That's a crazy project you got going there.

White smoke is coolant. Check the coolant level and make sure it's kept topped-off.

I can't say whether the turbo is the source of the coolant leak. It's certainly plausible, but it could just as easily be a head gasket leak. As for why there would be no acceleration, that's about 10x more likely to be a vacuum leak than a dead turbo, at least in a normal car.

You've got a lot of work ahead of you to fix that engine. You really can't do anything meaningful until you isolate the source of the coolant leak, so that's the first step.

 

That's a crazy project you got going there.

Whew, tell me about it! I'm sure I can get the car to move under it's own power. The problem I can see is that every creature comfort is wired through the ECU or the CCM. So, if the engine is removed, I open a couple dozen ECU circuits. If I open a couple dozen ECU circuits, will the ECU still control the circuits that provide signals to the CCM? It's gonna be interesting, that's for sure. But I love my car, so it won't be that bad, right?

I know that white smoke is usually coolant, but this has a bluish tint to it and the PO used two quarts of oil trying to figure out what was wrong. I guess I'm going to have to check out all the systems to make sure the smoke isn't oil AND coolant. If it is, I'm just going to scrap the engine and maybe sell the intercooler or whatever else I can salvage.

 

ooops

 

triple post...

 

I think the first respondant missed the rattling noise from the engine. I somehow doubt it's the turbo, but betcha' there's more there than a leaky head gasket going on.

Oh, well - he didn't want to use the engine anyway.

I'm curious though - how did you decide on an older Passat for your EV project? I understand most of the amateur EV builders are looking for a smallish, relatively simple car; one that is, above all, light in weight.

None of that seems to describe a B5.

 

Given the age of the car, there could definitely be some oil starvation going on. Still, old engines make noise no matter how good a condition they're in, so without something concrete like "the back of the valve cover is rattling" or "the cooling fan is rattling", it's probably just old engine noise.

 

I thought white smoke was oil?

Thats what was burning when my car was shooting out white smoke.

 

Grey smoke is oil. Blue smoke is gasoline. White smoke is steam.

 

Scotts13-
I was looking for a project chassis and originally bought an 89 Geo Metro hatchback which weighed in at 1650lbs. As I researched more I found that I didn't want to charge the batteries in the passenger compartment as it gives off gasses. So I needed to find a sedan with a trunk. After more research I found that a good EV would cost $6000-8000 to do it right so I might as well build a NICE car that I would enjoy driving. So I started thinking, what about a Mercedes? I did some research and found that the 190E weighs only 2800lbs, but they're nearly impossible to find with a manual tranny. I really liked the German cars, but most of them were too expensive and were hard to find with a stick. So I thought VW... did some research and found that the older Jettas were 2600lbs... but if I'm going to do a Jetta, why not go all the way and do a Passat. Then I just happened to come across a nice 2000 Passat with leather, 5-speed, and tons of options with a good body and only 63k on the odometer for $2500 - and of course a HUGE trunk for batteries. The Passat only weighs 3100 lbs. It's a bit heavy, but I'm not looking for a racer, I'm looking for a commuter that is stylish and comfortable. I'll be using 144VDC and a Zilla controller so it will be pretty zippy. You have to remember, electric motors are incredibly torquey. If you want to maximize range, you need a low weight vehicle. According to calculations made for me by EV-America the Passat should get between 40-60 miles per charge which will do just fine for my urban 25 miles per day commute. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

I checked the coolant- it's a bit low and has this crystalline substance in the overflow tank. There is no sign of cross contamination between oil and coolant. I'm hoping in a way that the engine is no good so I can just yank it and throw it away.

-Rick

 

make sure you document your conversion and post it up here. It would be a first, that's for sure...

 

Good Luck and keep us informed :thumbup:

 

Regarding the coolant , the first culprit could be the head gasket,but I think it's the oil cooler that's leaking water into the oil,this happened on my car and it produced copious amounts of noxious gasses.
The oil cooler is well known for leaking , if I were you I would check that out first.The rattling noise could be the cam chain tensioner , another part which is prone to failure ,do a search on these items and you may have a cheap and easy fix on your hands , good luck , Calum:thumbup:

 

Good tips, calum. I'll check into the oil cooler.

Maybe I'll start the car and take a picture of the plumes of smoke this thing puts out. I might submit it as car of the month... he he

Once the EV project gets underway, I'll see if I can't start a build thread.

 

OK, I got a chance to take a look at it and the rattling sound seems to be coming from the turbo/cat area. The engine itself is nice and quiet with only a faint ticking from the valves. I was able to make a video that I posted on YouTube so you can see the smoke. the link is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JE-SysUSVtU

 

Let the engine cool off, then wedge your hand into the turbo area and try to wiggle the metal rod connecting the wastegate to the wastegate actuator (brass can-like thing). If it wiggles, the wastegate actuator needs to be replaced, which generally involved either four elbows per arm, or removing the turbo.

EDIT: The wastegate actuator won't have anything to do with the white smoke, though.

 

Hi no3rdseat , I've had a look at your video and I would bet my last £ , ($)that it's the oil cooler.I had this problem with my car a 2000 , 5.5 , 1.8t , it didn't do it all the time at first , but it suddenly it took a turn for the worse and did it all the time , it was much more dramatic than in your video !
Change the oil cooler and see if it disappears , it's an inexpensive part and a known failure on these cars ! Good luck , Calum.:thumbup:

 

Ya know, from the looks of things, it seems like the engine itself is OK but the add-ons like oil cooler, turbo, catalytic converter, what have you, might be bad. I really don't think I should spend time fixing an external component when I can sell the engine to someone who just needs an engine. But then there's that pesky safety inspection I have to get. The engine itself seems OK. When you first start it, there's NO smoke. Then after about 10 seconds the smoke comes. Then if you shut it off and turn it back on, there is no smoke for maybe 30 seconds and then it comes out much less for a bit, and then pours out.

