Hi, further to the 1996 sti wagon I am considering buying, I have been told that it blew a breather pipe off causing the oil puddle underneath. This would sound ok, as none of the gauges read anything other than normal and the car was running fine when I switched it off, but I wanted to check with you more knowledgeable lot, just to see what you think. Is it possible I was just unlucky and the pipe blew due to age, or might you suspect something more serious? Any thoughts appreciated thanks. If I end up buying the car I'll be looking forward to meeting some of you!

 

Excessive crank case pressure could cause that which isn't good or maybe one of the breather hoses was blocked causing it to blow off ?

 

There is an aftermarket oil pressure gauge in there which was reading normal, so fingers crossed! Apparently its going into the garage tomorrow to be fixed and then I've got first refusal on it. Hopefully its just a blocked pipe, the clocks show 50k so not a huge mileage. Would excessive crankcase pressure point to head gasket on these cars?

 

As far as I'm aware,oil pressure has nothing to with it. With an oil pressure gauge showing normal,you could still have high crankcase pressure.

Excessive crankcase pressure is usually caused by worn piston rings/cylinder bores.

I had excessive crankcase pressure and it was caused by a cracked piston ring land

With the engine idling,remove the oil filler cap and see if you can feel a puffing with the beat of the engine and also maybe oil mist/smoke puffing from the filler.

That's exactly what I had and it turned out my engine was knackered,only had less than 15k miles on it aswell

 

Thanks for the tip, I will try that when I next see the car. Dont really want to walk away from it but have to listen to the alarm bells! Any info like this is much appreciated

 

could be knackered pcv causing boost pressure in the crankcase,or the pipe is just fuked and does not fit tight enough
failing that piston ring blow by are they getting compression checked while in the garage?

 

I doubt it, although it is possible. Its a car dealer rather than a private sale so I would imagine the plan is to get a new breather pipe on there and cross their fingers! But if it does turn out to be serious after I've bought the car at least I might have some comeback. If I buy, the first thing I'll do is a compression check before I put any mileage on it just to be safe. They are a fairly reputable dealer (if there is such a thing!)

 

Breathers should not be blowing enough oil out to leave a puddle should one come adrift..... i have all my breathers to a catch can and all i get when i empty it is water..... as suggested could very well be crancase pressurisation causing the oil to be blown out,would suggest a leak down test or a compression test at the very least,however much you would like this car you do not want an iminent rebuild,follow your head not your heart........

 

My thoughts exactly.

 

Good advice Rigga, I know there will be others for sale. It will be a shame if this isn't the one but I will go into it with my eyes open, I've picked up some good points here so tomorrow should bring some answers. Apparently its going into the garage tomorrow to be 'fixed'

 

My breathers all vent to atmos at ground level with no oil drips at all.

When I accidently blocked my breather vent tube the pressure did not blow the pipes off. Instead it blew oil past the turbo seals into the IC.

So I think the oil is from elsewhere.

Wayne.

 

If a breather tube gets blocked it can get blown off,depends how the pipes are secured

Something isn't right though if there is a large amount of oil getting blown out of the breathers !

 

Walk away. Find another scoob.

 

Sounds like a worn engine mate, walk away!

 

UPDATE:

They phoned today to say it actually turned out to be the oil pump mounting casing cracked and they are investigating further as to why it happened. This doesn't make much sense to me (mounting casing??) sounds like they mean either the oil pump housing or the engine block.
Agreed! been looking on autotrader there are one or two STI's but not very near. Kinda set my mind on one now as I was well impressed with the drive, trim, extra stuff etc. This car seems to just be ringing alarm bells so the search begins for a similar (good) one!