Rikki 95WRX

Took my car out and gave it quite a hard drive today and could smell something a little funny. Opened the bonnet and there was smoke rising from the engine - enough so that when i closed the bonnet it was visible coming through the cracks. I couldn't pinpoint where it was coming from though.

Any idea what it could be and how serious it could be? The car feels fine to drive.

PS I did have it serviced about a month ago and had the brake lines/fluid done at the same time. The first time I drove it after this it smoke and the guy said it was oil residue burning but that was month ago. I am wondering if it is anything to do with the brakes. I seem to be getting fade after several hard brakes - braided hoses, Dot 5.1 fluid,Tarox disks, Red stuff front, Green stuff rear?

I'm worried

RON

Could be that you've got a very slight leak on one of the brake pipes, that might be squirting fluid somewhere warm, hance not only the smoke but also the dicky brake pedal feel, get it looked at, or at least check the brake fluid
Ron
ps, are you sure your car doesn't have abs?

duczz

Haha I know where your coming from! Just the other day after a few hours messing around under the bonnet I got to the first set of traffic lights to find smoke rising up and out of my scoop! the initial reaction was oh my god what have I forgotten to tighten up ... but after an emergency stop in the nearest carpark it all turned out to be the CRC I had sprayed on some of the nuts I was removing.. hopefully your problem will be as minor.. If I was you id be keeping a careful eye on your temps and pressure's and also give the engine bay a through going over for possible leaks! .. Good Luck

Rikki 95WRX

OK thanks guys. I am 'hoping' it may be something to do with the brakes as like you say the two problems seem to be concurrent.

I have put a post in Wheels/Tyres/Brakes about the brake problem and will see what response I get in there.

Thanks again
Rikki

Pete Croney

Sounds like rocker gaskets to me.

Mark A

iTrader: (1)

I agree with PC this happened to mine, not a problem poot-a-ling about but open her up and then stop I thought the thing was on fire. Had the gasket changed/sealed and it stopped.

Interestingly its started to do it again (v-slightly) after its service any ideas why ?

Is this a sign of worn pistons, ie incresed crankcase pressure ?

BW Mark

stevejohnson511

Iused to have a 95 WRX,mostly ater long runs i would get smoke rising up from passenger side of engine, around turbo area.It
turned out to be rocker gasket, as Pete said. You get a slight trickle of oil from it that drops on to the heat shield then burns off.
Steve.

Rikki 95WRX

Thank you guys.

Is this:

a) harmful to the vehicle to continue driving?

b) expensive to repair?

Regards
Rikki

stevejohnson511

If its your rocker gasket leaking its OK to drive as long as you keep your oil topped up.Its not that expensive to repair,I did mine myself took about an hour and parts were £20-£30 though cant remember exactly.That was only one side,as other side was still OK.
steve

Rikki 95WRX

Is there any way I can determine that this IS the problem?

dave fairhurst

Rikki

Are you sure it isn't the power steering fluid overflowing when it got hot? Those MY95 pumps are well known for seeping fluid from the reservior when you've done a thrash and got the fluid really hot. Does it smell rank? Have a look and see if there is any sign of fluid around the pump and engine block underneath it. Higher grade of fluid normally sorts it.

Dave

stevejohnson511

firstly you should eliminate the brakes.They have a small fluid
resevoir so any leaks ,the level will go down.Water leaks will
smell of anti freeze plus check water level.If its oil it will have a burning rubber type smell.take the car for a good run
leave the engine running open the bonnet and see if the smoke is comming from either side of the engine from low down.If it is turn off engine and look down between inner wing and engine at exhaust
heat sheilds to see either oil or burned black deposits.If you look carefully you will be able to see smoke comming off the heat sheild.Be careful its hot.
Steve.

Rikki 95WRX

Power Steering has been whining actually Dave when turning at low speeds.

The smoke definitely smells a little nasty - a bit like burnt rubber. Could it be that the brake fluid is boiling and escaping somewhere and giving off the smoke?

Thanks again for the advice guys

Mark A

iTrader: (1)

With mine you could see black oil on the exhaust up pipe & black oil mess on the edge of the rocker cover. Run some paper along the bottom edge of both cam covers and compare.
I'd be a bit worried had my brake fluid boiled over. I would think this would only happen if you took it to a track and by the time it boiled over the brakes would have failed(vapour lock).

BW Mark

Rikki 95WRX

OK Update....Took the car out for a good, hard spin this morning.

The brake problem is still there but only happens after hard fast driving and stops and therefore coincides with the smoke that i think is coming from the engine. My gut feeling is that the brake and smoke problem are not related.

When my brakes went spongy this morning, I stopped and got out. There was a miniscule amount of smoke coming from the offside front disc.

Then I opened the bonnet and the smoke came rising out. I tried to pinpoint it.

