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Model specific boards => Golf mk6 => Topic started by: martinGTT on 25 April 2012, 08:13

Title: Excess soot in exhaust?
Post by: martinGTT on 25 April 2012, 08:13
Just thought i'd try and pick a few of your brains on here.. a friend of mine has a new GTI petrol, it went in for its first service at a local VW dealership.. back in Oct and since then has had to put in about 4/5 liters of Oil in topping it up from then till now.. and the soot build up on the exhaust tips seems excessive.. he says hes had it back to the dealers for diagnostics etc and they said it was fine. as there is no leaks, signs of smoke etc?

any ideas why it would be using so much oil? and excess soot?
Title: Re: Excess soot in exhaust?
Post by: Jimble on 25 April 2012, 10:01
Sounds like he's over filling and the car is burning off the excess, i'd be checking he's filling it to the correct level as too much can be as bad as too little and 4-5 litres is waaay too much to be topping up. My car gets sooty pipes but i clean them regularly.
Title: Re: Excess soot in exhaust?
Post by: ScottA on 25 April 2012, 10:04
My GTI gets sooty pipes too, haven't noticed any excess oil consumption, done 2k miles now and haven't topped up but will check when I get the car back & make sure it's not going down. Think I checked 500 miles ago (ish) and was ok
Title: Re: Excess soot in exhaust?
Post by: martinGTT on 25 April 2012, 10:37
Hes only been topping it up when hes checked the oil and noticed its low.. its a brand new car so unsure why it would be using so much oil?

Ive done over 3k miles in my mk4 turbo since i swapped the oil and hasnt used a drop.

Its seems to be using the oil somewhere but with no signs of smoke or leaks? puzzled?  :undecided:
Title: Re: Excess soot in exhaust?
Post by: mkviken on 25 April 2012, 10:40
my gti gets very sooty tail pipes too especially with stage 1. i wouldn't worry about it

if its using oil there is a problem though as they're not know for using oil, though a brand new engine could be expected to use a bit while running in.

any blue smoke will indicate burning oil

again i would double check he is checking the level right.

mine done 4500 miles now and not use any oil but as i say it does have very sooty tail pipes
Title: Re: Excess soot in exhaust?
Post by: andyr on 25 April 2012, 10:50
I agree with Jimble, get your mate to check that he's using the correct dipstick markings and not over filling, topping up 4-5 ltrs since October is excessive.

Check that they tightened the sump plug bolt correctly...or the bolt actually has a washer on it   :shocked:

My sons A3 used a similar amount of oil over a similar period with no signs of smoke etc. Turned out to be cracked oil control rings on 1 cylinder.... but that was on an engine that had done over 70K, I wouldn't expect that on a new block
Title: Re: Excess soot in exhaust?
Post by: Jimble on 25 April 2012, 10:59
Doesn't the engine take between 4-5 litres from empty? In which case he should be getting a low level warning if he can get that much in, i suspect he's reading it wrong. :undecided:
Title: Re: Excess soot in exhaust?
Post by: andyr on 25 April 2012, 11:03
Doesn't the engine take between 4-5 litres from empty? In which case he should be getting a low level warning if he can get that much in, i suspect he's reading it wrong. :undecided:

I think he means that he topping up 4-5 ltrs over the 6 month period, i.e. a litre a month (...ish)

Still waaay too much!
Title: Re: Excess soot in exhaust?
Post by: JoeGTI on 25 April 2012, 11:45
Nearly every GTI I see has completely black tail pipes. I used to keep mine fairly clean but they'd get sooty in no time.

Strangely the pipes on my GTD never get sooty (I'd have expected them to be worse!).
Title: Re: Excess soot in exhaust?
Post by: wigit on 25 April 2012, 11:56
Nearly every GTI I see has completely black tail pipes. I used to keep mine fairly clean but they'd get sooty in no time.

