So just a few days ago, I drove my car and noticed that it smelled really bad inside the cabin. I looked at the rear view mirror and saw a cloud of white smoke behind me at a stop light. I felt bad for the guy behind me because if I could smell it with the windows up, it must smell real bad to the person behind me. The smoke and smell is present when idling or driving.

In any case, I'm led to believe that it's the head gasket b/c of a slightly lower coolant level, but is the head gasket a normal item that goes out over time? I didn't have any engine overheating problems and the oil was changed every 3K with synthetic and I just did a coolant flush a few months ago since my thermostat went bad too. Is there something else I should check out before I start replacing the head gasket?

TIA!

 

Do a compression check and if it is the head gasket you'll know. I just went through the exact same thing only to find out that the oil seal in the turbo had failed which caused it to put out white smoke from my tailpipe as well which smelled really bad. It is in the process of being replaced but I would have a mechanic do a full check on the vehicle just to make sure so you don't start spending a lot of money in the wrong place.

 

It's more likely your turbo. They are water and oil cooled, so when the bearing seal goes bad, it puts on a smoke show.

Do a leakdown and compression test before even touching a wrench.

 

Sounds good, thanks for the advice guys!

 

turbo is likely, yeah. I had the same thing happen to my previous A4. White smoke and my turbo died shortly after.

 

stupid spam bots resurrecting old threads. im glad you think a 'cam change gasket set' will fix a head gasket problem. if anyone buys from that site they are as dumb as the person who wrote your software.

 

[QUOTE=fred2ka4;1075279]Do a compression check and if it is the head gasket you'll know.QUOTE]

How would you know if the head gasket was bad by doing a compression test??

 

[QUOTE=kraylon;1110111]Well a compression test will let you know if there is a problem in that area, a leak down will tell you exactly where the leak is at.

 

LOL - sry Brandon. With just 12 posts, its not all that hard to believe that you could have been a bot.

Welcome to the forums.