Burning smell and wisps of smoke
05-04-2016, 11:58 PM
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Burning smell and wisps of smoke
Hi all,
This morning I noticed a burning smell (I think oil not anti-freeze) when the car was idling after having been driven 6 or 7 miles, and there was a small plume of smoke coming from the engine. I checked under the hood and the smoke looked like it was coming from under the drivers side of the engine block, or from something around there (in the UK so LHD).
Car is an Audi A4 2008 B8 with 110k on the clock. I've had it for about two months, and had all sorts of problems, the main one being that the head gasket blew, which was replaced under warranty, as were the timing belt and air filter. To check the work done by the car salesman's garage, I asked a friendly garage to check it over for me, and they had to change the coolant out because the previous guy had just used water.
After that I'd been getting intermittent engine warning lights and ESP fault/parking brake failure warnings. And it was idling a little rough. Not badly, just a little (I was very tuned to the sound/feel of the engine after getting the car back from the head gasket/timing belt change).
I changed the spark plugs at the weekend, as they hadn't been done for 20k miles and figured this may be a cause of the idling and/or the engine light. Having done that, everything was/is working perfectly. I took the car on a 50 mile round trip and the car runs and idles smoother than it ever has, and all warning lights have since gone.
This burning seems to have started when I filled up last (Monday), but I can't imagine the two things are connected. Would this be a result of something I've screwed up doing the plugs? It's an easy job and I made sure I didn't disturb anything I didn't need to.
Can anyone think of something else it might be, given the work I've described? I guess it could be anything. It's a very small plume of smoke. Oil level seem stable, as does the coolant (I need to check that actually, but it was fine when I changed the plugs) and there is nothing dripping on the ground.
I don't really want it going back to the garage if it's an easy fix/something that will work itself out (some oil or something on the outside of the engine burning off? Or is that a pipe dream?).
This morning I noticed a burning smell (I think oil not anti-freeze) when the car was idling after having been driven 6 or 7 miles, and there was a small plume of smoke coming from the engine. I checked under the hood and the smoke looked like it was coming from under the drivers side of the engine block, or from something around there (in the UK so LHD).
Car is an Audi A4 2008 B8 with 110k on the clock. I've had it for about two months, and had all sorts of problems, the main one being that the head gasket blew, which was replaced under warranty, as were the timing belt and air filter. To check the work done by the car salesman's garage, I asked a friendly garage to check it over for me, and they had to change the coolant out because the previous guy had just used water.
After that I'd been getting intermittent engine warning lights and ESP fault/parking brake failure warnings. And it was idling a little rough. Not badly, just a little (I was very tuned to the sound/feel of the engine after getting the car back from the head gasket/timing belt change).
I changed the spark plugs at the weekend, as they hadn't been done for 20k miles and figured this may be a cause of the idling and/or the engine light. Having done that, everything was/is working perfectly. I took the car on a 50 mile round trip and the car runs and idles smoother than it ever has, and all warning lights have since gone.
This burning seems to have started when I filled up last (Monday), but I can't imagine the two things are connected. Would this be a result of something I've screwed up doing the plugs? It's an easy job and I made sure I didn't disturb anything I didn't need to.
Can anyone think of something else it might be, given the work I've described? I guess it could be anything. It's a very small plume of smoke. Oil level seem stable, as does the coolant (I need to check that actually, but it was fine when I changed the plugs) and there is nothing dripping on the ground.
I don't really want it going back to the garage if it's an easy fix/something that will work itself out (some oil or something on the outside of the engine burning off? Or is that a pipe dream?).
05-05-2016, 10:45 AM
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Sorry, appreciate it's a difficult thing to help with.
Some more info though. I've worked out that it only happens when I apply the parking brake and the engine is still warm. Does that mean I near a new cable? How easy is it to replace?
Why would it smoke?
Some more info though. I've worked out that it only happens when I apply the parking brake and the engine is still warm. Does that mean I near a new cable? How easy is it to replace?
Why would it smoke?
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