oil, oil and more oil....
 

Hi gang...

Im dealing with a pesky oil leak. Its source is yet unknown, but im hoping someone can shed some light. The oil is pooling on the bottom of the transmission. ( ive attached a photo showing the basic lava flow path ) At first i thought it was the turbo drain pipe, but it wasn't that. Then i suspected the turbo itself, not that either. Today i removed the turbo and the shaft seems pretty tight. I also removed the manifold to replace a broken stud and gaskets. There was a small amount of oil in the intercooler pipes, but nothing major- and the car is definitely burning oil while sitting at idle. Maybe it IS time for a new turbo? lol.

Anyway.. the leak itself seems to be coming from above the passenger side axle input on the transmission, but i cant seem to find the source. I cleaned the turbo very well, and its remained clean- no oil drips.

Ive circled in red the major oil pathways/ leaks.

Any insight to all of these clues would be awesome.

Attachment 20688

Have you changed your PCV recently? I hadn't and all the pressure from a clogged PCV in addition to being a "Spirited Driver" led to me blowing a cam seal. It leaked all over my engine but initially, I noticed a similar oil path down the back of my engine.

+1

It looks like it is leaking from either the cam seal or it could be oil that has pooled under the spark plug cover and is pouring down the back of the engine now.

Interesting, the pcv is definitely on my need to do list. I've never done it...yet. If the oil was from the spark plug area, leaking down the back, I assume I would have seen a big mess when I had the manifold off.....?

Where is the cam seal located?

Update, Ive service my PVC and while i did feel that i got a small boost in perfomance, she is still leaking oil, and now burning it as well.

If i let the motor idle for any length of time a good amount of oil smoke will billow from the exhaust. At first i was thinking that the turbo seals could be leaking internally ( i had a friend who had that issue, but later needed a full head rebuild)

So... all that said, the symptoms are:

oil dripping from backside of engine
oil burning up in exhaust
oil in the intercooler piping ( enough to make the silicone saturated enough to let the boost pop off the couples once or twice)
general oil burning smell at idle
blow by from the oil filler cap, pooling up under that spark plug cover.

Any thoughts?

sooo no ideas?

What kind of oil is it? Engine or Trans? I would think that if the seal for your half shaft was leaking that any oil that left the trans and road that shaft out would be flung in every direction. Seems logical that the spot above the half shaft could easily get trans fluid from below. If its trans fluid then the PCV is not the cause. Looks like your going to need to determine what kind of fluid your dealing with.

1 sounds like too much crankcase pressure, which happens very often from the pvc system/ptc

2 Your having oil squirts from under the cap from pressure or bad cap
3 oil in the ic piping is from it working through the pvc and back into the intake. try making an oil catch to prevent this

4 the silicone shouldn't pop off unless your car is over boosting or the couplings aren't tight enough. check vacuum lines to turbo

5 oil would smell like it was being burned if its working through the intake into engine

Absolutely Engine oil, not tranny fluid.

- I did "Service" the PVC system, in that i removed all components, cleaned thoroughly and re assembled.

- Yes i believe im getting oil blowing past the oil filler cap ( i see some pooling around the spark plug boots)

3- Describe the oil catch idea, how do i do this?

4- I think it popped off from a combo of being a bit loose, oil in the IC piping helping to lube up the silicone and aluminum, and i do run high boost. All vac lines and rubber corners are new in the last year

5- I do smell burning oil at times.

Weird, once i came back up to cold Washington state, it quit "visibly" burning oil at idle. Not sure what thats all about.

Thanks!

- Grae