch black smoke from the exhausts, like an old diesel...(not exagerating either - being a diesel enthusiast I know belching smoke when I see it )

Not saying there's no problem, hey, I'd be peeved if I were you too - even my 'old diesel' cabby doesn't deposit any noticeable soot on the back of the car.

If there are spots of oil though - this seems crazy. Perhaps the oil has been over-filled?

[evolb]

For all those saying it might be tar or engine oil over-filled etc, it's not. It's a VW engine design fault and its really starting to frustrate me. Mines done just under 2000kms now and the back gets filthy within a week of washing. My engine oil light came on after 1500km.

Now a dealer close to my home is telling me they are going to charge me to top up the engine oil because I didn't purchase my car through them. Has anyone else had this happen to them? Or is everyone getting it done for free at the place of purchase/paying to top up somewhere else?

To buy a new $35k car and to have this happen straight off the bat and all the denials/fob offs from VW makes me so mad and completely kills the joy of having a new car. I will never recommend purchasing a VW to anyone.

[kaanage]

Has anyone here had the crankcase breather restrictor pipe fitted to reduce oil consumption (VW's "solution" as mentioned/shown by kawabunga in the problems thread)?

[prcurrie]

Now a dealer close to my home is telling me they are going to charge me to top up the engine oil because I didn't purchase my car through them. Has anyone else had this happen to them? Or is everyone getting it done for free at the place of purchase/paying to top up somewhere else?

.

My dealer has said that too but it's all customers now. I whinged and they are still going to top it up

[gavs]

Has anyone here had the crankcase breather restrictor pipe fitted to reduce oil consumption (VW's "solution" as mentioned/shown by kawabunga in the problems thread)?

There are a few international cases that show that some cars it helps, others it doesn't. The only real way to tell if there are upper blow-by issues is to fit a proper catch can post oil seperator.

[kawabanga]

Here in Italy top up is for free and new breather pipe also, even if the car is no more under warranty: this is what VW stated after the exit of a shocking article on the most important Italian Car Magazine "Quattroruote" ...

I installed the new pipe paying for it (63€) because I'm within tolerances, for now I saw two benefits:
_The big instake pipe, just where the breather pipe inlet, is now completely dry after 1000Kms, before was always oil-wet even if I occasionally clean it with a cloat...
_In the last 1.000Km oil is exactly the same as before on the dipstick, before I used to notice a lowering of 1mm (one square of the knurled area), that corresponded to 1liter every 10.000Kms (always measuring in the same condition: 30minutes after switching off with hot oil in my plan garage floor) ...

[Veeduby]

How to differentiate whether its soot or just dust/dirt? The back of my polo is pretty filthy but it seems to be more brown than black...

[kawabanga]

If the dirty comes from the silencer the left side of the car will be more dirty than the right one...
If the dirty is uniform it's ok...

[Zakarados]

I noticed this soot effect(black spots/mist that doesn't come off with pressure spray) on the back of my Polo GTi when I cleaned it yesterday. First time I have seen it on the car, so hopefully it was a one off. Lets see if it comes back in the coming weeks.

[Zakarados]

So, my car was cleaned yesterday, and I gave the Polo a hard time on the way home, and it was covered in soot.

Has anyone found the root cause? I see the only person who got rid of it, got an engine replacement!

I only started noticing this when I changed servos (my local BP closed)... I will try another BP around me and see if it continues.

[Karly101]

Yup mine has not reappeared since engine replacement and this is despite still filling up at the same servos. I'm sure there must be a simpler fix to the problem, complain to the dealer its not normal!!