Audi A3 2.0 TDi 140 - Black smoke

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Sun 1 Sep 2013 12:19
Audi A3 2.0 TDi 140 - Black smoke - Steve bro

I have an Audi A3 2.0 TDi 140 (2005)

Whevever I start it after its not been used for 3 days or more, a big black cloud of smoke bellows out on start.

The smoke isnt too apparent after that, unless the engine is under load, for example when going up a hill the smoke bellows out (no as bad as on start) until the heavy loading has stopped.

Under normal driving conditions it sems fine, i think, as I cant see any smoke in my mirors.

Any ideas? It has full audi service history, but is hitting 135,000 miles now.

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Sun 1 Sep 2013 15:31
Audi A3 2.0 TDi 140 - Black smoke - Peter.N.

It could just be an accumulation of soot in the exhaust especially if you drive gently, give it a good thrash in low gear on the open road for a few hundred yards, you will probably get clouds of soot out of the back and it will go clean after that.

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Thu 19 Sep 2013 16:35
Audi A3 2.0 TDi 140 - Black smoke - KenSevenoaks

I have a 2004 2L TDi and have noted black smoke for some years, 12 months ago it only just got thro' its MOT on smoke. I now run it on Shell V-Power fuel and gave it shart sharp run before the recent MOT and it passed by a wide margin.

There's a lot of unsubstantiated claims made about premium fuel - but it does seem to produce less smoke.

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