# Exhaust Smoke after changing spark plugs



## acetoxy (Sep 29, 2013)

Hello All,

After searching around on the forums and reading up on some exhaust smoke threads, I wanted to put out a thread to get some help figuring this out.

So today I did some routine maint on my 06 Passat 2.0T (87K miles); Changed spark plugs (NGK BKR7EIX - gap .030), installed new coil packs, and changed the air filter. After starting up the car I now have smoke coming out of the exhaust. I noticed that the old plugs had black carbon deposits on the plug seal and while the engine cover was off I saw some oil spray that has me concerned. There is a small pool of oil to the right of the camshaft housing and oil spray around the intake. With all these signs I'm thinking this is definitely not good and could get very expensive and very time consuming to fix, very fast. 

Since daylight savings hit and it's a cloudy dull day, I didn't get a great look at the smoke color. The smoke looked white and had a very sweet smell to it. I can usually hold my own when it comes to turning a wrench, but I have almost 0 experience diagnosing symptoms on cars, and even less 'real' 'functional' knowledge of automotive repair. I was recently thinking of taking a few night classes for automotive repair for this exact reason.

What exactly does burnt oil smell like at the exhaust? The exhaust tip does have black carbon deposits, nothing on the bumper. This only started after I changed the spark plugs and I did torque them to approx 30nm (18). I double checked the gap w/ a wire gap tool.

The car is brand new to me, I just bought 27 Sept and had a mechanic look over it, and got a thumbs up all good. The car has driven great, does have a CAT CODE stored for the after-market CAT installed, but no other issues. I have already driven over 2K miles since I bought it, and a road trip (1K round trip) with 0 issues. I've had some concerns over the CAT, in the last week/10 days, the MPG has dropped and there seems to be a slight dip in power. 

Other notes about the car: 
Automatic Trans
Aftermarket CAT (unknown age/brand/installer)

Dealer service record recommended replacing the transmission due to sticking in 3rd (have not experience any issue w/ 3rd/4th at all). The dealer, however, rates an F on every review site (including angies list).
Experience a 'jolt' when shifting from 1st to 2nd unless you allow a fast rev to 3k+

I'm open to any help/advice/input on this. It's dark out now and I've put in 5 straight hours b4 light ran out trying to figure this out.

Thanks!

*Also while working on the car I did disconnect the negative term on the battery out of habit. Now the ESP is off and steering wheel light is on. Are there any other things effected by what I did? If so, what?

**I am attaching the best pics I could take of the engine (crappy phone) and of the old spark plugs.

[Edit]
I should have mentioned that I purchased an extended warranty that kicks in Nov 30th or at 88K miles, whichever is first. It's a bumper to bumper warranty + emissions.


Spark Plugs:
http://i.imgur.com/Vpv4q5h.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/rDVITZX.jpg

Engine:
http://i.imgur.com/cn9CYus.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/HzmdFHw.jpg


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## acetoxy (Sep 29, 2013)

*Update*

I just finished driving the car on a 75 mile 'test drive', combination city and highway. The sweet smell is gone, now the exhaust smells rich, very rich. Dropped by a friends house to get a second nose's opinion. He agreed it's not a sweet smell, it smells rich, 'very rich'.

Good news is that my MPG went up quite a bit, used to get 16/17 in stop and go and now avg'd 21.9 stop and go, and I was driving it pretty hard to draw out any symptoms or a CEL.

Does disconnecting the neg terminal on your battery effect the ECM? I'd imagine if it does it will correct the air/fuel mixture w/i a 100 miles or so. It is possible I 'contaminated' the MAF when changing the air filter. I will have to pull the connector and see if there is a difference in performance tomorrow when the sun comes up.

[Edit]
I think it may be possible that 1 or more of the plugs lost their gap when I installed them:banghead:. I may not be getting complete combustion and would be dumping raw to partially combusted fuel into the exhaust to hit a hot CAT, then smoke, then rich smelling exhaust.

By Joe I think I'm on to something. If it does not work, blame the mechanic, MEEEEEE.:facepalm:

Now time for some :beer::beer::beer::beer::beer::beer::beer::beer::beer::beer:


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## bkpassat (Jun 18, 2012)

Don't know if this will help you any, but this is what my plugs looked like after 105k miles. Old plug on left, new plug on right. All the old plugs looked about the same.














acetoxy said:


> I just finished driving the car on a 75 mile 'test drive', combination city and highway. The sweet smell is gone, now the exhaust smells rich, very rich. Dropped by a friends house to get a second nose's opinion. He agreed it's not a sweet smell, it smells rich, 'very rich'.
> 
> Good news is that my MPG went up quite a bit, used to get 16/17 in stop and go and now avg'd 21.9 stop and go, and I was driving it pretty hard to draw out any symptoms or a CEL.
> 
> ...


