Ibiza Cupra TDI Producing White Smoke

28Ace82

Active Member
Oct 5, 2009
14
0
RAF Marham, Norfolk
Hi all,

After having some recent trouble with my Cupra, I hope that someone here might be able to offer some advice on the most likely causes of my issues.

A few weeks ago I purchased a 54 plate Cupra TDI in red, the car of my dreams!
It has a decat pipe, allard EGR delete kit, Sachs clutch, and a Jabbersport remap to 200 bhp and 492 Nm.

It has done 88,000 miles with a recent timing belt and water pump change.

All was great till I decided to take it on the runway at my Air Force base, RAF Marham. We were running an airfield experience day and I wanted to see what my new baby could do.

She was pulling strong right up to about 130mph towards the end of the straight when suddenly there was a big cloud of black smoke, a disconcerting noise and a sudden loss of boost. Fearing the worst, I pulled into the pit area and popped the bonnet.

One of the jubilee clips for the intercooler piping had come loose and the pipe had come off. It was the attachment second from the right from the Allard EGR section. I will take some pictures if that would help anyone diagnose the problem. There was quite a lot of oil present so I cleaned it all off and re-attached the pipe. After starting the car I noticed quite a lot of white smoke coming from the exhaust especially at about 1500 rpm under acceleration.

After driving for about 25 minutes, this did not seem to get much better so I took it to my local garage where he has told me the oil level was 8mm above the maximum marker. This was the opposite from what I was expecting. The coolant level is still just above the maximum marker so does not seem to have lost any fluid there.

Could the level go up because the oil has escaped from somewhere else, like inside the turbo? He is now looking into it more but I fear the worst. I spoke to the previous owner and he assures me the oil was always kept at the correct level. He suggested the garage might be trying to pull a fast one but I doubt that as he has been good in the past. He suggests I may merely need to run it for longer to clear all the oil out.

It just seems so strange not so see any black smoke at all out the back, where I used to get loads, due to the aggressive remap. I do however have black streaks running down the back of my car suggesting a fair amount of oil is coming from the exhaust. And now, just pure white smoke. Does anyone have any ideas what could the problem be?

Thank you in advance for any help that you can give me.

Kind Regards,

Andrew
 

Pew.

Active Member
Mar 23, 2012
1,451
142
Scotland
Probably easiest to just drain the oil and re-fill to the correct level and see if the problem goes away?

White smoke usually indicates water and not oil.
 
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Apr 13, 2011
1,971
1
hull
I had a same fault on mine after having a race against a 535d BMW I fixed the boost pipe but later on found I still had anoughter blown off which was the one from the turbo
 

Deleted member 77040

Guest
Marham says it all! What trade are ya?
I was thinking water getting into the system seen as its white
 

Chriswaite130

Byebye TDI, Hello VTEC y0
Jan 24, 2008
579
0
Northumberland
I'd usually say it could be turbo related, however I had plumes of white smoke coming out of my ibiza when I had it, it stank of diesel though and was worst when pulling away - when under boost it returned to black. I took it to a garage who ran a test on the MAF sensor and it was under-performing. So I changed this and a day later - no white smoke :)

Cheapest thing first - drain the oil and put fresh in at the right level and keep an eye on it. If it still smokes I'd try a new MAF sensor :)
 

S7UYJ

Active Member
Sep 7, 2010
320
0
Manchester
or get a fairy to give the MAF a clean up with some magic fairy dust!

MAF clean works for me when i get a bit too much smoke (normally black tho)
 

joop200789

Active Member
Jul 5, 2009
330
3
Barnsly
White smoke can also be unburnt oil enter the exhaust system which then get vaporised in the exhaust turning it white with a slight blue tinge

Could have over speedeD the turbo when the boost pipe blow off and splitting the oil seal
Check your boost pipe see how much oil
 

28Ace82

Active Member
Oct 5, 2009
14
0
RAF Marham, Norfolk
Thanks for all the advice guys.

I took the car to my local garage and he had no clue, couldn't find anything wrong. He changed the oil and I then took it out for a drive and all seemed fine. I did notice that there is quite a large build up of oil and dirt on the right lower corner of the inter-cooler however.

Have just completed a 200 mile journey and I have noticed that the white smoke is definitely being produced but only at a certain point. It seems to be at low speeds, in 1st, 2nd and 3rd gear as the revs rise from 1200 through to 1500. This happens even with a very gentle press of the accelerator. Once past this point, the smoke ceases and all seems fine. This rpm seems to be when I can hear the turbo spooling up so I am thinking that the white smoke is only being produced as the turbo comes on boost. Once up to speed in all gears and especially 5th and 6th gear and cruising above 1700 rpm, there is no more smoke, even when I put my foot down.

Does this exact symptom seem to suggest that there is a problem with a seal on the turbo?

