Whats going on guys 2002 a4 3.0 quattro A/T here and just noticed a fair amount of smoke from under the hood and it only did it when the 2 center vents where on while the heat was on and i noticed that the center vents get extremely hot is this normal on audi's??
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Where was the smoke coming from? What did the smoke smell like? What color was the smoke? I doubt it has anything to do with your vents, if it does you have a freak of nature car.

 

well its coming from the firewall area and it smelled a little like coolant , and a strong burning smell like something was cooking back there but it doesnt smell like that in the car..the smoke was white and as soon as i turned off the center vents it stopped and i kept driving the car like normal and everything was fine any ideas??

 

That sounds like a silly coincidence. Look at the back of the engine on the driver's side, back there is a coolant pipe that connects to both cylinder heads called the coolant cross over pipe. There is a little nipple with a small hose attached to the top of it that always leaks, you should see white/pink crusted dried up coolant if its leaking. Other than that i have no idea, is the floor inside the car wet at all? Like if the heater core was leaking inside the cabin?

 

i havent checked to see if the floor was wet but ill check it out.. but i think i saw something about that pink crusted stuff on audiworld tech articles but just skimmed throughit. i hope thats what it is because now its something else to be worried about i really hope i made the right decision in buying this car .. lol thanks again auditech ill keep you posted on what i find tomorrow thanks again..!

 

whats going on auditech sorry for the late response been hectic the wife is pregnant.. so ive been doin so much running around and in the process i havent turned on the center vents and it hasnt been smoking at all.. i also checked to see if the floor was wet under the dashboard and if it smelled of coolant and no sign of problems anywhere i really dont know what it could be...

p.s. im going to start another thread for reference for other members, maybe you can help me its about where and how to fill the transmission? thanks...

 

It has to be leaking either oil or coolant somewhere on the exhaust. Once it burns off it gets sucked into the fresh air filter (passenger's side) and gets sent into the car. As long as you keep the recirculation button on it shouldn't get anything inside the car.