Audi A6 3.0T white smoke / Oil lost

[xZUAx]

Hello everyone I have a 2012 Audi A6 3.0T. over the last few day I have been trying to figure out the source of where the white smoke is coming from. The smoke is coming from the exhaust pipes and what looks to be the oil cap or spark plugs housing. along with some oil that looks to be from the oil cap, I also have a misfire on cylinder 2 with EPC light on

The car on start up has no problem but after 5 second has a rough idle. The car will also vibrate between 1500-2800 RPM after will not smoke or vibrate unless the car drops below 2800 RPM. The car also has not lost any coolant and can drive highway spends with no problems.

If keep the car in manual and shifts between 3000 and 4000 RPM the car drive like normal and will even pick up spends pretty fast

The car has 138k miles
APR Stage 2 dual pulley tune
New harmonic engine balancer
New manifold bank 1
New spark plugs
New ignition coils
New water pump
New thermostat
New coolant pump
New valve cover gaskets bank 1 and 2

Things that we tried
We did remove the fuel injectors clean them then swap them around to see if the misfire comes back on a different cylinder, but it was still on cylinder 2

Replace the spark plugs again as they was only 1 month old

And we swapped the ignition coils to see if any of them was bad and still the misfire is on cylinder 2.

All cylinder have compression and only get the EPC light after 5-10 secs of the car has been started before the 5 or 10 sec cylinder 2 will not misfire from what I can feel.

What I think is the problem
After spends hours looking at what it could be I believe it's the PCV valve that is going out or is out as I do have to put oil in my car every 3 weeks or 4 weeks after getting a oil change,


if you have any idea or recommendations please let me know as I am running out of options

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[430hps4]

If the oil cap is tough to remove, while engine is idling... PCV is your target

[xZUAx]

If the oil cap is tough to remove, while engine is idling... PCV is your target

Should I test this while the car is warm or can I test it on a cold start

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[A6sport]

I think the car has to be warmed up so the pressure can build. You need to get this sorted quickly or you could negate some of the maintenance items you've ticked off.

[trav-0]

Should I test this while the car is warm or can I test it on a cold start

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when mine went bad it was tough to pull from a cold start and i had oil mixing with my coolant ...

[xZUAx]

when mine went bad it was tough to pull from a cold start and i had oil mixing with my coolant ...

Did you also have white smoke or a misfire?

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[xZUAx]

I think the car has to be warmed up so the pressure can build. You need to get this sorted quickly or you could negate some of the maintenance items you've ticked off.

Will test and update post

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[p3u]

Having a cracked cylinder wall or piston rings can still give good compression numbers in some instances. Based off what you've done, short of serious carbon build up an engine sounds due.

[trav-0]

if it did it wasn't noticeable ... i was getting a low coolant light too ...after the replacement i got a P2753 code "Transmission fluid cooler control circuit open" its a simple fix

[xZUAx]

So if I remove the oil cap all the smoke starts to come out of the oil cap and no smoke comes from the exhaust.

If I remove the vent hose no smoke comes from the oil cap nor the exhaust and it only comes out of the vent holes that leads to the PCV valve any thoughts???

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[A6sport]

If it were me, I'd be at the best Audi dealer in Texas, with the best Tech available.

[xZUAx]

If it were me, I'd be at the best Audi dealer in Texas, with the best Tech available.

Ya I fully understand that we are going to replace the PCV valve and see if anything changes as I only had the car for 14 months and put over 6k into the engine and if I take it to Audi that already quoting me $3200-$7500 so I'll just call the car a lost as I replaced almost everything under the hood at this point

And plus Audi is telling me 2800 just to replace the PCV valve and gasket I can due my self for $190 like I been doing

However I will post my update tomorrow when we pulled everything off the car again

https://youtu.be/lx72qVvK7Mg


The previous owner of this vehicle did not take care of it as we found wires slice and put together to avoid sensors being tripped and a lot of broken material under the hood that we also replaced.

