I could do with any advice going please to try and resolve this problem. I have a pal who is totally hopeless at anything mechanical so I've been "volunteered" to help him where I can bearing in mind that I have a 300 TDi and have never been confronted with the 200 TDi before. Also this follows on from a question I asked just before Christmas concerning Clamp NTC 3608. Basically there is clear evidence that the exhaust down pipe where it connects to the turbo exhaust elbow/manifold is leaking - you can see a largish puff of black smoke from this connection when starting from cold and he tells me that at 50/60 mph with the engine hot there is a an exhaust smell in the cabin.

So tonight having fitted a new clamp (the threads were stripped on the old one) and done it up as tight as possible, we were disappointed to see that the black smoke was still their. The down pipe is fully butted up against ring formed on the turbo outlet pipe and I'm at a loss to think how to cure it. The exhaust system looks pretty new and the turbo outlet pipe looks in good order.

Apologies if this is a common problem on 200 TDi's but as I say, I'm not familiar with this version.

Wet fit together with gun gum or other exhaust sealant.

Mine does exactly this I used gun gum and exhaust tape and put the clamp over the top before it dried. Worked for me.

Thanks for the info - been online and the Gungum paste and bandage does seem the way to go - I thought there may have been some sort of olive missing perhaps. Spent the day replacing the windscreen wiper cable drive and wheel boxes so will get the exhaust stuff tomorrow.