Hello All,

I have a 2.0 litre turbo diesel Audi A3 Ambition (P8) that I bought in Australia new, late 2006 (my 2007). It is factory equipped with a DPF but not Cat converter.

The car has done 175000km. It has never missed a service and is in faultless condition, except that it’s exhaust stinks and best described as foul and acrid. 

To deal with this, the car has been fitted with a new DPF, all new exhaust sensors. The DPF fitted is a non-audi brand, but done by a reputable local company with expertise.

It shows no faults on diagnostic equipment. Diagnostic were carried out at two different workshops by experienced highly capable people.

The car stinks as bad, or worse than it ever did. It does not burn oil or have any leaks on the engine. Neither does it have low compression or any problems that can be revealed by driving or electronic diagnostics.

It performs beautifully in the same way it always has.

 

The car exhaust is now smelly enough to be worthless and too smelly to back into our home garage.

 

There are a lot of these vehicles on the road and the problem can’t be unique to my car, however I feel I have few avenues or solutions left to explore.

 

Can someone please enlighten me ?

Diagnose the car (EGR, injectors, turbo, leaks on the IC), verify your driving style, fuel quality (DPF is sensitive to bio additives) and you will stop having DPF and stink problems. Again, it is possible that the DPF has unfortunately become clogged especially if it has not been replaced before.