But if I do decide to change the oil cooler, where is it located? My shop manual hasn't arrived yet. (@#$@%#&$!!)

 

The turbo is an integral part of the engine. It won't work right without it. If it's a reasonably-simple fix, do it.

The oil cooler is the bit that the oil filter presses up against when you screw it into place.

 

A piston is an integral part of an engine, a turbo bolts on to the outside. If someone replaces their engine, they usually reuse the old turbo. If a turbo fails, you don't replace the engine with it.

In this case though, I may have to fix the turbo. I went to the DMV today and got the runaround about the laws on converting to an EV. Nobody seems to know so I have to go to the MD state police and find out from them. Then there's the gross vehicle weight that will change to greater than 3700lbs after I add 12 batteries and a 160lb motor, which puts me in another registration category altogether.

In MD, you only have to get the car safety inspected once, when you first put it on the road. After that you can do whatever you want with it and it never has to be re-inspected. Even if the insurance and tags expire, as long as I own it, I'll never have to inspect it again to put it back on the road. So I'm going to have to fix the smoke, get it through safety inspection, and then I'm good to go.

I really appreciate all the helpful advice that I'm getting here on this board. Hopefully I'll learn enough to help some other newbie some day.

BTW, my Haynes manual showed up today so I don't feel so much like a fish out of water...

-Rick

 

The engine will run about as well with a missing piston as with a missing turbo. That's what I was getting at. Anyway, you might have a little exhaust leakage if the turbo isn't there.

Buy the fancy lithium batteries; don't use the lead ones. Too much weight in the back. And don't forget to factor in the weight loss from removing the gas tank.

 

Buy the fancy lithium batteries; don't use the lead ones. Too much weight in the back. And don't forget to factor in the weight loss from removing the gas tank.

I must throw out a caution on that comment though, as with all lithium batteries:
TOTALLY worth the weight to power mass you get there, but just make sure you have some good computer-controlled charger for them.....we don't want any fires

 

Yeah lithium ions are powerful and lightweight, but they're prohibitively expensive and require special chargers. There are a couple of companies who are working with GM, Toyota, Ford, etc who have developed nano-lithium batteries that are like Lithiums on steroids. A123 Battery Systems and Altair Nano have developed some amazing batteries without the overheating issues of traditional Lithium ions.

But I'm waiting for THESE puppies to come out on the market: www.fireflyenergy.com . They're supposed to be out this fall in Husqvarna tractors. They redesigned traditional lead acid batteries to use carbon grid plates instead of lead plates so the batteries are really light and last somewhere between Lithiums and NiCd. Plus they're fully recyclable and cost much closer to lead acid batteries. They can be charged on normal lead-acid chargers. :thumbup:

 

For a cheap and temporary fix, weld the wastegate open and plug the oil lines to the turbo. It's shot anyway, so without the oil, the car will not smoke.

The registration will not change. They do not weigh the cars and what they don't know won't hurt them.

 

OK guys. I got the turbo removed today. If I EVER decide to do this again, somebody please shoot me. Every single bolt is a different size. And who uses allen heads on engines??

Anyway, I got the turbo off. I'm almost 100% sure it's a bad turbo now because when I removed the big lower hose that goes from the turbo to the intercooler, 4-8 oz of oil came pouring out!

With all those crazy hoses connected to this thing, I can't bring myself to try to fix the turbo and get everything fitted back to stock condition. I'm going to cap the oil lines, connect the coolant lines to each other, and have the hole between the intake and exhaust chambers welded shut after I remove the shot bearing and turbine. It should run well enough to get it through safety inspection.

Wish me luck...

 

It's entirely normal for oil to collect there as it is the lowest point in the induction hoses ! I can guarantee there is not one turbo passat that doesn't have some or even a lot of oil in there . Did you invetigate the oil cooler or are you determined that it "IS" the turbo ? Calum.

 

Hi Calum-

I looked at the turbo and grabbed the impeller and wiggled it around. It's got tons of play in it. Here are two videos that I put on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gaRSI3DWBvE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IXeHbX_kOw

The oil cooler may very well be bad, and I'll replace that if the car still smokes after I put the turbo back in. But just call it a hunch, I was pretty sure the turbo was bad with all the rattling noise it was making.

 

Yeah , now I've seen the vid , I would agree with you ! Not clear from the exhaust impeller side but the intake side makes it much more obvious , are you still planning on putting an electric motor in this car . New or refurbished turbos aren't that expensive , at least not as expensive as what you initial plans for this car would be . Calum.

 

Believe me, I keep thinking how sweet this car would be with a bigger turbo, intercooler, and a chip... not to mention how much easier and cheaper it would be. But I've committed to the EV and I've already bought the motor and the controller. It'll be cool as an EV, just different. I heard yesterday petrol prices in the UK have gone up to $8-9.00 a gallon (US)? Every time I hear news like that it strengthens my resolve to stick it to the man!

 

.....Every time I hear news like that it strengthens my resolve to stick it to the man!

Lol, My whole life people have told me to slow down and stop wasting gas.
Sticking it to the oil companies is the only thing that has worked. I've raised
my avg mpg 2+ on every tankful out of spite

 

HA!! That's classic! he he