Hi, I'm a new Audi owner ('01 A4 1.8T Quattro). I've only had the car for two days, and I've already ran into a major problem. The garage I park my cars in is very tight to get out of as is. A car was coming up while I was going down, and I hit a decently high curb avoiding him coming in at such an awkward angle. I get out of the parking lot, and I notice that the car is starting to get a little shaky, but I had to move it to an overnight garage so I kept driving it.

Parked it in front of my apartment to drop off some things, then start it back up again to take it to the overnight garage. The car is definitely more shaky at this point. I would never normally drive a car in that condition.. anywhere, but I didn't want to get it towed and the overnight garage is only about 2-3 minutes out. Lucky me, I get stuck in traffic on the way there, and I notice smoke coming out of the engine. I make my way to the nearest gravel lot as fast as possible to let the car cool, because.. well, that's not a good thing..

After I opened up the engine to check out the bay once the smoke settled, I see that there is what looks like a coil or wire in the back left (a few inches from the bottom corner) that's red hot.

Any clue as to what that's about? I'm not very knowledgeable about this sort of thing.. I immediately thought wires crossing other after I hit the curb.. but I wouldn't think they'd be so exposed? Regardless, I'm not sure if it was curbing that did it, I just didn't have this problem until I left the garage..

Thanks!

Edit
The engine has nearly 98K on it right now, by the way.

 

pictues would help. and waht do you mean coil, only thing i can think of that would get red hot and make smoke is a hot turbo/cat.

 

White smoke is indicative of a blown head gasket, a cracked head or a cracked engine block.

 

Still smells nice and burnt. I'll take pictures of the head gasket when I get back out there - a thunderstorm started about 15 seconds after I opened up the hood, so I came back inside.

Here's the area that was noticeably hot after opening the hood the last time. I wish I had my camera on me last night, probably would have been more helpful.

 

If I am not mistaken, that is the catalytic converter.

 

The area was what was below it. I just can't get enough clearance.

Hopefully I can pull the mechanic out here today to get a better look.

 

Yes, t he pictures show the converter and front O2 sensor. They should not be getting red hot. The catalytic converter could get red hot if you're running super rich and/or it's too clogged, but that shouldn't happen from a curb.

 

Well, I've been hit by a wave of bad luck these past 72 hours. Flash flood in my area. My entire backseat up to the beginning of the seat was submersed.

Well, it was a nice 3 day run while it lasted. Tow trucks on the way to take it to the mechanic.. we'll see what the total damage is in.

-Chris