Lately my 1999 A4 1.8T has been squeaking a bit after starting in the cold. Once the car heats up a bit, the noise stops and the car runs fine but seems to go though 93 gasoline rather quickly. To be cautious, I asked my friend who also owned a B5 1.8 for a few years whether he had the same problems with it in the cold and he pointed out that the serpentine belt may need adjustment and tends to squeak in the cold. Thinking nothing of it, I continued to drive the car. After a few days, I started the car and went inside to allow it heat up for a few minutes in the cold. Returning five minutes later, I noticed a large amount of white maybe very light gray smoke coming from the exhaust that smelt of gasoline. Wondering if anyone had ideas about what could be wrong. The car has never smoked this much and any visible exhaust fumes have typically dissapeared once the car has heated up. Maybe my turbo's on the way out idk. Any help would be great.

Thanks

 

Sounds like you're running very rich - smelling a gas smell in the exhaust stream and high fuel consumption would point to that as well. Even if you have no check engine light (CEL), you should stop by AutoZone and have them scan your ECU for codes - it's free, and you may have something in there that will point you in the right direction. It's possible that your pre-cat O2 sensor is going bad - it may not be bad enough yet to trip a CEL, but it could be on the way out and harming your fuel economy.

 

Thanks for the advice, I'll run it by there later today and post on the results.

 

Definitely post up the codes they give you. They define the codes for you as well, but they're not all correct on their equipment. I had a cam sensor failure that I fixed with a new cam sensor, but AutoZone said the code meant it was something else. The code was read correctly though, and I was able to get the right definition for it here. Post your codes, and we can probably help you trace the problem.

 

I talked to Auto Zone and they told me they couldn't scan my ECU unless I had a check engine light... [:@] I'm not sure if I should try and bring it to a dealer or what!? Any other thoughts?

 

they can't or they won't? you can scan a car anytime you want... maybe its their policy or something so they dont waste their time

 

Yeah, i guess its against their store policy or something. unfortunately...

 

the autozone closest to me just holds on to my license while i take it out to my car and do it myself. did you ask if they could do it? or if you could do it? see if they'll let you do it yourself. (if you havent already)

or maybe you could just say you have a check engine light??? i dont think they would follow you out to your car and check.

 

either an O2 is crapping out on you or you have an injector leaking.