Scotty,
I have a 2015 VW Jetta base model S gasoline, with a manual transmission with 148,000 miles. They’re all my miles bought it brand new in California in 2015. I have Always been good on its maintenance and it has never given me any problems aside from a steering ignition lock that failed outside of warranty but VW covered it due to my “loyalty” since I was the only owner. I moved to Colorado recently. Whenever the engine is cold, on startup I get a few seconds of white smoke from the exhaust. It goes away in a few seconds but then last week on a camping trip to Wyoming driving home on the highway my car started to misfire and the EPC light came on. I somehow managed to get home by staying in the slow lane praying some texter didn’t slam into me. I scanned the trouble codes and P03501 P0300 P0301 P0304 came back. I took it to the dealer and they replaced the coil pack. For now that seems to have fixed the misfire issue. However I’m still getting that white smoke on startup. I asked them about it and they said the car didn’t do it when it was there, so they don’t know what it can be. I would have to leave the car there or take it back when it was doing that. What do you think the cause of the white smoke is? I bought this car with the intention of driving it till the wheels fall off, is it reaching the end? Or is this something fixable and won’t drain my bank. Or maybe it’s the altitude in Colorado haha thanks -Aaron
Since you moved to a colder climate, it might just be condensation from hot exhaust air meeting cold mountain air. That said, you could check your coolant levels and fuel injectors as they could cause white smoke out the exhaust.
Most all vehicles will produce translucent white smoke for a little while when started on cool, humid mornings. If the smoke is opaque white, get a leak test kit to confirm or deny a blown head gasket.
