# Steam from exhaust under acceleration and possible coolant loss ??



## renton (Nov 27, 2005)

I think my 3 week old Octavia vrs tsi has an issue.

Under acceleration there is a lot of steam and mist coming from out of the exhausts and misting up the back window.

Also I think the coolant has started dropping slightly.

It doesn't steam under normal driving just heavy acceleration.

It's a bit embarrassing when you boot it.

Should I be concerned ?

It's doing exactly the same as this you tube video...... 




Cheers.


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## Cookies (Dec 10, 2008)

Ooh, sorry to say this but that sounds a bit like head gasket failure. Some of the professional guys will probably know a lot more, but that's my best guess buddy. 
Coolant loss and steam is the coolant seeping across the gasket into the combustion chamber, and being vapourised into steam in combustion 

Sent from my D6603 using Tapatalk


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## renton (Nov 27, 2005)

It seems to be running fine and under normal driving its absolutely fine. 

Both oil and water Temp's seem to be fine and there is no mayo type stuff under the oil filler cap. 

Someone has mentioned a slight coolant leak in the turbo.


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## m4rkymark (Aug 17, 2014)

Take the plugs out and see if any of them are shiny looking - if there is coolant getting into a cylinder the steam cleans the plug.


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## Clancy (Jul 21, 2013)

3 weeks old? I'd take it back and get the dealer to look at it


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## Ross (Apr 25, 2007)

Yeah straight back to the dealer.


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## Kimo (Jun 7, 2013)

Why's it not been took back already lol 

Oh and if the head gasket had gone it would drive ok still, one of my old cars gasket went and ran for ages still :lol:


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## Harry_p (Mar 18, 2015)

How much coolant is it losing? It would have to be a lot to make big steam clouds every time you accelerated.

Does it still do it after a decent length high speed drive on a warm day?

Some exhaust systems are prone to collecting water during low speed driving, which can then be turned into steam under hard acceleration and a spike in temperature.

Some cars just steam a lot. My Mrs' 320i makes a lot of steam even after you'd think everything was well up to temperature. It never loses a drop of coolant so haven't ever worried about it.

Does it actually make a big plume behind you? Or just look like it because it fills the rear window, which will be a lot to do with the shape of the back end of an estate type car.


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## tyson1989 (Feb 21, 2015)

Personally, if its weeks old id be hauling it back inti the dealer.
If you're suspecting head gasket, check the colour of the fumes coming out the exhaust, a blue colour would suggest the head gasket.


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## renton (Nov 27, 2005)

Clancy said:


> 3 weeks old? I'd take it back and get the dealer to look at it


The dealer I bought it from are 4 hours away, can I take it to my local Skoda dealer ?

The problem with the possible coolant loss is that I'm not sure if its losing some or if the coolant is settling and and air pockets are going.

The steam coming out of the exhaust is exactly that. It looks like the steam that comes from a kettle that is boiling.

Strange that its only doing it under hard acceleration and then only at 4000 rpm onwards.


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## renton (Nov 27, 2005)

Kimo said:


> Why's it not been took back already lol
> 
> Oh and if the head gasket had gone it would drive ok still, one of my old cars gasket went and ran for ages still :lol:


There is no blue smoke at all.

It looks like the steam you get from a kettle boiling.

To be fair I have only just started reving it a bit harder as we have been running it in.


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## MDC250 (Jan 4, 2014)

renton said:


> The dealer I bought it from are 4 hours away, can I take it to my local Skoda dealer ?
> 
> .


Course you can, warranty is with the manufacturer not the supplying dealership


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## Kerr (Mar 27, 2012)

How much coolant loss are we walking? 

Steam out the rear is perfectly normal when cold. All cars do this and it shows up more during this colder spell. 

As for the dirty rear window, again that's more normal with estate cars. With the rear of the car so square there isn't the airflow to blow off dirt.


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## Kimo (Jun 7, 2013)

renton said:


> There is no blue smoke at all.
> 
> It looks like the steam you get from a kettle boiling.
> 
> To be fair I have only just started reving it a bit harder as we have been running it in.


There wasn't from my car, but then I wasn't suggesting it was the hg, was just saying that if it was then you wouldn't have much problem driving it in some cases

But if you had any doubt what so ever then you should go back to the dealer asap


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## Andyg_TSi (Sep 6, 2013)

If the smoke is excessive, then this is a sign that coolant is getting into the combustion chambers & being burnt off.

I'm not talking about whisps of white smoke that is normal, I'm talking about billowing plumes of white smoke.

