Huge cloud of smoke on accleration but it's not the turbo's? W/ video

[somebody5788]

The guy I bought the S4 from caught it on his S4's dash cam. It has no distinguishable odor to it and temperature and conditions are listed in the video's description. Turbo's were replaced at 67666 miles by the Audi dealer and the car now has 120,300. It has an APR 93 tune on it in the video, stock exhaust, and stock cats. The car was treated well as far as warm up and cool down and has always had the oil changed on time with synthetic. Under normal driving there is no smoke whatsoever (is that really how you spell that??).

So basically I'm asking where should I start? What logs do I need to do? Could it be something as simple as a bad IAT or MAF or even O2's? It didn't really have a fuel odor to it but it was cold and the car has cat's so who knows. I already scanned for codes and only had an intermittent evap leak.

Anyways, any help will be appreciated, I'm not that worried because normal driving the car is perfect and it still pulls hard. However it would be nice to fix the issue.

[30vQuattro]

One of the seals from on your turbo's might be leaking slightly under higher boost.. I can't think of anything else that would do that.

[somebody5788]

One of the seals from on your turbo's might be leaking slightly under higher boost.. I can't think of anything else that would do that.

I would think that you could smell that? He literally stuck his head out the window to smell it haha.

[CELison]

unless its pcv related, it looks like your seals are starting to go. You can see the smoke stop when you shift, then blow out again when you get back into boost.

[somebody5788]

unless its pcv related, it looks like your seals are starting to go. You can see the smoke stop when you shift, then blow out again when you get back into boost.

I should mention that it's also an intermittent issue. It happened the first day or 2 then it stopped for a few days.

[zillarob]

Id pop the lower ic hoses and take a look. May have some oil that you are stirring up at higher airflows.

[zrider91r]

Id pop the lower ic hoses and take a look. May have some oil that you are stirring up at higher airflows.

This. Same issue I had. intermitten issue and I popped the hoses off to find driver side had a decent amount of oil in it.
it is fine at normal driving but when I get on it hard it smokes for a split second. but stops when I am holding around 12 psi.

[destrolock]

That does not look like smoke to me. See how it dissipates quickly?

Smoke will stick around. Could it be your car was still warming up? You know when you are warming up and the exhaust starts to get hot, so it starts to steam from the rapid change in temp? That is what it looks like to me but I could be wrong.

[somebody5788]

The oil temp had started to rise but I'd really only driven about 2 miles in town.

That does not look like smoke to me. See how it dissipates quickly?

Smoke will stick around. Could it be your car was still warming up? You know when you are warming up and the exhaust starts to get hot, so it starts to steam from the rapid change in temp? That is what it looks like to me but I could be wrong.

Ya, I honestly think it's steam but I'm curious why there is so much.

[koolkoreanked]

You might have an exhaust leak.

[MDJ]

That really doesn't look like burned oil to me. I would give the exhaust a really good once-over and make sure there are no holes. If a good amount of water accumulates in a muffler overnight, you'll see this. Look around the stock clamps.

[somebody5788]

That really doesn't look like burned oil to me. I would give the exhaust a really good once-over and make sure there are no holes. If a good amount of water accumulates in a muffler overnight, you'll see this. Look around the stock clamps.

What would cause this much water? This is what I was hoping people would say, I just don't see why there would be so much hehe. Is it because my work commute is only 1/2 mile and the car doesn't get warmed up on the way? I make sure on my way home to take a decent drive to get it warmed up and all.

[koolkoreanked]

What would cause this much water? This is what I was hoping people would say, I just don't see why there would be so much hehe. Is it because my work commute is only 1/2 mile and the car doesn't get warmed up on the way? I make sure on my way home to take a decent drive to get it warmed up and all.

an exhaust leak would cause steam out the exhaust. My downpipes are loose on my car right now and on start up almost a steady stream of water comes out of the joints down from the downpipes. Sooo... Check for an exhaust leak.