Thanks again for your help.

PS. I am an AV Tech in CMU at Marham.
 
Apr 13, 2011
1,971
1
hull
Thanks for all the advice guys.

I took the car to my local garage and he had no clue, couldn't find anything wrong. He changed the oil and I then took it out for a drive and all seemed fine. I did notice that there is quite a large build up of oil and dirt on the right lower corner of the inter-cooler however.

Have just completed a 200 mile journey and I have noticed that the white smoke is definitely being produced but only at a certain point. It seems to be at low speeds, in 1st, 2nd and 3rd gear as the revs rise from 1200 through to 1500. This happens even with a very gentle press of the accelerator. Once past this point, the smoke ceases and all seems fine. This rpm seems to be when I can hear the turbo spooling up so I am thinking that the white smoke is only being produced as the turbo comes on boost. Once up to speed in all gears and especially 5th and 6th gear and cruising above 1700 rpm, there is no more smoke, even when I put my foot down.

Does this exact symptom seem to suggest that there is a problem with a seal on the turbo?

Thanks again for your help.

PS. I am an AV Tech in CMU at Marham.



What u have said there is the exact same fault I had and a few others have had and it is a boost leak fault.

If there is oil marks around your intercooler that could be ur fault.
I'd cheak all the boost hoses and cheak the joints for oil marks around them if there is oil residue around the pipes that means they are defo leaking.

The white smoke is due to when ur in low revs and u demand throttle it puts the air mixture and fuel mixture into the engine then by the time the air reaches the bores it had lost to much air do there for the fuel to air ratio is wrong so basically ur engine is over fueling for the ammount of air in the engine. thats the reason for the white smoke.

The reason it doesn't do it much in th higher revs is due to the turbo is creating a constant flow of air so there for the pressure loss is not as much to the fuel to air ratio at higher revs is closer to what is should be unlike when u have a boost leak at low revs.

I hope this helps and explains why it's doing what it is



The reason this
 
Apr 13, 2011
1,971
1
hull
Cheak all intercooler and turbo boost pipes for leaks and intercooler it's self because u defo have a boost leak under that bonnet.

U can cheak these your slef as I said above look for oil residue around the pipe ends etc that will indekate a leak also u can get a spray bottle of soapy water an spray it on everything rev it up a few times then leve it on tick over it will bubble where a leak is.

The common pipe I have found is the one from the Lower side of the turbo blows off u would need ur undertray off to see this pipe. If it is this pipe forge do an uprated one for it as seen on my r and r under this.

Good luck finding the leak very very common problem with these cars Becasue the pipes must of been designed by kids lol
 

28Ace82

Active Member
Oct 5, 2009
14
0
RAF Marham, Norfolk
Boost Leak

Thanks for your help Mk4 Cupra.

I removed the undertray and had a look at the pipe coming directly off the lower part of the turbo and there are traces of oil there. Seems there is definitely a leak there. It does not seem anything like as bad as the leak at the intercooler tho. I thought I was ordering the boost pipe you mentioned but actually I have ordered a part I didnt need, altho it says it gives extra performance. I have ordered the forge boost pipe from AwesomeGTI. I could not find the pipe you mentioned for sale anywhere. Could you send me a link for where I could get one please?

I think the car is going to end up going to the garage for them to see if my intercooler is repairable but I am concerned that with the amount of oil residue on the intercooler that there is too much oil flowing through the system, indicating a more serious problem elsewhere, for example, the turbo seals degrading. Is it possible it is the water seal on the turbo that could also be degraded, allowing water to escape? I think the coolant level may be going down very very slightly.

Thanks again for the help guys.
 
Apr 13, 2011
1,971
1
hull
The pipe u have orderd is the front pancake replacement hose that's what I have on my todo list defo worth fitting I'll try and find a link to the pipe u need
 
Apr 13, 2011
1,971
1
hull
http://www.dpmperformance.co.uk/forge-motorsport-fmthi160d-silicone-turbo-hosebr-ibiza-6l-19tdi-pd130-0202-p-9335.html

Am sure this is the pipe I orderd I know it says for the pd130 but if u go to the page before there's a Simalur pipe that looks more like the pd130 pipe. It looks the same as mine where the other one they sell dont What I would do is ring them up and just ask to make sure.

The place I got mine from has gone off the net for some reason.

You will also need to order new clips and seals from seatThey cost around ten pound for two seals and two clips
 
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I had this when my boost pipe popped off, white smoke ect car didnt feel right.
First of all I found a split pipe, fixed that (one off the turbo)
Then found crap stuck in the boost pipe stopping the engine getting air which caused A LOT of white smoke.
I could clean all the boost pipes and intercooler out, re-fit it all with new clips or make them more secure, then get a vag specialist to see how much boost its requesting and how much its producing :)
 
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