Hey,
Driving an A3 1.8 '96.

It's getting cold outside (below freezing), and i've got quite a lot of thickish white smoke coming out the exhaust on cold starts in the morning.
It'll start coming after about a minute of idling, and then go away after a few minutes of driving.
Smoke doesn't smell sweet like coolant, and my hand gets a bit wet when i hold it over the tailpipe. So it seems like water, but it also seems a bit more dense and lingering than normal water evaporating....

So idk if my head gasket had blown. I would assume if there was a constant leak then there would be constant white smoke...
I am loosing a bit of coolant though, from what i can tell it doesn't leak at standstill, only when driving.

Any thoughts???

 

I've had a similar issue for 2 years now on an 07 A8L. I've had mechanics check it repeatedly (pressure test, smoke test), they keep finding nothing wrong and say "its normal". But it definitely didn't do that the first 3 winters. I passed emission inspection this Aug. I decided to stop worrying about but now I have a coolant loss issue when the heat is on. Get the smoke test done, should quickly expose a bad gasket. $30 at Pep Boys.

 

You should get one of these. They work better when the engine is cold & is warming up.
Amazon.com: block tester: Automotive

 

I actually did buy and use the UVIEW 560000 Combustion Leak Tester. It said I had no leak too.

 

Well, i took the car to the mechanic a few weeks ago (oil change, and maintenance of rear brakes), and asked him to do a dynamic pressure test on the cylinders. All the numbers were perfectly fine, so that was reassuring. But i'm guessing leaking valves don't get checked under such a test, so maybe i should try a leak tester like you guys said?

update: it hasn't been below freezing for over a month now, and i don't have the big cloud of smoke in the morning. BUT, there is coming a little bit of grayish/white smoke out more or less continuously since i got it back from the mechanic. Although the past few days it hasn't been noticeable. Is it a possibility that it's oil burning off, and might have something to do with left over oil somewhere from the oil change? Or is that totally whack?