If this is the case (coupled with noticeable coolant loss) then get it back to the dealer ASAP for a proper diagnostic and repair under warranty


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## renton (Nov 27, 2005)

Just as an update. ... Finally popped into the dealer ands they advised to noit drive it and leave it with them. 

Then there was a bug bun fight between the Skoda dealer and Skoda assist over who was giving us a hire car which I wasn't impressed with as the car is less than a month old. Skoda assist said it was the dealers responsibility as I hadn't called them out but driven to the dealership. 

Will see how it goes.


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## nick_mcuk (Jan 4, 2008)

MDC250 said:


> Course you can, warranty is with the manufacturer not the supplying dealership


Exactly this I took the 208 in to the Peugeot dealers local to me to have something fixed. Wasn't about to drive it back to Scotland!


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## renton (Nov 27, 2005)

If it needs major repairs where would I stand on rejecting the car ?


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## Kerr (Mar 27, 2012)

If it's within 30 days old you can reject it with a significant fault.

http://www.carbuyer.co.uk/tips-and-advice/your-new-car-rights


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## renton (Nov 27, 2005)

We don't really want to reject it as we really like the car. 

It just takes the shine off owning a new car when it needs a trip to the dealers when its not even 4 weeks old.


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## muzzer (Feb 13, 2011)

One way to check if the head gasket has gone is to take off the oil filler cap and look in the engine. If the oil has the colour of toffee then that indicates water in the oil and is almost 100% a failed head gasket. As others have already said, straight to the nearest dealers asap


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## Kerr (Mar 27, 2012)

That's why people pay a premium for new cars, the warranty to repair them when they go wrong. It's not usual having issues with a car, even a new one. 

Hopefully it isn't anything serious and can be sorted with one visit. 

You don't appear to have much luck with cars.


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## renton (Nov 27, 2005)

muzzer said:


> One way to check if the head gasket has gone is to take off the oil filler cap and look in the engine. If the oil has the colour of toffee then that indicates water in the oil and is almost 100% a failed head gasket. As others have already said, straight to the nearest dealers asap


I checked the oil filler cap and the oil is fine.

I don't think its the head gasket as it only seems to do it under boost pressure from the turbo, another chap on the briskoda forum had the same issue and it turned out to be a coolant leak into the turbo ?

I was sort of hoping that because the car was stood at the dealers for nearly a month before I picked it up it was down to a lot of rain water collected in the exhaust but after 1200 miles its still doing it.


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## renton (Nov 27, 2005)

Kerr said:


> That's why people pay a premium for new cars, the warranty to repair them when they go wrong. It's not usual having issues with a car, even a new one.
> 
> Hopefully it isn't anything serious and can be sorted with one visit.
> 
> You don't appear to have much luck with cars.


I don't seem to have much luck do I !!

Fingers crossed its something simp!e.


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## possul (Nov 14, 2008)

I was following a octavia vrs earlier today and water poured out of the exhaust when he pulled away.
I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't find anything tbh.
Need a video to see the extent of it


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## renton (Nov 27, 2005)

possul said:


> I was following a octavia vrs earlier today and water poured out of the exhaust when he pulled away.
> I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't find anything tbh.
> Need a video to see the extent of it


If you go to the original first post there is a video of another car showing the same symptoms as mine.

I would say my car is about the same steam wise.


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## Richf (Apr 26, 2008)

Does it do it when the engine is hot or just when its warming up?

If its the latter its normal my VRS does it and doesnt use any coolant, only noticable when the engine is cold and the the air temperature is low


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## renton (Nov 27, 2005)

Richf said:


> Does it do it when the engine is hot or just when its warming up?
> 
> If its the latter its normal my VRS does it and doesnt use any coolant, only noticable when the engine is cold and the the air temperature is low


It does it when the car is hot or cold.

Also noticed the oil temp is reaching 110 degrees on normal running too.


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## Richf (Apr 26, 2008)

renton said:


> Also noticed the oil temp is reaching 110 degrees on normal running too.


Normal.

Whats the air temp up there at the moment ?


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## renton (Nov 27, 2005)

Richf said:


> Normal.
> 
> Whats the air temp up there at the moment ?


It's a balmy 11 degrees.

It does it when the car is hot or cold. When it's first started or after doing 100 miles.

It also does it when the temp is really cold or at 15 degrees.

Only after 3500 rpm though.


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## renton (Nov 27, 2005)

Richf said:


> Normal.
> 
> Whats the air temp up there at the moment ?


The pass at hire car I've been given has sat at 90 degrees for any type of driving over the 50 miles we have had it.