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## acetoxy (Sep 29, 2013)

I drove the car over to Autozone today to get a wire gap tool to check the gap on the plugs I installed and to get a good look at the exhaust smoke. There is still visible smoke coming out after a cold crank, but the color now looks like 'visible' exhaust fumes and the smell has changed to a normal exhaust smell. Drove it 100 miles already and no CEL. The old plugs were gapped to .040 and the new ones are gapped to .030. I'm going to keep an eye on it over the next week and next weekend re-gap the plugs to either .035 or .040 and drive another week to see if it makes a difference.

The old plugs were autolite double plat plugs and I'm now running NGK Iridium plugs.


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## acetoxy (Sep 29, 2013)

*Fixed, for now*

So, I changed the spark plugs to Autolite Double Plat plugs from Autozone. The smoke cleared up and it is MUCH easier to keep cranked in the cold (30's F) in the morning. It still has a very light stumble every few cycles and a louder engine idle than I'd like, but runs good and seems to be much better.

I was suprised when I pulled the NGK plugs that they looked beat up in just a few hundred miles. Seems I have a carbon build up issue I'll have to address in the near future. Only 10ish more days until the warranty kicks in and it covers wear and tear, so off the the indy shop I'll go for a full work up and a $100 multi K repair claim.


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## Hkysk8r07 (Jul 9, 2005)

The oil spray on the engine you're seeing is probably due to a bad PCV system. Mine failed a while ago and my whole motor was covered in oil as a result of it.
http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthread.php?3366754


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## JaxACR (Dec 6, 2007)

acetoxy said:


> The old plugs were gapped to .040 and the new ones are gapped to .030. I'm going to keep an eye on it over the next week and next weekend re-gap the plugs to either .035 or .040 and drive another week to see if it makes a difference.


Stock gap is .032, a larger gap will stress your coil packs and potentially cause misfires. Even the R8 with the stronger coil packs only runs .036 gap.


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## acetoxy (Sep 29, 2013)

The Autolite Double Plats came pre gapped to .040. I may as well pull them and gap them to .032 and give that a shot. 

It would figure that I have a PCV issue, I just fixed the same thing on my wifes 01 Focus 2.0 SPI. I'll look in to the PCV fix, most likely order a maint/fix kit from ECS tuning. After plucking around the engine I've noticed a dozen annoying things I'm gonna have to fix. Nothing major, other than the obvious. Just enough to keep me busy over the weekend, but atleast I'm getting familiar with engine repair.


Question,
I think carbon deposits are to blame, but other than deposits, what are the most likely causes for a 'noisy' idle? In September the car idled very quietly and now it's gotten 'noticeably' noisier? Also, I'm still trying to figure out my MPG issues, I'm getting nowhere near the mileage (in city) that I was shooting for. Like I said earlier, little things here and there, that all add up.


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## JaxACR (Dec 6, 2007)

What type of idle noise? Can you pinpoint where it's coming from with the hood open, and preferably with the engine cover off if you have an aftermarket intake?

The injectors make a noticeable ticking noise, which is normal. This engine does sound kinda diesel-ish, especially when cold. Cleaning the carbon from your intake valves is definitely a good place to start, particularly with your MPG issues. I've currently got what sounds like a belt noise happening on mine, though the belt is in good shape. Gonna replace the tensioner and see if that helps.


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## Hkysk8r07 (Jul 9, 2005)

acetoxy said:


> Question,
> I think carbon deposits are to blame, but other than deposits, what are the most likely causes for a 'noisy' idle? In September the car idled very quietly and now it's gotten 'noticeably' noisier? Also, I'm still trying to figure out my MPG issues, I'm getting nowhere near the mileage (in city) that I was shooting for. Like I said earlier, little things here and there, that all add up.


MY idle gets louder the lower I get on oil. I usually have to check every other fill up.


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## acetoxy (Sep 29, 2013)

The idle noise from the engine has been varying over the past few weeks. Granted the outside temp has been bi-polar to say the least, it's ranged from an early morning freeze to record breaking highs @ 89F-91F. The engine idle noise has gone down since changing back to new Autolite Double Plat plugs (Also have brand new coils installed, the red VW ones) and a bottle of Rislone Engine Treatment. I've noticed that my Passat really dislikes the cold weather, last week we alternated from low pressure to a high pressure system and the temps went from AM: 40s to AM: 60s-70s and daytime highs of 50s to 70s-90. We're due for another cold front later this week and another freeze over the weekend so I'll have yet another chance to doc my MPG and the engine noise.


