Hi All,

I write this post out of despiration. For months and months ive been looking for a new diesel car to replace my less than appealing 1999 VW Polo 1.9 TDI Estate. I like Volkswagen Auto Group cars (Audi, VW, Seat, Skoda) and as such im trying to find something like a TDI Seat Leon or VW Golf.

However after looking at multiple cars i keep getting the same thing which stops me from buying them, smoke from oil filler cap and/or oil dipstick.

Typically when i go to look at a car i make sure the car is cold, start it up, and see if there is anything ominous comming from the exhaust first. I think remove the oil filler cap slowly to see if there is any smoke comming out of there, and then the same with the oil dipstick.

After that i typically take the car out for a good hard drive on the nearby roads. After this i check to see if there is any smoke comming out the exhaust, and then the same with the oil filler car and oil dipstick.

Out of all the VAG TDI's i have looked at, i always see some sort of smoke comming from the oil filler cap and/or oil dipstick.

My 1999 VW polo TDI has nearly 140k miles on it, and no matter how hot or cold the engine is, there is never the slightest hint of smoke from the oil filler cap or oil dipstick.

In older cars smoke from the oil filler cap or dipstick usually meant burning oil, coolant in the oil, head gasket about to go etc.

SO you can see my hesitation with buying a car that has smoke comming from the oil filler cap and/or dipstick.

Can someone here please give me detail about what seems to cause smoke from the oil filler cap and/or oil dipstick in VAG TDI engines (1998-present, newer TDI's, the less noisey ones than you get in my VW polo and Mrk3 Golfs).

I would like to kno what any type of smoke from oil filler cap and/or dipstick means (white, blue, black etc).

Edited by paultop6 on 04/01/2011 at 18:56