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## Will_G (Jan 23, 2012)

Girl in work had a Tiguan spewing out clouds of white smoke and losing coolant at a horrific rate. Turned out that it was a leaking EGR valve. Thankfully wasn't turbo or head gasket related.


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## renton (Nov 27, 2005)

So I've had a call from the dealer and they can't find anything wrong with the car and also can't replicate the fault? 

What now ?


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## 182_Blue (Oct 25, 2005)

renton said:


> So I've had a call from the dealer and they can't find anything wrong with the car and also can't replicate the fault?
> 
> What now ?


Is it faulty then, does the power feel correct, has it lost coolant ?, my R can produce a bit of a cloud when you really boot it (and i mean really) so is this a characteristic of that car ?, water does build up in the exhaust, on the R there is even a drain hole as standard under the backbox, have you tried the Skoda forum ?

http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/372246-exhaust-smoke/


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## 182_Blue (Oct 25, 2005)

renton said:


> Also I think the coolant has started dropping slightly.


The coolant level can be confusing , if you open the coolant cap the level can rise due to releasing the pressure build up above the coolant, so you may think it looks a bit lower but the level is up and down.


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## renton (Nov 27, 2005)

182_Blue said:


> The coolant level can be confusing , if you open the coolant cap the level can rise due to releasing the pressure build up above the coolant, so you may think it looks a bit lower but the level is up and down.


I try and check the coolant level when it's cold and since we got the car 4 weeks ago I reckon it has dropped around a cm.

My car is like that one in the YouTube video above.

When accelerating hard in second and third it leaves a trail of steam out the back and up the rear window. Only seems to do it when the car comes on boost roo.

Imagine an old diesel with a tuning box fitted and the black smoke you get out the back. Now imagine that as steam and you have my car.


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## 182_Blue (Oct 25, 2005)

But apart from the steam the car is OK ?



renton said:


> I try and check the coolant level when it's cold and since we got the car 4 weeks ago I reckon it has dropped around a cm.
> 
> My car is like that one in the YouTube video above.
> 
> ...


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## Richf (Apr 26, 2008)

renton said:


> I try and check the coolant level when it's cold and since we got the car 4 weeks ago I reckon it has dropped around a cm.
> 
> My car is like that one in the YouTube video above.
> 
> ...


Mine dropped about the same in the first few months , not dropped since (over a year now)

Are you used to a diesel engine ?


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## Evo414 (Apr 18, 2016)

I bet it's the egr cooler common problem 

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## renton (Nov 27, 2005)

Richf said:


> Mine dropped about the same in the first few months , not dropped since (over a year now)
> 
> Are you used to a diesel engine ?


Not sire what you mean.

This is a petrol engine.

Apart from the above the car seems fine.


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## Cookies (Dec 10, 2008)

Evo414 said:


> I bet it's the egr cooler common problem
> 
> Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk


Glad it's not the cylinder head gasket anyhoo!!

Sounds like it may be the egr cooler from this youtube vid.






Cooks

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## Evo414 (Apr 18, 2016)

Cookies said:


> Glad it's not the cylinder head gasket anyhoo!!
> 
> Sounds like it may be the egr cooler from this youtube vid.
> 
> ...


It is most of the time mate

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## Harry_p (Mar 18, 2015)

There's no way the steam clouds are it consuming coolant. 1cm worth of water in four weeks? How much steam do you think 250ml ( at a guess ) of coolant can make?

Half a litre a week, then yes, it would probably be a significant gasket failure!

I'll bet it's just vapour and moisture getting trapped in the exhaust and making a cloud under acceleration. The air is still pretty cold and full of moisture at the moment making condensation clouds more visible, and the shape of the car sucking the cloud into the window area making it more visible than on other cars.


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## Richf (Apr 26, 2008)

renton said:


> Not sire what you mean.
> 
> This is a petrol engine.
> 
> Apart from the above the car seems fine.


What did you have before , what are you used to driving ?

Diesels dont make white smoke (unless broken) , diesels also have lower oil temperatures ie 90 rather than 100-110

Some white smoke on a cold day is normal as is the higher oil temps (than you may be used to)


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## Reddaddy67 (Jul 1, 2011)

My car can do this too, petrol turbocharged Legacy Estate. I know mine is purely condensation built up in the twin exhaust, I do short journeys most days so the car never gets upto full heat, engine nor exhaust..so I make the effort once a week once fully warmed up to stretch it's legs and yes it does take some driving to expel all the moisture from the pipes even as you mention with turbo on full chat I will be seeing some steam in my rear view mirror.
It's just down to the circumstances of my short daily journeys and the cold moist air at the moment. Hopefully your vehicle is nothing more serious 👍

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## renton (Nov 27, 2005)

Richf said:


> What did you have before , what are you used to driving ?
> 
> Diesels dont make white smoke (unless broken) , diesels also have lower oil temperatures ie 90 rather than 100-110
> 
> Some white smoke on a cold day is normal as is the higher oil temps (than you may be used to)


Before this I ran a Mondeo 2.2 diesel and before that a Smax 2.0 ecoboost petrol.

