[401Touaregtdi]

Hello everyone,

For the last couple of weeks I had been getting a small whiff here and there of exhaust or burning smells in which case I’d just put on recirculating air for a few mins and it was gone, it has become more present over the last week and half or so but I never was all that worried. Last week I was stuck in traffic for about an hour and I noticed the burning smell get super strong so I put on recirculating air and put the fan to almost full power as it was so stinky, almost immediately I noticed smoke coming from the car couldn’t tell where as it wasn’t think enough to directly see it. It went away and came back once more roughly 2 mins later. I pulled over roughly 5 mins after both light smoky incidents occurred and checked the engine bay. I couldn’t see anything noticeable other than some gunk on a pipe on the passenger side of the engine near the injectors. Although it was forward of the first injector so I have a hard time imagining it’s from the injectors. Since then it’s virtually undrivable due to smell I started it today to move it out and back into the drive way and when I got out of the car after shutting it off it stunk! I have ordered a seal kit for each injector but I don’t want to mess around with something that isn’t related possibly. Any opinions here?
attached are photos of viable leakage??
2012 Touareg TDI 259,000km

 

[Dannyboy485]

Have you got the black death on the exhaust manifolds?

 

[casioqv]

On my '09 the dealership plugged the exhaust pipe and used a smoke machine to find the leak- it turned out to be the turbo and I got a free turbo under warranty... although the new turbo then leaked oil and I had to bring it in two more times to resolve that.

 

[NTDI]

Does the smell smell like burning oil. exhaust or hot diesel?

I've had each on my '13. One time it was a leaking injector seal (ie black death), one time it was the return line fitting for the injectors, and then I have the normal hot oil hitting something hot smell which I typically get after more aggresive shifting / driving / maneuvers. I suspect the last one is a valve cover leaking, the rear timing cover or perhaps a problem with crankcase ventilation.

In my case I'm trying to track down the smell because it seems to randomly happen.

This photo shows an oil leak from the valve cover that is cooked on the exhaust and probably makes a terrible burning oil smell:

From this same picture you can see this vehicle does not have injector seal issues as the injector vent ports are clean. On my TDI when the copper injector seal stopped doing its job, the holes I circled below looked like they were dripping oil. In my case the middle one was dripping oil onto the exhaust manifold and they ended up pulling the injector and replacing the seal and cleaning the vent holes out.

Here are a few pictures from both the left and right injector leaks I had. You can see the stuff looked like hardened plastic and had an oil and diesel smell when it hit the exhaust manifold.

Below is the a picture of an inspection mirror looking under the manifold at the injector drain ports in the head. In this case on the passenger side of the engine the Aluminum intercooler piping is in the way of getting a nice view and I had to use an inspection mirror to see the leak.

Below are pictures of where my injector return line fittings (the plastic caps on the end with the tiny hoses) were driping like a faucet causing a hot diesel smell inside the vehicle.

I would also inspect the rubber hose in your picture that appears to be wet with oil. I had to replace that hose already because it had a tear on the inside that was causing a leak. I simply removed it, cleaned it with Citrus de-greaser and inspected it and found tears on the inside where the hose clamps are. I ordered a new one. I also recently found a second hose with the same issue and will have to order a new one as well.

Hope this gives you a few areas to look at. Your issue may be different but at least you can rule these out.

 

[SaVAGeSoot]

Look at your DPF stats.

 

[Patasnz]

What did this end up being?

 

[Dannyboy485]

What did this end up being?

He hasn't been on this forum in over 6 months and hasn't replied to this thread in over a year+half. So your guess is as good as ours

 

[401Touaregtdi]

What did this end up being?

It turned out my drain plug had been weeping and at speed the oil residue was getting on the exhaust. I will be resealing my injectors this summer as a precautionary.

 

[SaVAGeSoot]

I will be resealing my injectors this summer as a precautionary.

I'll check back in 2027 for the update

 

[volkswagens-for-life]

He hasn't been on this forum in over 6 months and hasn't replied to this thread in over a year+half. So your guess is as good as ours

It turned out my drain plug had been weeping and at speed the oil residue was getting on the exhaust. I will be resealing my injectors this summer as a precautionary.

Well isn't that a bitch. Legit laughed.

 

[Dannyboy485]

Well isn't that a bitch. Legit laughed.

I'm an A-hole but I've come to terms with that. I don't sugar coat things

 

[SaVAGeSoot]

Don't sweat it man.... we all need company