Oily Mess!

[cipher93]

There is a bit of a story here, so hang with me: I've thought for awhile my car has leaking valve guides/steam seals due to it smoking a bit on start up and using some oil (quart/1000 miles). No big deal right?

A few days ago I was out driving, and went to accelerate. Car hesitated a bit and I noticed for the rest of the drive the engine sounded a little flat. Given as I had just gone over rail road tracks and I've had a rusty baffle in my muffler for awhile now I figured it had just broken free. The flat sound didn't go away, and while the power seems to be there it's using more fuel.

Fast forward to a couple days ago. I get the car and start it and notice a burning smell. Not an oil burning smell, but like something rubber or a gasket burning. This goes on for about 10 seconds. I get out, look around, see nothing, drive it. Get home and let it sit for a bit before going to check my oil before going to an appointment. I check it and it's really low (still above the L) despite having just checked it and had it nearly full last week.

I start looking around and oil is EVERYWHERE under the car. It's over the front right (Transmission) side of the crank case, the bottom right side of the crank case, the bottom left side of the transmission, the plate that separates the transmission from the motor, the differential housing, and the right rear side of the motor, and along the support in the middle of the engine. Left rear (belt) side of the motor is dry aside from some normal seepage at one spot. Front left has a little on it but that's probably just left over from oil changes.

I've checked the oil filter and it's tight. Fired up the car and revved it gently a few times, nothing. Let it idle, nothing. I can't see anything leaking or spraying at all. Then yesterday I'm driving it and idling for some time at a stop, and I can see puffs of smoke in the headlights of the car behind me and faintly smell oil burning. While driving it doesn't seem to be emitting smoke, but the wind could be taking care of it and it was raining to boot. The day before I saw nothing however. No spots in the driveway either, and the oil that was on it was mostly caked on with dirt, with just a small bit running down the center support under the engine.

I was going to get under it and try to clean it up to find the source of the leak before taking it to my mechanic. I can't imagine my oil pan gasket would just fail like that and spray everywhere. Valve cover is leaking no more than it's normal bit of seepage. Drain plug, oil cap, and dip stick are tight. I can't imagine it's leaking out of the oil pump or pressure sender and not some how getting on the back left side of the engine. The burning smell is there every cold start. It's hard to tell but I don't see it leaving spots when I drive it

The transmission always did have a little oil around the border of the metal plate that is where it seals to the engine, but I assumed this was left over from another mishap in the past. Any thoughts on what this leak could be?

EDIT: Cleaning this is an effort in futility However, to add details, the oil does not appear to have extended past the firewall/engine bay on the under side of the car, and the oil on the diff is limited to the left (passenger axle) side of it.

[Smokinsoljah]

Would also like to hear some suggestions. I'm going through the same situation. Oil everywhere, yet no visible culprit. I do know my cv is going but it's not grease. It's oil.

[speedy25]

Its not rocket science. Clean it and watch for leaks more closely. You can also get additives for UV leak detection but that costs money.

-SP

[cipher93]

No puddles... using about a quart/300 miles still. Not smoking really heavily either. Got under it again and still couldn't find a conclusive source for the leak. There was some gunky sludge around a machined hole on the transmission/bell housing above the center support but nothing that said to me it was the point it was leaking from. I now know for certain it is not the oil pan, oil pump housing, or anything on the belt side of the engine. It is exclusively from around where the transmission meets the engine. the burning smell on start up went away too. Tried some STP oil treatment, and it seems to have slowed down the usage a little bit.

I'm almost wondering if the oil around the bell housing is unrelated to the real issue, and might have been some phenomenon related to a serious temp change affecting a gasket. Probably wishful thinking but I have been completely unable to replicate a leak in that area of the car.

Looking at the plugs they all had some white soot on them, but the deposits were not excessive or heavily built up. Cylinders 1 and 2 were worse than 3 and 4. The soot was concentrated on one side of the plugs. The center electrode seemed to have excessive wear for only around 10-15k on them, but they were Denso Platinum Twin Tips where it's smaller anyway, so it's hard to tell. Cleaned them, adjusted the gap, reinstalled Will do a compression check later, but I was really hoping to gleam something more from the plug's condition.

I'll get my mechanic to use his experience, and take a look at it when I get it inspected next month. It's also running a little flat now again, and using a LOT more fuel (around 125 miles/half a tank). Honestly at this point I'm hoping to get as much as I can out of this thing, as either way I'm probably looking at an expensive fix.

As for UV Dyes, what am I looking for? Do I have to get it specifically for motor oil or can I use a generalized UV dye for any liquid? I saw a brand of engine stop leak stuff that included a separate bottle of UV Dye, but I didn't want to spend $7 just for dye on top of needing a black light.

Are there any test kits/strips for motor oil for at home use at there that might help me figure this out?

[ganda1f]

Could it be crankshaft oil seal at the flywheel? I cannot think of anything else that could leak engine oil in that area.

[cipher93]

Wherever it is, it's stopped. 350 miles and leakage is at a minimum since adding the STP. Really puzzling how it could go from that much usage to virtually nothing, but if it keeps it in check until I can get a pro to look at it. My MPGs are in the toilet though, less 23mpg or less, some of which is due to needing to switch to E10 (no more stations with convention here). I've been unable to borrow a compression tester lately, probably will just try and find one at Harbor Freight given I won't use it much. If compression is still good, that SHOULD rule out the top end/any rings and allow me to focus on that seal between the motor and transmission.

[ganda1f]

Compression test won't tell you much in this case. It is useful when you want to check which cylinder pretty much lacks compression altogether. A leak-down test is much better to determine if you have sticky rings and/or other problems. I am sure someone experienced with this test can provide the percentage numbers for pressure drop and what kind of trouble they indicate.

That said, your valve stem seals are more than likely hard as rock by now (if original that is) and cause some of the oil consumption.

I do not think the leak can have anything to do with compression and/or valve stem seals though. Only place the oil can leak from the top is valve cover seal and distributor seal. And I doubt it could be in such huge quantity.