White/Blue Smoke After Hard Acceleration

[CosmosC4S]

I did a search but couldn't come up with anything on these forums here.

There were several discussions on rennlist however on this white smoke issue.

I've had my first white smoke encounter today. Scared the crap out of me!

I thought I blew the head gasket or the engine!

Strange thing is, engine was smooth as ever, pull was strong, not even a hiccup at any point.

I was with a friend testing the car and was pushing it hard, flooring it now and then whenever the situation allows. Then at one end of the road, we made a hard u-turn and immediately floored it...

That's when we first noticed the huge cloud of smoke in the rear view mirror.

Stepped on the gas and another cloud.

So we took it easy and when we were at my driveway, I opened the engine hood,

no smell of burning oil, engine was idling smooth, exhaust was smooth with no smoke.

Stepped on the gas a second, and a small puff of white smoke shot out of the exhaust pipes.

Other than the smoke, everything seems normal. Oil on dipstick is around max level.

Should I worry about anything, or should I have it checked out?

I just don't want to waste time and money to take the car in for nothing if this is normal.

Oh, another thing...on a tiptronic, if the engine is running with no load on neutral...

if you step on the gas, will the engine rev up past 4k rpm?

I tried doing that and it hiccups a sec at 3.5k rpm, then stops at 4k rpm.

Is this normal for tiptronics, or is it related to the smoke issue?

It revs fine in gear though.

Thanks All!

Edited August 9, 2006 by CosmosC4S

[bnewport]

I think you have a leaking engine, sounds like coolant getting in the cylinders.

[Izzy]

My 1999 tiptronic revs in neutral to redline without hiccups. That is how I set off car alarms in the parking garage and scare little children.

[eastriver]

air oil sperator failed.

search for "sperator" you should find enough info.

not a bad fix.

[PiG]

happened to me when the car was a touch overfull of oil once (3.6 C2) and we had just come down a set of hairpin bends at speed.

When I accelerated hard all I could see behind me was smoke.

No oil pressure problems, noises or anything else and its never done it again in the following 2 years.

I believe it was oil spilling over something and getting pushed throught the pistons somehow.

It's the reason you should not fill over 3/4 oil for trackdays apparently

Cheers

Paul

[CosmosC4S]

Thanks Paul, that's what I've been reading from past incidences and comments.

I hope it's normal and nothing is wrong. I started today with a puff of white smoke.

Then I haven't seen any on the road, of course, I'm trying not to push it hard yet.

I'm hoping to burn up any remaining oil in the cylinders driving easy and see what happens in a day or 2.

[m5jrh]

Hi

Mine did exactly the same thing. Firstly I checked the Oil seperator, the bellows had failed. I canged this but it still gave oily smoke on really hard aceleration, normally when doing a fast pul away after a good run of high rev driving.

Have someone follow you and check the smoke comes from the exhaust itself. Mine looked like it was coming from the rear wheel.

Simple fix, it was drops of oil coming through the thread of one of the cam cover bolts and dripping onto the exhaust. I just tighteed mine a little and it stopped.

Check for leaks by the exhaust first:)

[vvortex3]

I am having the same problem, search the forums for "White Smoke" From vvortex3. Let me know if you find the cause. In my case the smoke is coming from inside of the exhaust pipe, not outside or near it. But the same exact symptom as you.