Question On Fixing My VolksWagon
Posted in Exhaust and Mufflers | Asked on Aug 4, 2010
So I have a 2000 passat and its in really good shape
but about a year ago on my way home from work
my car lost all power kind of back fired and has been
giving off white smoke through the exhaust pipe. So slowly my dad and i have been working on it. We replaced the timing belt and the tensioner today and when we started it. It again
gave off a white smoke and the engine almost sounds as if it were running on diesel fuel and there is a clanging going on.
Also the whole dip stick was shattered after this first happened….
Any suggestions on what may have gone wrong or what is still wrong….
Thanks in advanced
There are 6 Answers
the white smoke maybe steam: your block is cracked? a piston came loose and is rattling around, or the valves are shot. I understand that on some cars if the timing belt breaks while your driving, this will goof up the engine. ask a dealer.
Loss of power with white smoke – I would suspect a bad head gasket.
White smoke out of the tailpipe is bad news, sorry to tell you this! It usually means you are burning coolant in the combustion chambers. This usually means a blown head gasked, blown intake manifold gasket, or cracked block. The rattling and dipstick shattering tells me you have serious engine damage. Don’t sink much more money into this engine, its shot!!! You need a rebuilt engine! You probably threw a main bearing or rod bearing or something broke in the cranking system!
White smoke usually means water/coolant in the oil. Check the head gasket for oil/coolat leaks. If the oil dipstick’s TUBE was “shattered” it easier for debrie or fluids to get into the oil pan.
If the Engine sounded like a diesel after replacing the timing belt, it was most likely done incorrectly. The timing belt either jumped a tooth or the cams and the crank weren’t aligned when the belt was installed. The diesel sound is the valves stricking the pistons. This bends the valves. You may want to see a VW specialist or at least a professional shop.
I have a 2000 passat as well. The other answerers are right in that the white smoke in the exhaust indicates that coolant is leaking into the combustion chamber, most likely from a bad head gasket. I’d suggest the very next thing you do is a compression test; that should show if this is correct.
In a normal “healthy” engine all cylinders should have roughtly the same reading within 5-10 psi.
Another diagnostic is to open the radiator (while cold!) and examine the coolant; if it’s low, brownish and smells like exhaust then combustion gases are leaking *in* too.
Depending on which Passat engine you have, and how experienced you are, replacing the gasket should be a long weekend project. The hard part will be getting all the emission/vacuum/air conditioning/fuel injection cables, ports, ducts and wires out of the way first, and putting them all back on later.
If you decide to go that route, get a shop manual — the expensive Bentley one, others are crap — and read through the procedure AT LEAST TWICE before even starting.
80s Kid has the best and most direct answer. You need a new or rebuilt engine.