sorry for being so annoying with these titles.

Anyways, I just went to the mechanic (Optimal Audi/BMW). We have been having some very rainy/damp weather. Therefore, the smoke could have been confused with steam. The car was looked at and checked out fine. Burning oil would be highly unusual is what the mechanic said. Remember, this was never a ton of smoke, more like a small gust for about 5 seconds. Plus, the compression was fine and if it was burning oil there would always be smoke present. This appears to be steam and the smoke smells like exhaust and not burning oil. We had a 93 Mazda MX-6 sometime ago that had huge puffs of grey smoke come out of the exhaust at all times. We never knew whether it was burning oil since we donated it. Before we bought this Audi and the dealer safety checked/smogged the car, it was sitting in a garage for a couple of weeks. The car's engine is so clean and runs extremely smooth, so it would be hard to believe it is burning oil. My friend has the same car as I do only with 190K miles and his engine is in top shape. Thanks for the help...

 

Please don't create multiple threads for one topic. Just add it to your first one. Glad your car is ok though.

 

I apologize...thanks to everybody and especially Jest for the very handy info...

 

while it may have been steam it very well could have been smoke, i mean you mentioned your other smoking car and how it smoked all the time, well its not like there is just one thing that can make a car smoke or one way a car smokes. it could smoke only when warming up, it could smoke when letting off the gas(especilally with turbo cars), it could smoke only once warm, it could smoke sporadically. there are many different causes and symptoms of burning oil, and burning oil(in my experience) doesn't really affect emissions testing, they detect more for the amount of fuel and carbon left in your exhaust gasses.

when was it smoking(just started, in the mornings, downshifting, upshifting, etc). hopefully everything is allright, and it was just steam, just saying don't totally dismiss it as steam.