Hey guys, I have a A4 B7 2.0T 6speed manual @109K miles, completely stock. I drove from LA to the Bay area and stayed there over the summer. The car has some acceleration issue. I first noticed during the uphill road either on highway or regular road. if I step on the gas pedal to hit around 2200RPM to maintain the speed on uphill or mildly accelerate on hill, the exhaust burst smoke and I can smell from the open window (exhaust gas leak out from engine bay?). I can feel the engine stuttering/jerking with some clicking/ticking noise from under the hood.

Now I am back to LA and I found the car experiencing the same issue even on the flat LA freeway if I pull the car to pass 2200RPM. This could happen on any gear but mostly on high gears (4-6 gear). This did not happen every single time but I will say about 35% of the overall time. Also the car will burst smoke from 2200RPM to about 5500RPM (I did a test) if the smoke starts while I keep push the gas pedal without changing gear. However if I up/down shift and release then step on the gas pedal it may not happen again in the next gear.

Some other things I noticed and may link to the syndrome: 1. if I turn the A/C on, I can feel the power loss and the RPM drop faster when pressing clutch during gear change. 2. The car consumes much more oil than before: 1 qt for 500 miles!!

The valve cover gasket kit replaced @ 100K mi and same as the spark plugs. PCV recalled @90K mi

First thing I am guessing is the PCV since I can smell the smoke while I was driving on highway, but it’s only 20K old… second I want to check turbo, but how can I check since I did not loss the boost? Then I was to check the ignition coil as I heard it is a common issue and it may cause misfire… these are my top ideas. Those parts are expensive I don’t want to shoot blindly…

This is very weird and I am hoping it won’t blow the turbo or any internal components. I appreciate any possible ideas/help you all may be able to offer. Thanks!!!

 

Sure sounds like the turbo may be on it's last legs with the loss of oil and smoke. Might be time to have a trusted shop take a look at it. If it was the PCV I would think you would throw a code.

 

My vote goes to a cracked valve cover being the cause of your oil consumption/smoke issue. Very common.

 

I discounted this as they said the gasket was replaced at 100k. Would have thought the valve cover was fine.

 

Easy to replace the gasket and not notice the cover itself is cracked--especially the internal passages. In fact, replacing the gasket can lead to cracking the VC (they're old and brittle now). Mine was stuck on good after 100k+ miles and it's only because I knew ahead of time to be careful that I didn't crack it trying to get it off.