Hello all.

I'm not at all technically or mechanically inclined, but I have a rudimentary understanding of how cars roll. So please excuse me; I'm sorry if I'm not precise in my language or knowledge. I need help diagnosing the story of my poor car.

I have a 2007 2.0T A4 Quattro with less than 90,000 miles I've owned since new. It currently lives its life along with me in a northeastern climate. As you can expect, the road surfaces here designate some enduring of tenderloin punishing, so the dealer recommended replacing the motor mounts at great cost alongside the regular 75,000 mi routine maintenance. I haven’t, but if anyone could clarify exactly how important it is, that’d be helpful!

Otherwise, my car began billowing white-ish, smokey-smelling exhaust fumes when revving out the engine beyond 2,000 rpm. Needless to say, I was worried. And weirdly, after having experienced this once, no check-engine-light would berate me if I retreated my lead foot away from the higher rpms. So I imposed a rule: no revving beyond 2,000 rpm. This was a good thing, in my mind. No fun, saint-like, I must have driven. Unfortunately, even the greatest saints have the occasional lapse, so one day, I forgot the no-rev-rule. The freeway ramp. I went to 3k. Then 4. Ooo, it was fun. It felt like stripping an Amish. But white smoke poured out the exhaust. Then my car’s was molested by what seemed to be the largest pothole in Massachusetts.

Misfires, you know, stutter, rattle, stutter. CEL blinking. I parked the car in the alcove of the break-down spot, remarking in shame at my prodigiously indulgent behavior. AAA was called, towed us to a garage. Coil-packs replaced, not under warranty? Huh. I didn't dare touch the accelerator like that again. Oh, you poor soul. Though the realization finally settled in, like how you’re supposed to rest a cooked steak. Waiting, but hungry:

I've been driving a gimped car.

Can't rev beyond 2k? Bah. What’s the point? I needed to take control of my LIFE…I mean c-car. It’s time. Pump it up. So I began researching, and what I've gathered around, in the order of what I hoped to be the least intensive fix, is:
And alas 'tis a reoccurring nightmare, the white smoker from 2k beyond… It’s not condensation. I don’t think misfires exactly originate from exhaust condensation. So maybe carbon build-up? Wait, you said you can rev out the carbon?

I decided to be a little masochistic. So I really wanted to find out what happens when I pushed the **** off this car.

After an operating-temperature achieving 20 minute drive, there was a hill. I saw a challenge for my baby. No more carbon for you! I floored it up. White smoke. An odor of aerosolised oleaginousness exhaust clouds released. Or farted. Is it carbon? Maybe. The temperature gauge was still middling. So I went back down the hill. Second time bi-atch! And bad luck, misfires again.

Head-in-hands. Tail-between-legs. Butt shaking from misfire stutter. And down the hill home in neutral.

I let the car rest overnight. In the morning after: “Baby, can we talk? I didn’t mean to hurt you like that,” I said, as I touched her steering wheel. I put the key inside her. She bonged her ignition song, but then she started up! A little rough after settling at idle, around 900 rpm, but no misfire! Why? So was it carbon build-up? Inconclusive, but grand scheme, I err on the side of nein and nicht.

So is it a head gasket leak? It would be if it was losing coolant, right. But the reservoir was still between the ever-so Germanic capitalised and underlined MAX and MIN, so I thought not. Until I saw the transmission tunnel beneath the engine. It looked like an orange released itself all over the floor. Without much effort, Googling figured it was the apparently ever so common coolant flange. And while I still peered underneath her top, I had read that opening the oil cap with the car running might diagnose the PCV valve. The car’s idling rpm dropped slightly, but it was not arhythmic or unbearably rough. I could still lift it out with only slight hesitation.

SO! What the treatment, dhough? Coolant flange and maybe PCV valve?

Can anyone tell me if these combined will solve the problem of white-ish smokey exhaust? I don’t want to spend 1,000 bones for a car that can’t rev beyond 2k.

I mean I know a parsimonious car, Audi does not make. Vorsprung durch Technik. But please, I beg, I need this problem away, and I don't really want to spend anymore than I need to. Is it worth more than the trouble? Should I sell the car? How close is she to death?

TL;DR:Thanks for reading and responding!

 

exhaust valve. its a crapshoot, but have a decent shop use a camera/scope to check out the intake and exhaust valves and look for cracks, chips, or bent valves.

 

Also, when was the last time your valve cover gasket was off/replaced? If it's bad (or the valve cover itself has a crack in it), it can let oil go where it's not supposed to.