This was most likely my 1st and last audi I love German cars had 3 vw passat and never had a problem but it is insane all the problems I'm having with this car under 2 years start from the 2nd week of owning the vehicle. So if you're in the DFW area never buy and used Audi from Toyota of McKinney

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[A6sport]

Ya I fully understand that we are going to replace the PCV valve and see if anything changes as I only had the car for 14 months and put over 6k into the engine and if I take it to Audi that already quoting me $3200-$7500 so I'll just call the car a lost as I replaced almost everything under the hood at this point

And plus Audi is telling me 2800 just to replace the PCV valve and gasket I can due my self for $190 like I been doing

However I will post my update tomorrow when we pulled everything off the car again

https://youtu.be/lx72qVvK7Mg


The previous owner of this vehicle did not take care of it as we found wires slice and put together to avoid sensors being tripped and a lot of broken material under the hood that we also replaced.

This was most likely my 1st and last audi I love German cars had 3 vw passat and never had a problem but it is insane all the problems I'm having with this car under 2 years start from the 2nd week of owning the vehicle. So if you're in the DFW area never buy and used Audi from Toyota of McKinney

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If the PVC isn't the issue, let Audi diagnose and, get a second opinion... Hang in there once you figure this out, you're in for many miles of joyful motoring.
These cars are solid.

[trav-0]

I see you're in Dallas... Hit up Zinkwerks... They are solid and won't try to rape you on the price

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[bahula03]

Trying to wrap my head around this, the thing that sticks out to me is where is the PCV picking up all of that burnt coolant that's coming out of the oil filler (or just the vent hose if you disconnect it)?

[xZUAx]

Trying to wrap my head around this, the thing that sticks out to me is where is the PCV picking up all of that burnt coolant that's coming out of the oil filler (or just the vent hose if you disconnect it)?

The PCV valve has a pass-through for the coolant so for what I'm thinking the PCV valve handle three components oil separator coolant pass through and vent hose. But I have no coolant or oil mixture also in no way is the oil milky and the smoke does not smell sweet at all.

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[xZUAx]

If the oil cap is tough to remove, while engine is idling... PCV is your target

After replacing the PCV valve we now have a suction on the oil cap

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[Valpo A7]

White smoke is almost always burning coolant. Blueish smoke is burning oil.

Get the cooling system pressure tested to see if you have a leak. Check the oil to make sure its still blackish and does not look like chocolate milk. If it looks like chocolate milk then you got coolant into the oil and need to dump that oil IMMEDIATELY and put fresh oil in. Coolant mixed into oil will likely kill the motor.

[xZUAx]

White smoke is almost always burning coolant. Blueish smoke is burning oil.

Get the cooling system pressure tested to see if you have a leak. Check the oil to make sure its still blackish and does not look like chocolate milk. If it looks like chocolate milk then you got coolant into the oil and need to dump that oil IMMEDIATELY and put fresh oil in. Coolant mixed into oil will likely kill the motor.

Just did an oil and coolant change yesterday and oil still looks blackish oil was change about 1k miles ago coolant was still pink with no oil or anything in it

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[xZUAx]

So after changing the PCV we no longer have the smoke from the engine bay the car now idles rough between 500RPM -1500RPM

We did an oil change and coolant change also at this time both was clean and clear. We did clean all injectors also and did a carbon clean up

We also have alot more white smoke now and the car will drive normal above 1500 RPM in manual

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[Valpo A7]

If you still have white smoke I am still thinking you are burning coolant. Did you do a pressurized leak down test of the cooling system?

[xZUAx]

If you still have white smoke I am still thinking you are burning coolant. Did you do a pressurized leak down test of the cooling system?

