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Purchased 2015 Golf SportWagen TDI SEL; strange melted plastic smell

11K views 11 replies 7 participants last post by  mikeme 
#1 ·
Hi, all.

Well, I popped into the Volkswagen store that our dealership group just bought, and left having traded in my 2014 Jetta SportWagen w/Sunroof for a 2015 Golf SportWagen TDI SEL (with lighting package), because it's a much nicer car full of features that weren't even available on the JSW, for some reason. I've had it for all of four hours, and I've noticed a strange melted plastic smell from the rear. I know the GSW takes AdBlue and so doesn't have the DPF that the JSW did, so should I smell burning plastic when I turn it off? I'll have to take it in to the dealer tomorrow in order to get it detailed---there wasn't time this evening---but I'm curious.
 
#3 ·
I purchased a golf a month back and experienced the same hot smell and the dealer said pretty much what mishkaya said. However today with a couple thousand miles on the clock I was idling in a parking lot and suddenly it smelled of burning rubber inside the car like if you soon the tires. Looked under the hood and all around under the car but it was windy and couldn't see or smell anything out of the ordinary. The exhaust seemed much warmer than normal but may have been in my head. A very different smell than the "burning off" I smelled in the first few hundred miles. I think your OK too but if it smelled like a smoke show we may have the same problem.
Good luck with the car, I'm wishing I'd have waited for the sport wagon and had seen the dark gray they have now as my black paint send to be gaining scratches from the wind its horrible. That aside I love my car
 
#6 ·
I'm jealous, great choice!
I went with black because they had it in the lot and hasn't seen the great yet but like I say it's scratching very easily and a bird left it's mark yesterday and I cleaned it and tried to wax with mothers cleaning wax within an hour of it happening and the mark is still in the paint after a lot of buffing. Very discouraged as this is my first new car in ten years and I wanted it to stay beautiful. Also the paint is very orange peely and in Mexico they put my mirrors and other bits on very crooked and it off place BUT like loving a person with their faults I love my TDI!

IF anyone has experienced a rubber burning smell and had it sorted please fill me in on what it could be as its going to be a bit before I can get it to the dealer.
Enjoy the ride!
 
#7 ·
I don't know how helpful it is, but my 2014 smelled STRONGLY of burning plastic/rubber for the first few regen cycles... in fact the first one I was nearly convinced something was catastrophically wrong with my car, but then it stopped, and it was much less for the next several. I haven't smelled anything in a while, and I normally only know I'm in a regen if I have to stop in traffic and notice the higher RPM's.
 
#8 ·
Maybe I just have a case of selective memory and don't remember what happened when I first bought the Jetta SportWagen. I bought the first one out of state and drove almost 320 miles just to get it home, so it's quite possible that the very first regen happened while I was driving, and I didn't notice. I just don't remember the JSW having quite as strong of a smell as the Golf SportWagen.

Let's see...other issues with the new GSW: it actually cut out on me the morning after I bought it. I was at a stoplight and then I just heard the engine cut off, and then had to endure the blaring horn of some dummkopf in a late-model Mercedes-Benz E350 as I tried to figure out what went wrong. I know I didn't accidentally press the STOP/START button because I had my hands on the wheel, and because the car kept the accessories on and acted like nothing had happened. And of course, it's a DSG, so I didn't stall it. Our service department says that since no warning lights or error codes were logged, it'll have to happen again before they can get a diagnosis. I doubt it'll be a problem. Oh, and the iPhone 5/6 MDI cable, which I got with my previous car, doesn't work. It'll just keep connecting and disconnecting, and the dealer determined that it was not in fact the cable, but rather the car. I'm going to have to take the car in and drive a loaner for a few days while they figure out what's wrong, but they'll likely end up ordering a whole new radio unit.

None of this makes me very happy, but it's typical Volkswagen and par for the course, I suppose, especially with a car that was just released.
 
#10 ·
The burning plastic smell is regen on the DPF. You can also see a slightly higher idle when this is happening, depending on the exact regen state. When ths is happening, it is best to let it finish before shutting the car off. Do do this just let the car idle until the idle drops back to 900-ish again. If you can't let it finish, this is not ideal, but won't hurt anything.

Ad-blue takes the place of the NOx catalyst in the older cars. it is a completely separate emissions control from the DPF which addresses a different pollutant. DPF collects particulates (soot) and Adblue is for nitrides of oxygen
 
#11 ·
The burning plastic smell is regen on the DPF. You can also see a slightly higher idle when this is happening, depending on the exact regen state. When ths is happening, it is best to let it finish before shutting the car off. Do do this just let the car idle until the idle drops back to 900-ish again. If you can't let it finish, this is not ideal, but won't hurt anything.

Ad-blue takes the place of the NOx catalyst in the older cars. it is a completely separate emissions control from the DPF which addresses a different pollutant. DPF collects particulates (soot) and Adblue is for nitrides of oxygen
The DPF will never finish, it will just postpone, until it is warmed up enough and driven above 3k rpm or so. No wait needed or advised, just shut the car off.

Like any other "new car" smells, it will eventually be gone.
 
#12 ·
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