Engine Smoke Problem

[Guest]

Hi there,

Ive got a 2000 rsk B4, recently i have noticed that there is smoke coming from the engine near the right hand side turbo, not from the turbo itself. Its quite hard to locate where it is actually coming from because it is hard to see its a light clear smoke almost like steam, you have to really look hard to see it. But when stationary and engine running after you have been dirving for a while you can see it coming out from the front right corner of the bonnet. When you lift the bonnet and try find where it is coming from it is really hard to see, and its not a constant stream, it smokes then stops for about 6 seconds then goes again. Its not like a full on stream either its really light but clearly visible once you know what to look for. Ive taken it to Winger and they have found no mechanical faults, they could see the smoke but couldnt find where it was coming from or the cause, they noted that on the last service the oil level was high so they reduced it to normal level and it seemed to stop for a few weeks now its back again(and i have not touched a single thing since i last took it in). There is also a dinstinct smell of oil burning, so i assume its a small leak? but Winger could not find anything, it doesnt drop any oil there are no known leaks etc. Im not that clued up on cars so sorry if the description is not very technical or informative.

Any ideas on what it could be and if its a concern? ???

cheers

[DRFVDR]

My guess would be tappet cover gaskets leaking onto exhaust manifold

OR

CV joint leaking on to exhaust pipe

[Guest]

 DRFVDR said:

My guess would be tappet cover gaskets leaking onto exhaust manifold

OR

CV joint leaking on to exhaust pipe

+1 when my tappet cover gaskets where leaking it gave exectly the same kinda problems

[Guest]

cool thanks!, like i said i dont know to much about cars so is this something major or minor? and does it need to be looked at asap?

[Guest]

 Ghithe Local said:

cool thanks!, like i said i dont know to much about cars so is this something major or minor? and does it need to be looked at asap?

IF it is the tappet gasket its not a major thing but I would still get someone to look at it, however it seems kinda strange that wingers didnt find it if it is the gasket ???. As far as I can remember it cost mee 180 bucks, could be wrong though because it was some time ago

[Guest]

Hmmm probably best to get it looked at again then, awesome thanks!

[ReubenH]

It might not be the rocker covers, unless of course you managed to find a complete imbecile at winger. That's almost certainly the first place they would have looked for an oil leak, as it's by far the most common, I don't think i've ever seen a subie with no rocker cover leaks... So if they didn't see it, well, shit.

Other options from that area are: Oil supply pipe (copper washers?), Oil return pipe (old and hard rubber?), Half moon seals (part of the rocker cover seals, can be harder to spot), or rear kidney plate/rear main seal (both in the bell housing with the clutch/torque converter.)

But 90% of the time I reckon, it's the rocker covers. And they drip onto the up-pipes, so make smoke.

[Guest]

Heres hoping i didnt get a complete tool that missed it then...what ever it turns out to be hope its nothing major and to pricey i only got the cambelt and the rear diff bushers replaced 3 weeks ago and that cost me a s*** load! :'(

thanks for the help

[ReubenH]

Time to buy a socket set and learn the dark art of DIY maintenance if you ask me!

Start with the easy things though

[Guest]

one time i had this issue, was a hole in the oil filter, was blowing back onto the exhaust,

may not be your issue but check it anyway,

[Bumpty]

 DRFVDR said:

My guess would be tappet cover gaskets leaking onto exhaust manifold

I have this leak, after 2 weeks of not using the car (I had forgotten about leak), I took it for a drive and got extemely worried when smoke started choofing out from under the bonnet. But it was just 2 weeks of build up from the oil leak, I popped the bonnet and it sounded like a deep fryer!

[Guest]

Yeah dude thats the same with me, it gets worse if i dont drive it for a few days or so. Have you had yours fixed?

[Guest]

 BF5GT90 said:

one time i had this issue, was a hole in the oil filter, was blowing back onto the exhaust,

may not be your issue but check it anyway,

sweet thanks for the help mate, going to look into it next week

[ReubenH]

Ghithe, have you actually jacked the car up and had a look yourself? Or is it all a bit beyond your skill?

[Guest]

 ReubenH said:

Ghithe, have you actually jacked the car up and had a look yourself? Or is it all a bit beyond your skill?

No i have done nothing myself to look into it, my skill with a car ends at changing a tyre haha, if the standard jack is enough to crank it up and have a look i can give it a go, but i wouldnt know where to begin looking etc. I have uni exams at the moment so havent driven it for about 4 days but when i did yesterday it smoked like crazy but there was no signs of leaking on the concrete under the car or anything? but i drove it today and it seemed ok? Oil level isnt low or anything so cant be a big leak?

[Jord]

1+ for the rocker cover, mines just the same if you leave it for a 1-2 weeks without starting it you will get cloud of smoke for the first few minutes after start up. Shouldnt been anything turbo related as most of the oil drains back out of the turbo once turned off.

[Bumpty]

 Ghithe Local said:

Yeah dude thats the same with me, it gets worse if i dont drive it for a few days or so. Have you had yours fixed?

No I haven't.

I'll get it looked at one day though.

[Guest]

to the TA, how did you get on?

[rskikn]

 Ghithe Local said:

Heres hoping i didnt get a complete tool that missed it then...what ever it turns out to be hope its nothing major and to pricey i only got the cambelt and the rear diff bushers replaced 3 weeks ago and that cost me a s*** load! :'(

thanks for the help

you just got the cam belt done??? have you had a look at the cam covers?? could be they didnt do cam pully seals while they did the belt or they did do them and stuffed it up and now its leaking.. might wanna pull the cam cover off and have a look.. wat kind of oil does it smell like?? could be power steer pump leak.. they smell different when they burn..

[soopersubaru]

 Ghithe Local']

[quote name='ReubenH said:

Ghithe, have you actually jacked the car up and had a look yourself? Or is it all a bit beyond your skill?

/quote]

No i have done nothing myself to look into it, my skill with a car ends at changing a tyre haha, if the standard jack is enough to crank it up and have a look i can give it a go, but i wouldnt know where to begin looking etc. I have uni exams at the moment so havent driven it for about 4 days but when i did yesterday it smoked like crazy but there was no signs of leaking on the concrete under the car or anything? but i drove it today and it seemed ok? Oil level isnt low or anything so cant be a big leak?

Can fix at a reasonable rate...Will be rocker cover gasket.and washers....or cam seals.will assess Auckland??

[Guest]

 rskikn']

[quote name='Ghithe Local said:

Heres hoping i didnt get a complete tool that missed it then...what ever it turns out to be hope its nothing major and to pricey i only got the cambelt and the rear diff bushers replaced 3 weeks ago and that cost me a s*** load! :'(

thanks for the help

/quote]

you just got the cam belt done??? have you had a look at the cam covers?? could be they didnt do cam pully seals while they did the belt or they did do them and stuffed it up and now its leaking.. might wanna pull the cam cover off and have a look.. wat kind of oil does it smell like?? could be power steer pump leak.. they smell different when they burn..

Yeah problem is this happened before i got the cam belt done..just smells like straight up oil burning