Well I've been having this problem for a couple months now so its nothing new. Everytime I put the car in gear going downhill OR when I drive the car real hard it smells like burning oil or something. When I drive normal or when I put the car in neutral going downhill it's ok. Is it the engine or tranny??? A couple months ago my car would drop RPMs real quick when I would engage or disengage the clutch but it wouldn't affect the engine. For example i could press the clutch at idle to a certain point where it'd drop to 0...then I'd rev it up like normal and it would still stay at 0 rpm until i let off the clutch or press it in. I thought it was my clutch so i got it changed - but still the same. Under the car there is a leak of something...there's fluid all over the bottom of the tranny. Car still drives OK - a little shakey stutter somethimes when i get outta first but it's ok. This has been going on with no major complications for a couple of months. I think maybe the burning smell, leak and the wierd rpm thing might be related..ya think?? If I can't figure it out I'm just gonna have Satan diagnos. thanks

Alvin

biggidy bump

I got a burning smell when I drive it hard.I think it's just the external wastegate.

I don't think it s the wastegate cuz I have that bitch tightened all the way

ALvin

Get under the car and look for oil leaks. Look at the underside of the hood for oil splatters. Look at the air intake filter or wherever you have the crankcase breather routed to.

I've had good oil leaks coming from the crankcase breather, head gasket (check the backside of the block too), turbo oil return line, oil filter, and valve cover. Most turbo guys I talk to say "get used to the smell"... not that I really buy that, but there you go.

Dan Green

Well there's no oil on the hood and I think my breather is coo, none round the valve cover. I think there might be one at the backside of the block but I can't really see there. I think my drivetrain is going bad cuz I see a drips at the very bottom of the tranny...tranny fluid?? Where could it be leaking at? thanks everyone

alvin

Someone correct me if I'm wrong but,even if the wastegate is tightened down,it's just that,an external wastegate.It's still gonna dump into open air.Although you probably have a different problem though.

Correct and correct. If he has the star wastegate and its not plumbed back into the downpipe everytime its run hard you'll smell the fumes. I've even had smoke from it in my interior on a few occasions. I think his problem is just a leak but he has to be smelling the wastegate exhaust as well.

ok i have all the same stuff.

as for the oil smell, when any car gets turboed u are gonna burn more oil..no matter what, just a by product of having it. when u burn more oil, especially under boost, you will smell it and in your case, as in mine, when the wastegate opens it just makes it that much easier to smell. Thats the reason for the smell, its not a leak, i'd consider it normal.

as for the oil on the bottom of tranny, its not motor oil, and its probably not leaking onto the ground, that would be the manual gear fluid. it leaks slowly from the seals around the output yokes coming out of the tranny down to the bottom of the tranny itself. mine's done this for the last 50000 miles. i just change my transaxle fluid once a year and make sure its at the right level.

i wouldn't worry about it until you start seeing white smoke out the exhaust, puddles of oil under the car, or severly oil fouled plugs.
don;t worry til then:)

mark

Hey guys, I get this smell too and have been kind of worried about it. I also notice a small amount of oil around the tube coming out from the passenger side of the valve cover. I posted about it a while back but got no responses. I'm assuming this is just a little normal blow-by, and will be resolved when I get the howell bottom end installed...con someone confirm this for me?

TIA

You can still get blow by on a rebuild. You might or might not. Depends on the build, clerances, etc. I get some, but not much.

Well my wastegate is plumbed back into the downpipe so the smell would not be the exhaust fumes. I think my tranny seals or something to do with the driveline is leaking out tranny fluid...damn I'm probably gonna have satan take a looky

ALvin

you shouldn't have any oil leaking out of the valve cover. pcv should releave that, its probably just the valve cover gasket. you can get the oem gasket and spark plug well gaskets for 35 bucks from satan. just clean up the surface with brake cleaner and squirt some blue goo at the bottom of the rise for the cam caps.

mark

I'll add a valve cover gasket to "the list". How about a PCV valve, should I look into a new one?