i was told that if you let it go for a very long time, that it could put a hole in the line from continuous melting, and cause the secondary air pump to malfunction, which wouldnt matter, because all that does is heat up the cats.

i have yet to confirm that it is indeed a feeder line to the 2ndary air pump tho. so I need to figure that out before i say anything.

My cars been going 15K with the smoke/smell and shes running as fine as can be, so im gonna say that theres no need to freak out about it if its started recently.

my biggest annoyance is the nasty smell i get when i come to a light with the air on. feeds the smoke right into the cabin

 

Ok - that Is a bit reassuring for me since I'm about to take a long trip into the wilderness, thanks! Good to know the car won't break down.

Let me know what you find out & I'll do the same.

 

Of course... it could not be any of this....

 

Just a followup, my check engine light came on the other day, so I took it to the mechanic. He diagnosed the problem as “an issue with the secondary air pump”. There was also, cooincidentaly, a loose vacuum hose that he found, but said that the pump was not performing properly, so we’re going to replace it on Friday. Any where in particular that he should check for that burning smell/burning hose?

 

Based on the location of the smoke that you described, you have 3 possible sources for the leak. 1) Valve cover gasket, 2) Cam tensioner seal, and 3) cam seal and plug. All of these are pretty standard leak locations. If your mechanic is familiar with VW or Audi, then he should be able to tell you this pretty fast.

As for the secondary air pump, it is pretty durable part. I am in no position to doubt your mechanic, but ask him to just reconnect the vacuum line and see if the code comes back. Many times than not, it is just vacuum hose related.

 

I will bring this up.

As for the air pump, the check engine light did NOT come back on. I am supposed to see him again friday morning, so we'll see what happens in the mean time. After he re-connected the hose, he ran a full scan on the computer, and said the the air pump wasn't working properly.

I was present during the scan, the pump made a , whir...whir...whir...whir instead of a constant WHIIIRRRRR I would have expected..but i'm not mechanic.

 

i looked back at the location of the pump, and i didnt see a thing. im baffled on what that smell is.

Is it easy to differentiate an oil smell and a burning rubber smell? Can both cause a white smoke? (i figure oil would be dark)

 

I am also experienceing this issue my car has 40,000miles on it and I just had a service 1-2 months ago still under extended warranty. I had the 45k mile service btw. I have one year left of extended warranty which I will also be doing the 50-55k mile service which is alot of stuff. Though this only happens after 40-50mile trips from 55-80mph. Or as of late when I have been doing some top speed runs to see if my car was chipped or not. Since there was some boost confusion on the audizine.com forums. I don't have any smoke. The smell is oil/rubber but I can't smell it inside the car at all and if the windows are up I don't smell it...Only from outside the car. Any input would be great. I am also leaving for germany in 8 days so kind of want to get it taken care of for my wife, since she will be mainly putting miles on my car while I am gone for 3 weeks for military stuff.

Thank you all for your input and assistance.