I've got a 2008 S5 and just last night the car crapped out on me after white smoke started pouring out of the vents (for heat and ac) that are underneath the front seats. At the time the car was running well with no issues idling or with power delivery despite smoke billowing out of the vents. I quickly turned off the car and checked for fires or smoke in the engine bay, or just strange smells on the outside of the car and didn't find or smell much of anything. The smoke smelled a bit like burning rubber but I don't know how accurate that description is because its hard to describe the smell. I have smelled the same smell before when driving the car (never noticed smoke and it was never as strong as it was yesterday) usually when/after accelerating and I just assumed I was smelling clutch because that's what made sense to me. Anyways, I let the car sit for 8 hours while I was at work thinking the car would be fine and that I just need a new clutch but when I started it up, the dash lit up like a Christmas tree saying there was all sorts of faults. (the ones I remember were electronic ebrake fault, traction control fault, abs fault, and a few other things that I cant remember) The EPC light was on and when I pulled the codes I got 2 engine control unit codes. P2101 (Throttle actuator control (TAC) motor - range/performance problem), and P2106 (TAC system - forced limited power mode). I figured I could limp the car home but I couldn't even pull out of the parking spot without it almost stalling 3 or 4 times. Even when I was just sitting there the car couldn't find idle and was barely able to stay running.
I have been trying to figure out what could have possibly gone wrong all at once to make these issues appear so quickly and but haven't been able to think of anything that could have caused all my issues.
Like I said, I thought the smoke was from my clutch and that I had just burned the crap out of it but that doesn't make sense because the car would still run fine.
The next thing I thought is that because my battery is on its last legs, the car was sending to much power to charge the battery and some of the wires ended up overheating and started to smoke. This could explain the rough idle also since its possible the battery was not able to provide enough voltage to computer systems after the wires fried themselves which may have left many sensors and systems confused causing the symptoms in the engine and the many lights on the dash. This still does not make sense because the smoke did not smell like electrical fire at all.
I also considered it could be coolant that leaked into my heater core and started burning but I don't think this would cause my engine problems and like I said earlier, I occasionally have smelled the same burning smell while driving but have never noticed a coolant leak/burn ever and the coolant level has always stayed the same.
I'm looking for any help you have to offer, including information, theories, things to check. I'm also more than happy to provide more details if requested as well as run any tests or checks to get you the information you need to help me out. I will be active on this forum and will gather more details and update you with them as I find them. literally anything helps. Thanks!
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Originally Posted by Willi_must
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