[Guest]

so i'm driving to work today and when i'm parking i notice some light vapor coming out the back of my hood (i ripped out the gasket to vent the heat). i popped the hood and crapshake! there's smoke coming out the back of the engine somewhere. it's not a whole lot and it doesn't smell sweet like gas or coolant, or stinky like gear oil, so i assume it's the mobile1 10w30 i have in there.

i think my rear main seal has a small leak, so i'm assuming oil is leaking slowly out of there, then some of it sits around, and then when the engine gets hot some of it evaporates into the smoke i see coming out.

anybody else had a problem like this? i also looked around the turbo, nothing there, definitely coming from behind the engine itself. PCV is ok. might be valve covers, don't see oil coming out the top or front but i'm gonna switch the screws for bolts soon anyway.

for now i'll just be checking my dipstick daily... engine otherwise runs great and it's all about not messing things up

-Phillip
'91T

 

[BoostAddctn]

well dude it could be your valve cover leaking onto the downpipe causing vapor to come out or your EGR cooler or valve could be loose, check those out, and why not just jack up the car, remove the inspection plate on the tranny to see if there is any oil on it, well good luck man, peace

 

[fatboy]

the EGR gasket could be leaking, it would be exhaust smoke tho... and yea, it could be the valve covers leakin near the back... or even one of those small coolant hoses at the back, that is.... if it was a coolant leak..tima check em all out!

 

[pmpaluda]

Right behind #6 (to the p/s side), is the paint like a "burnt color" of your engine bay? If so, by bet its a egr cooler leak.

 

[Guest]

where exactly does the EGR come out? didn't have chance to get a good look, there does seem to be a hose clamp towards the passenger side that is just hanging there. it's an old car so there's a bit of burnt color all over... paint on the firewall looks ok though.

the front of the trans seems to be caked in sludge, but it might be an unrelated oil leak.

 

[pmpaluda]

Probably your cam covers then...

Can you take a pic?

 

[Guest]

seems to be a very slow leak coming from passenger side valve cover, and of course the *screws* were not as tight as they could be.

you can see a lot of sludge everywhere, i'm going to try and clean some of it up and then see exactly where it's coming from.

losing oil, but from various places i think.

 

[Guest]

Follow the steps lsited on this site to change the valve cover gaskets, clean the area up, and I bet you'll be in the clear; It looks like your problem is oil coming out of the valve covers and burning off on the block.

 

[Guest]

hope it's that simple. i looked around with a flashlight and there's shiny gunky black stuff everywhere on the passenger side. valve covers is probably the first step, but there'll be several other little things.

also i just switched over to full synthetic (mobile 1 super syn 10w30) so i'm expecting that if the previous owner had used non-synthetic, i will see more leaks in places where seals were bad, but the old oil had gunked them shut.

 

[Guest]

that black rubber hose that goes over the metal hose which goes to the back of the engine in the pic - seems like that's where the smoke is coming from. what is that pipe for exactly?

seems like an oil or coolant line would leak a lot more liquid to produce that much smoke/vapor. think we're back to EGR?

 

[BoostAddctn]

that black rubber hose that goes over the metal hose which goes to the back of the engine in the pic - seems like that's where the smoke is coming from. what is that pipe for exactly?

seems like an oil or coolant line would leak a lot more liquid to produce that much smoke/vapor. think we're back to EGR?

Coolant man, aight peace

 

[Howie]

valve cover gasket, but bro please, use 20 50 next time you change oil

 

[Guest]

ok... could you explain why instead of just telling me what to do and expecting me to blindly follow along?

anyway, could someone tell me what the effects of an EGR leak would be?