No coolant leak and doesn't smell sweet the smell Is more of a oil burning or gas can't pin point what the smell is but I'm leaning more to an oil smell then coolant and yes I did and the car holds coolant with no problem under pressure it goes down a little then soon as you release goes back to the same spot

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[xZUAx]

Update took the spark plugs out and put a camera down the hole and this is what we found. This is a very bad carbon build up and don't know how we can clean it out with out removing the engine

In the 3rd photos it worries me that cylinder 2 is bent. But hoping it carbon and now looking for a way to clean it to see more FullSizeR(1).jpgFullSizeR.jpgFullSizeR(2).jpg

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[AudiC7Owners]

In for updates. I hope a good cleaning is all you need. Might be worth doing the chemical treatment that marinates on the pistons overnight.

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[bahula03]

Any resolution on this?

[xZUAx]

Any resolution on this?

Dead cylinder audi said I need a new engine and quoted me 28k plus tax was coming out to $34128 so I bought a 2020 vw atlas

Honestly my cylinder head warped and has a gap between the wall and the cylinder head causing it not to have compression so even if I get the engine rebuilt it was 5k-7K from someone else

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[WatchMeSpend]

Dead cylinder audi said I need a new engine and quoted me 28k plus tax was coming out to $34128 so I bought a 2020 vw atlas

Honestly my cylinder head warped and has a gap between the wall and the cylinder head causing it not to have compression so even if I get the engine rebuilt it was 5k-7K from someone else

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Sorry to hear that. I would probably have bought a used engine and modified it, but that's just me. I am also nowhere near as upset as you probably were.

[xZUAx]

Sorry to hear that. I would probably have bought a used engine and modified it, but that's just me. I am also nowhere near as upset as you probably were.

Yeah the decision was made out of anger and I wish I would have just spent the money I put down (5k) fixing the car but I realize that I had to start looking at options for my family as someone ran into this side of my wife's car and totaled and flipped her car so needed a family vehicle

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[Valpo A7]

A decent used engine starts about $4500 and then you also have to spend $3-5000 labor to swap it out

[Alabama]

Dead cylinder audi said I need a new engine and quoted me 28k plus tax was coming out to $34128 so I bought a 2020 vw atlas

Honestly my cylinder head warped and has a gap between the wall and the cylinder head causing it not to have compression so even if I get the engine rebuilt it was 5k-7K from someone else

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Sorry this happened to you; please help me understand what might have been the cause so I can try to avoid. Apparently the previous owner neglected maintenance. I assume the carbon build-up is the primary cause of the cylinder failure. Besides using proper VW spec oil and doing oil changes more often than manufacturer recommendations, any other suggestions? Or do you think this was just random bad luck?

[xZUAx]

Sorry this happened to you; please help me understand what might have been the cause so I can try to avoid. Apparently the previous owner neglected maintenance. I assume the carbon build-up is the primary cause of the cylinder failure. Besides using proper VW spec oil and doing oil changes more often than manufacturer recommendations, any other suggestions? Or do you think this was just random bad luck?

I think I just had bad luck with this car since day one after buying the car the next day my sells person quite after 7-8 days owning the car the cat broke and was told by Toyota to just put after market parts on the car that then then fixed and they kept the car for 6 weeks trying to fix because they didn't want to pay audi to fix it. About a month or 2 later my Harmonic engine balancer went out (actually broke) and me and my pregnant wife had to put the car out of the road at 11pm at night on a 70mph highway after fixing that my Water pump and thermostat and the pipe in-between the block went out.

So every month something new happened to the car so over all I just believe I got a bad car and was told by other audi owners they never seen an Audi have as many problem as my did and that the 3.0t and 3.2t was one of the best engines audi made that's why it was used so many times over the last 7-10 years.

So I would say make sure you put fuel injectors cleaner in the car to help with carbon build up.
Make sure if your burning oil fast to replace pcv
If you are hard on your car and like to run it don't change your oil Evey 10k miles but every 5-7k

These are beautiful cars and some times has to be looked after as kids so if you get a engine code fix it sooner then later just because it's drives fine does not mean to drive itSnapchat-1388911619.jpg

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