The belt is brand new and I also have a replacement in the trunk (ty previous owner). I just checked the oil on Sunday and it was Full, *crosses fingers* still haven't seen any loss of oil. For whatever reason the oil spot on the drivers side of the engine has slowed/stopped. I cleaned up the spill to get an idea of how much oil was leaking and there has not been any noticible drip or pool. I'm looking at the PCV maint kit from ECSTuning and debating when to buy it.

From the pics I posted of the oil leak, would someone help me out with what part the oil is coming from. From what I can tell it is coming from a metal casing with 4 screws in a cross pattern. It looks like the oil might be coming from the south (bottom) screw. I need to find a picture diagram of the 2.0T FSI engine so I know what all these parts are. I'm an adventurous novice with more than enough 'nice' toys to 'work' on cars. I can usually figure it out myself, but it's nice to have yall's advice and input. 

I'll report back with the MPG and noise levels as the weather continues to poll up and down. Also, I'll be doing a compression test either this afternoon or a little later this week. I'll post back with that info, that would help narrow down if it's carbon deposits.

Question:
Does anyone have any first hand experience with using Z-Max Engine Treatment? I'm on the fence about it (cost). I've read some posts going both ways, it's possible it may help, it's possible it's a complete waste of money and I'd be better off putting that towards my sodablaster fund.


Again, Thank You All for the input and I will report back.


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## sethroid (Apr 19, 2012)

That's the vacuum pump you're talking about. Common place for a leak to occur. I believe there is a seal that you may or may not be able to buy separately from the entire pump. There's some discussion on here about it somewhere.


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## acetoxy (Sep 29, 2013)

sethroid said:


> That's the vacuum pump you're talking about. Common place for a leak to occur. I believe there is a seal that you may or may not be able to buy separately from the entire pump. There's some discussion on here about it somewhere.


Well the pump isn't very expensive. Since it's not a big oil leak I'm in no major rush. In 9 days my extended warranty kicks in and I can get the whole thing, PCV System and Vacuum pump done, plus it covers wear and tear; so anything else effected will be covered all for a $100 deductible. Plus they already approved my preferred repair shop, local indy w/ VW specialists and fantastic customer service. The downside is I have to hold off on performance mods for a whole 3 years, that's going to be tough.


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## thatjonasguy (Oct 1, 2011)

just got new coils and spark plugs on mine spark plugs were ngk something something 7 the guy said. its a 2007 jetta GLI mk5.
104k miles.


i noticed smoke from my exhaust today! and so random that i saw this thread posted right now

should it go away soon?


i am doing my timing belt stuff and doing a carbon cleaning next week.
my guess is the carbon clean would fix the smoke if indeed the smoke is a bad sign?



also what should be included in the timing belt swap?
*
timing belt
water pump
tensioner belt
roller
serpentine belt*

anything missing i should make sure gets done?


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## acetoxy (Sep 29, 2013)

thatjonasguy said:


> just got new coils and spark plugs on mine spark plugs were ngk something something 7 the guy said. its a 2007 jetta GLI mk5.
> 104k miles.
> 
> The color and smell of the smoke will tell you if it is indeed a problem.
> ...


I initially put in NGK Iridium IX 7523's and VW Red Cap Coil Packs. While the weather was colder (<65F) there was smoke from the exhaust. I swapped the plugs for $4 Autolite Double Plat plugs and the smoke went away. My theory is that the NGK Iridums are not good for cold weather and are 'spring/summer' plugs, and the Double Plat plugs are better for cold weather months (Fall/Winter plugs). I don't have much (if any) real technical information to prove this, other than the fact the NGK Iridiums run cooler than the double plat, and the fact that the exhaust smoke stopped when I changed plugs and when the weather warmed up. The weather in Texas has been crazy bi-polar ranging from freezing (32F) to record highs 89F-91F in a WEEK!

I also put in a bottle of Rislone Engine Goo and a bottle of lucas fuel system cleaner, don't know if that helped at all. I'm considering on my next fill up to put in a bottle of Z-Max Engine Treatment to see if anything happens. Also going to do a seafoam treatment. All this while I wait for the weather to normalize and then SODABLASTER TIME! Going to have soooo much fun doing a decarbonizing.


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