I've had plenty of cars over the years and a varied mix of petrol and diesel and this is the only one that steams like it does.

How come the golf/Audi and seat fitted with the same engine don't show the same characteristics ?


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## 182_Blue (Oct 25, 2005)

renton said:


> Before this I ran a Mondeo 2.2 diesel and before that a Smax 2.0 ecoboost petrol.
> 
> I've had plenty of cars over the years and a varied mix of petrol and diesel and this is the only one that steams like it does.
> 
> How come the golf/Audi and seat fitted with the same engine don't show the same characteristics ?


I think I stated earlier that mine can do this to under certain circumstances.


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## renton (Nov 27, 2005)

Skoda have still got the car. 

They have tried to replicate the fault and can't get it to happen. 

They have also pressure tested the coolant system overnight and it dropped from 1 bar to 0.8 bar which is apparently no issue. 

They asked me what I was doing to get the steam so I explained and they are goignto try again today.


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## empsburna (Apr 5, 2006)

renton said:


> Skoda have still got the car.
> 
> They have tried to replicate the fault and can't get it to happen.
> 
> ...


I would expect any drop in a sealed system to be an issue?


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## renton (Nov 27, 2005)

They tried to say that the pressured it up when the car was warm hence the drop ?


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## Kerr (Mar 27, 2012)

That's normal.


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## renton (Nov 27, 2005)

Kerr said:


> That's normal.


Cool hopefully get it back tomorrow then.


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## 182_Blue (Oct 25, 2005)

renton said:


> Cool hopefully get it back tomorrow then.


I think its fine although the temp at 110 isn't like mine, my car usually sits at 90 and doesn't shift, If you do get it back just enjoy it, if it goes pop (which i doubt( then its under warranty for a good few years :thumb:

Again a quick search finds http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/312166-oil-temperature-for-vrs-tsi/


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## 182_Blue (Oct 25, 2005)

renton said:


> Cool hopefully get it back tomorrow then.


How is the car?


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## renton (Nov 27, 2005)

182_Blue said:


> I think its fine although the temp at 110 isn't like mine, my car usually sits at 90 and doesn't shift, If you do get it back just enjoy it, if it goes pop (which i doubt( then its under warranty for a good few years :thumb:
> 
> Again a quick search finds http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/312166-oil-temperature-for-vrs-tsi/


Cheers,

Got the car back yesterday and on the warranty sheet it says they had to top the coolant up as it was low but they have done several pressure tests and its holding pressure and not leaking.

Strangely enough it didnt kick out any smoke at all on the way home despite giving it some beans!!

Oil temp didnt go above 105 deg either.

It seems to have loosened up even more too, the flexibility of 3rd and 4th gear is immense.

I cant wait for 3 years time when I can remap it, revo takes it to 308 bhp


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## 182_Blue (Oct 25, 2005)

renton said:


> Cheers,
> 
> Got the car back yesterday and on the warranty sheet it says they had to top the coolant up as it was low but they have done several pressure tests and its holding pressure and not leaking.
> 
> ...


It may have been sat somewhere warm and been used on longer rums so the condensation hasn't built up in the exhaust etc, i always get paranoid when I first get a car but it's generally just in my head, try and enjoy it and if anything goes wrong you have a good warranty to fix it.


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## nick_mcuk (Jan 4, 2008)

182_Blue said:


> It may have been sat somewhere warm and been used on longer rums so the condensation hasn't built up in the exhaust etc, i always get paranoid when I first get a car but it's generally just in my head, try and enjoy it and if anything goes wrong you have a good warranty to fix it.


Sorry if the OP's car was doing anything like the car in the video that is not simply a case of condensation in the exhaust....that was like a bloody smoke screen!

I bet a pound to a pinch of ***t that Skoda/VAG did more on the car when it was in and they know there is a fault somewhere and are just not letting on...Mini did this a few years ago and also Audi did it with the 2.0 TFSI engines that were using/burning oil.

Good to hear you have the car back though OP


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