[somebody5788]

an exhaust leak would cause steam out the exhaust. My downpipes are loose on my car right now and on start up almost a steady stream of water comes out of the joints down from the downpipes. Sooo... Check for an exhaust leak.

What I'm getting here is that the stock exhaust needs to go? haha

[julex]

That has to be steam. Oil cloud stays for a long time, doesn't dissipate like this. I blew a turbo once and oh boy... whole street was smoked up for good few minutes. It would also smoke for a while when idling as not all oil goes out the exhaust, some stays and keeps smoking/smoldering in there.

[MDJ]

What I'm getting here is that the stock exhaust needs to go? haha

Not necessarily. Unless you'd like to use this as an excuse to get a new exhaust? Sounds appealing, huh?

Moisture gets into your exhaust every day while it's parked. I've never taken a really close look at the stock exhaust to know if our cars have them or not, but tons of other exhausts have pin hole drain holes put into mufflers to help drain condensation on startup.

Your exhaust is probably just fine and needs a leak fixed. Seeing as how you're in Indiana (can't remember from when I lived there 10 years ago), maybe the clamps are corroded from road salt? Just give it a good once over with a mirror and a flashlight from underneath. If there are any holes, have them cut out and welded. Bingo.

[somebody5788]

Not necessarily. Unless you'd like to use this as an excuse to get a new exhaust? Sounds appealing, huh?

Moisture gets into your exhaust every day while it's parked. I've never taken a really close look at the stock exhaust to know if our cars have them or not, but tons of other exhausts have pin hole drain holes put into mufflers to help drain condensation on startup.

Your exhaust is probably just fine and needs a leak fixed. Seeing as how you're in Indiana (can't remember from when I lived there 10 years ago), maybe the clamps are corroded from road salt? Just give it a good once over with a mirror and a flashlight from underneath. If there are any holes, have them cut out and welded. Bingo.

I've just never heard of an exhaust leak causing moisture. I can throw it up on the lift at my shop sometime, I just hate doing it haha.

I do think it might just be a good time to go aftermarket hehe.

[Turkish]

Spider hose clogged?
Leaking oil at all?

[CELison]

Now that I watched it again it does seam to be just steam. I have never seen that much water build up in an exhaust system to cause it to steam that much. But I guess it's possible. Either that or you have the first steam engine s4. Neither of which are really a bad thing.

[bigern45]

burning oil is blueish grey, rich is black, antifreeze is thick white.

i think its moisture, just steam.. IMO

[MDJ]

I've just never heard of an exhaust leak causing moisture.

It isn't all that common, but if there is a big enough hole in the right place you could get quite a bit of water hanging out in your mufflers. Also, it makes sense that moisture would show up intermittently. If it were an oil leak of some kind, you'd be seeing this far more often.

[somebody5788]

It isn't all that common, but if there is a big enough hole in the right place you could get quite a bit of water hanging out in your mufflers. Also, it makes sense that moisture would show up intermittently. If it were an oil leak of some kind, you'd be seeing this far more often.

Ya, oddly it's not the first car this week that we've had full of water. An older 5 series BMW took revving it to 5k for 3 minutes to clear it out.

At least it's good news that it most likely is not the turbo's hahaha.

[koolkoreanked]

^ Now that I'm on my computer and can post properly lol my iphone is hating this site for some reason. You may have a leaky exhaust gasket some where thats allowing moisture to build on the inside. Right now until I get my clutch sorted my car pretty much has a steady bit of steam out the exhaust even during the day due to the downpipes being loose. Not sure if I get as much smoke as you but I have no cats and I get a steady bit of water right at one of the exhaust joints especially on start up. You definitely have an exhaust leak or like the other guy said the first s4 steam engine lol.

[s4killer]

SEAFOAM

[ECS Tuning-Audi]

Looks like condensation to me. Temps are getting pretty low in the tri-state area only thing that would be "white" like that is coolant. If your not loosing coolant I wouldn't worry about it.

Jason