No Smoke Without Fire - Any Ideas?

bstardchild · Post by **bstardchild** » Mon Sep 27, 2004 11:53 am

Car Polo MKIV 1.4 CL 8V 1998

Driving to a wedding at the weekend having covered about 70 out of the 80 miles and stuck in stop start traffic I was a little concerned to see whisps of smoke coming up from beside the steering column

I turned of the ignition and they (the whisps of smoke) stopped instantly - turned it on again (no smoke) and didn't get a re-occurance for the rest of the journey or the return home the following day

I'm gonna take the plastic surround away so I have a clearer view of whats underneath and hope that I can see any signs of burning but does anyone have any Suggestions on where to look first if I can't see any charring!!!!

My money would be on the ignition switch without any investigation taking place but chaffed wires would produce similar effects

Tahrey1043 · Post by **Tahrey1043** » Mon Sep 27, 2004 7:40 pm

it's the magic smoke!
your car wont be able to leap tall buildings in a single bound any more

bstardchild · Post by **bstardchild** » Mon Sep 27, 2004 7:42 pm

Tahrey1043 wrote:it's the magic smoke!
your car wont be able to leap tall buildings in a single bound any more

It drives over them - there is that much clearance!!!!

Post by **Josh_PoloGTi** » Mon Sep 27, 2004 8:13 pm

I had this once, I totally s-my pants!

I emergency stopped the car and jumped out!!!

Anyway, I took it to the dealers (after it had stopped smoking) and they replaced all the switches behind the wheel.

All it is (apparently) is some elecrical arcing that ignites the switch lubricant, or something.

S-me right up anyway!

This was on a 1999 (T) 1.4 CL BTW

bstardchild · Post by **bstardchild** » Mon Sep 27, 2004 9:06 pm

Josh_PoloGTi wrote:I had this once, I totally s-my pants!

I emergency stopped the car and jumped out!!!

Anyway, I took it to the dealers (after it had stopped smoking) and they replaced all the switches behind the wheel.

All it is (apparently) is some elecrical arcing that ignites the switch lubricant, or something.

S-me right up anyway!

This was on a 1999 (T) 1.4 CL BTW

Thanks Josh

I'll have a real carefull look around the switches when I work out how to get the covers off

It looks to me like the wheel has got to come off to get the covers off

Blue MK2 · Post by **Blue MK2** » Fri Nov 19, 2004 4:08 pm

i had this once when my dad accidently filled my golf gti with diesel because he normaly drives the van.

ignition was smoking for some reason then stopped. s**t myself

sylonien · Post by **sylonien** » Fri Nov 19, 2004 5:20 pm

Hmm how weird jus saw this post and my car key felt quite warm just then when I took it out of the car.

Is that a warning or somethin?

I was thinking JUST then, why is it warm?

JWC · Post by **JWC** » Mon Apr 04, 2005 9:03 am

You could buy a no smoking sticker. Then if she continues to smoke, tell her that she will be barred in future.

I simply cannot stand smoking in the car - it too smaller space for that.

polo2k · Post by **polo2k** » Mon Jun 27, 2005 10:09 am

it happens some times and its mainly dust getting gbrilled in the ign switch
to take the steering colom shroud off there are a couple of screws under it and then lots of wiggling

Tahrey1043 · Post by **Tahrey1043** » Mon Jun 27, 2005 11:21 pm

if its the switch lube or dust then it's probably a similar effect to the equally sh1t-a-brick occurrence of spilling a couple drops of top-up oil on the exhaust heatshield and then going for a ride...... totally disproportionate amount of smoke billows out of the grille and wheel arches!