Some smoke okay on take off???

[TD_Bunny]

Pardon my ignorance in not knowing this right off the top, but i just got a TD rabbit and am a noob at these little cars. First off, even in the mornings the car starts right up with no problems and only smokes for a few minutes. However, when driving around town, i am noticing that when i accelerate(shift) smoke comes out of the exhaust. I believe it is white smoke and when i am stopped at a light/idling there are no issues whatsoever. Am I being overly concerned here? there might be a small leak in my pressure hose to the turbo and I am thinking this might be part of it.

Is this shift smoking okay? When should i be worried? Just thought i would ask the experts. BTW, after searching the forums i hope it is not engine problems since i bought the car with a rebuilt motor. Any advice would be appreciated. thanks

[TD_Bunny]

I added some Red Line fuel catalyst and it seemed to reduce the smoking so i am not sure. On side note, i was passed by another rabbit diesel and he was smoking upon accelerating too so maybe i am okay  

what do you guys get for MPG with the TD? just wondering

[zukgod1]

Smoke = good

dan

[Powjetta]

Tell us a little more about the car - year primarily.  The new ones don't smoke as much as the older ones.

[91 ECO]

I always get interesting looks heading to work with a suit on and a light haze of smoke!

[TD_Bunny]

I have a 1983 rabbit td, 2dr ls custom

Needs a lot of misc little things but it is in overall good shape. One thing i am in the process of doing right now is replacing hoses and the clutch. Only owned the car for a couple of weeks so i do not know too much about it yet. Just had to order a stupid Voltage Stabilizer today as my temp, fuel, and a few warning lights quit working. But hey, the car is still great and i look forward to fixing it up. I will get some pics of the car up as soon as i can for ya  

[Vincent Waldon]

Congrats on your purchase and welcome to the wonderful world of VW diesels !!

Smoke in a diesel is both subjective and the subject of religious wars... some feel diesels just smoke no matter what, some feel that properly tuned there should be no smoke, some feel that if it's doesn't smoke you aren't pushing it hard enough !!

My personal perspective... there's good smoke and bad smoke.  Blue is usually bad.. oil.  White is expected when the engine is cold (condensed fuel) but bad if the engine is at operating temperature (often steam from a head gasket problem).  Black smoke is bad if it happens under routine acceleration. but OK when you're matted going up a hill or passing someone.  Really thick black smoke (giving the guy behind you a "sooting" ) is probably bad.... but oh so fun.

An example... my current diesel is in pretty good health.  I get a tiny bit of white smoke when it first starts if it's cold outside (-10C), no smoke at idle when it's warm, and no smoke under full throttle now that I've advanced the timing a touch.  Prior to advancing the timing I could detect a bit of black smoke at full throttle...not a problem in my humble opinion.

The "no smoke under full throttle"  is actually a message from the engine telling me it's time to dial up the boost and the fuel, but that's another story !!
 :roll:




Vince

[TD_Bunny]

yeah i just get the black smoke under full throttle. I have no smoke when idling after it gets warm. And thanks again for the input. Glad to be here.

[Dennis Froelich]

I see you finally made it here! :wink:  Great place to be.

[TD_Bunny]

glad to be here!!! Okay, so for the past two times at the pump i have only gotten 30-35mpg. That seems way too low to me. I am using Red Line fuel catalyst and i am not lead footing my little rabbit everywhere so what could the deal be? I have not changed my fuel filter yet so that will be next since i do not know when it was changed last, but other than that what else is there? IP or injectors? How would i know which one?

[nkb]

Just had to order a stupid Voltage Stabilizer today as my temp, fuel, and a few warning lights quit working

Im not too sure about the older cars but both my cars when i got them the fuel and temp didn't work but it wasn't the stabilizer, its the solder joints for the stabilizer were gone, just pull your cluster and take a look closely at the solder and it might be cracked. both of mine are still working perfectly for two years now

[jtanguay]

glad to be here!!! Okay, so for the past two times at the pump i have only gotten 30-35mpg. That seems way too low to me. I am using Red Line fuel catalyst and i am not lead footing my little rabbit everywhere so what could the deal be? I have not changed my fuel filter yet so that will be next since i do not know when it was changed last, but other than that what else is there? IP or injectors? How would i know which one?

a combination of IP and injectors... over time the injector breaking pressure is reduced and shim's are required to increase the breaking pressure.  The lower the breaking pressure, the sooner the fuel is injected into the engine, affecting timing (in essense its like advancing the timing... which isnt really a good thing..)

a pump that's on its way out can affect timing as well. a fresh pump & injectors should yield very good MPG results.  

another factor would be compression.  even with low compression my first jetta was yielding around 800-900km/tank.  it was an '86 mechanical lifter engine with no a/c, and no power steering.  i loved it! my current jetta is hard pressed to give me 600km/tank!  :shock: wonder what happened in '92?

[TD_Bunny]

Well, the engine is rebuilt with warranty and sounds strong.  I know from the mechanic who rebuilt the engine that the IP is not the original but one that looked to be in good working order. I know nothing about the injectors though. I will call him up and see what i can find out but either way i would rather replace injectors than the ip

[jtanguay]

injector's would be a good starting point.  most mechanics would probably just re-use the old injectors... the good ones will get them shimmed and pop tested with new nozzles.

a bad IP won't damage your motor, but a bad injector can do some pretty good damage to GP's, etc.

[TD_Bunny]

Okay, i found some rebuilt at 155 bar for 43 bucks a pop. Does that sound about right? Guess my next investment will be injectors. Hopefully the injectors are just bad rather than the other things, but these also come with the heat shields so i will pick these up and troubleshoot from there.