It was coming from the drivers side of the engine from low down. I can't be sure if it was coming from the heat shield (which had black deposits on) but it appeared to actually be coming out of the side of the engine somewhere - kind of like steam coming out of a kettle.

Any more thoughts?

(I will try and borrow the gf's digital camera later and post a pic)

I am going to go and check the oil/brake fluid level now.


[Edited by Rikki 95WRX - 3/16/2002 9:55:57 AM]

Steve Whitehorn

iTrader: (13)

As mentioned earlier
Power stearing reseviour design on early WRX very poor and tends to leak onto to the exhaust - hence nasty buring smell from drivers side. Very common problem. There is a newer design about which is fitted to my WRX and this has solved the problem. Apparently legacy reseviours also fit the scoob.
Hope you get it sorted
Cheers
Steve

Pete Croney

Rikki

You have been worrying about this for two weeks now.

Take the car out for another good drive, in the direction of someone that can give you some expert advise.

Smoke is burning oil. If there is enough of the oil getting out, be it from the rocker gasket or power steering, it will catch fire.

Get it checked out mate.

Luke

2 Things to quickly test!! It could bee a crank seal. Do you have oil on the little pipe that runs above exhaust.. Open hood look behind rad, straight down?????

If it is steam check rad resevoir Hose pipes. They can break away... Give them a little wobble to see.(Take hoses off first)

Be lucky

Rikki 95WRX

Pete

I will in time. I am just trying to ascertain exactly what it is because I can't afford to have any major work done at the moment as I have various debts to pay off.

Also, if I came to you I know I'd leave with a new Down-Pipe fitted, which i definitely can't afford ATM.

I checked the oil level it is fine.

May be a stupid question - why is there two reservoirs that say to fill them with Dot 3 brake fluid. One is larger near where there steering column would come through to the engine bay and one is smaller to the right of this. I thought one might be the Power Steering reservoir but this was another one still. I opened the larger one because I couldn't tell how much was in it and some spilled out because it was so full - I hope this won't do any damage. (It was over the Max mark whatever it is).

There was quite a lot of oil, still quite moist, covering the right side of the engine, which is where the smoke seemed to come from.

Perhaps I'll take a trip to you next month Pete. I'll post a pic of area during week also.

COMPUCOLIN

I have same problem on MY99. Think its oil but levels for all fluids are ok. Am getting it serviced and checked tomorrow.
Only been happening for 3 months since new engine and turbo.
Very light oil like smoke from drivers front lower side of
engine. Looking through gap you can see a heat shield and
spark plug top/lead thing..will post if anythings found..

Richard Curtis

I've had a similar thing on my legacy with the crank seal (as luke suggests).

It was fine when cold but after a run would leak oil and when hot would burn on manifold at front of engine giving smoke.

Does it drip oil when warm? (not after a thrash) leave engine running and check underneath.

Mine was a bugger to find (took dealer two attempts - they had to run engine without cam covers to see where oil was coming from), the parts only a couple of quid but ususally needs cambelt off to get at it.

Rich

Rikki 95WRX

I took some pics last night and will post them later.

Luke

If it is a crankseal.. Make sure you ghange cam belt. The leaking oil can do it some harm. This advice was given to me And I agreed to have it done by Steve Lawson.

COMPUCOLIN

Mine has done it since subaru dealer replaced the engine 3 months ago. Probably not tightened something enough...we will see. Am in an automatic Legacy courtesy car...at moment..buying a pipe later...

DAVE26

aint no doubt m8, id be taking that back to the guys that serviced it, i wouldnt take no **** *** service like that, we pay good money to keep our babys running sweet and look at the **** jobs they do

take it back m8.
let them put it right.

Rikki 95WRX

You can see from this pic how oily the side of the engine is. Smoke appeared to be coming from below the far coil pack which is just visible...Any more ideas before I get round to taking it somewhere?

Luke

My crank seal idea has just gone out of the window!!!! Clean it off and find the source.

Rikki 95WRX

If smoke (oil) was shooting out from down low, would it cover the engine in this fashion or does this look like it has dripped out from above and coated the area below?

Pete (C) - do you know how much roughly it would be for a rocker gasket to be replaced (very roughly)? (email me if you like - rlovelock23@aol.com for today).

Thanks
Rikki

Mark A

iTrader: (1)

Are you sure the small black box under the power steer res is not damaged or loose, this is part of the breathing circuit.
Otherwise I still recon that the rocker cover is leaking at the top.

Mark A

Sieze

Get a can of degreaser spray...clean the engine...run it... and find the leak. You have been given some very good advice and the likely causes allready. The truth is we don't know why it is leaking....you have to look.
Because the exhaust manifolds are at the bottom of the engine any leaking will drip on the hot manifold causing smoke. I think its about one to two hours laboour to change a rocker cover and replace the gasket (the gaskets don't cost much). Hope this inspires you ..! GET IT SORTED..