Strangely the pipes on my GTD never get sooty (I'd have expected them to be worse!).

this tends to be the norm now, our mk5 has sooty tips as did my rocco (hence i went ceramic finish on my milltek)
Title: Re: Excess soot in exhaust?
Post by: andyr on 25 April 2012, 12:22
Nearly every GTI I see has completely black tail pipes. I used to keep mine fairly clean but they'd get sooty in no time.

Strangely the pipes on my GTD never get sooty (I'd have expected them to be worse!).

this tends to be the norm now, our mk5 has sooty tips as did my rocco (hence i went ceramic finish on my milltek)

Think DPF!
Title: Re: Excess soot in exhaust?
Post by: martinGTT on 25 April 2012, 12:36
Thanks for the reply dudes, Ill ask him when i see him next..
 :cool:
As for the oil usage the 4/5 litres has been over the past few months since owning the car!
Title: Re: Excess soot in exhaust?
Post by: Mr GTD on 25 April 2012, 17:24
Nearly every GTI I see has completely black tail pipes. I used to keep mine fairly clean but they'd get sooty in no time.

Strangely the pipes on my GTD never get sooty (I'd have expected them to be worse!).

Nearly every GTI I see seems to suffer with this problem but like you said Joe the GTDs(mine anyway) doesn't suffer with this....I wud expect the diesels to be worse tho.

Seems to be the norm with the GTI's...
Title: Re: Excess soot in exhaust?
Post by: GreyVILLAn on 25 April 2012, 18:40
Mine get sooty too, I,m due a service in a couple of months time.
I was gonna mention about this, but after reading this post now
I dont need to.  :smiley:
Title: Re: Excess soot in exhaust?
Post by: TeddyKGB on 25 April 2012, 19:48
A lot of the Mk5 GTI engines are known to use oil, how much though varies. It will tell you in the manual acceptable oil consumption per mile, so chances are yes it's using oil but it's within the manufacturers spec.

Sooty pipes are due to the way TSI units burn fuel during the warm up process, so I wouldn't worry about that.
Title: Re: Excess soot in exhaust?
Post by: Murrayedition35 on 25 April 2012, 21:16
I have noticed the soot problem with the ED35....My brother in law bought a GTD just after me and he doesn't have any soot on the exhaust..he must be a petrol prob... :angry:
Title: Re: Excess soot in exhaust?
Post by: Mr GTD on 25 April 2012, 22:34
I have noticed the soot problem with the ED35....My brother in law bought a GTD just after me and he doesn't have any soot on the exhaust..he must be a petrol prob... :angry:

Phil, get some pics of your brother inlaws GTD.... :wink: :wink: nudge nudge!
Title: Re: Excess soot in exhaust?
Post by: martinGTT on 26 April 2012, 07:46
You's are a helpful bunch.. cheers  :grin:
Title: Re: Excess soot in exhaust?
Post by: R32UK on 26 April 2012, 11:06
I would get it checked to be safe. Mine died only 3 months after being in for a something else to be fixed... where they claimed to have topped up the oil. It the end the timing went but it was also very very low on oil at the time.  :smiley:
Title: Re: Excess soot in exhaust?
Post by: Murrayedition35 on 26 April 2012, 19:24
Will do..if I every get a photo without him in it cleaning the thing... :grin:
Title: Re: Excess soot in exhaust?
Post by: Snoopy on 26 April 2012, 22:45
I have noticed the soot problem with the ED35....My brother in law bought a GTD just after me and he doesn't have any soot on the exhaust..he must be a petrol prob... :angry:
it is but I would rather have sooty pipes than dpf problems because of the way I use the car.
Title: Re: Excess soot in exhaust?
Post by: Murrayedition35 on 26 April 2012, 23:05
Must say...I'm really happy with the ED35...

Title: Re: Excess soot in exhaust?
Post by: andyr on 27 April 2012, 00:34
it is but I would rather have sooty pipes than dpf problems because of the way I use the car.
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I agree, I dread to think the problems dpf's will cause when these cars are a few years old!!