Rite, only 3 days of owner ship and I have an oil leak (I think) open the bonnet on the left hand side (drivers side) burning oil, smoke rising from under the turbo and under the spark plug area... now I cant see jack all down there, any ideas what it could be, got underneath the car but the b00dy sump guards there too

Can also smell it insude the cabin when I have the heater blowing

I have no idea how this flat 4 thing works so would I be right in saying the car has if you like 2x rocker covers, 1 each side ???? could it be 1 of them??? Id GUESS its leaking from near the bottom of the engine bay and something hot (manifold?) is burning it???

bl00dy typical, could have gone t!ts up some other time and waited for this weekend to be over, bank holiday weekend and its giving me grief already

any advice would be greatly appriciated

Dave

 

Sounds absolutely typical of a driver's side rocker cover leak. The smell is from oil getting onto the hot exhaust.

Don't worry about it, as it's a cheap thing to fix - easy to DIY if you're in to that sort of thing. The bits cost about £20 to £30 per side. You need the rocker gasket, 2 spark plug gaskets, a tube of 3-bond sealant and up to 6 (I think) of the bolt seals. You possibly need 2 half moon seals, but if they're not leaking I wouldn't disturb them. (You'll understand much better when you see inside the bonnet again)

Mine leaked for 6 months before I did anything about it...

It may be worth checking the PCV valve thingy in case the oil pressure is too high and it's going to pop lots of seals.

 

Dave

As dnb said rocker cover gasket. ( No big problem. ) Just keep an eye on your oil level.

Enjoy your Bank Holiday Weekend.

Red.

 

thank **** for that

cheers for that guys, I suspected it was something as simple as that, I do alot of DIY on a reno 5 engine but its obviously alot simpler lay out that this flat 4 thing. didnt think it'd need so many things replacing for a rocker cover, I'll check the oil level at dinner after its settled, I think I might get it booked into the dealers, bet they want the best part of a ton to do it though, could get them to look at 1 or 2 other things though whilst its in.

cheers again for the help. dont knwo owt about the second problem do you??? the other thread I started

cheeky I know but thanks again

 

When you get to know where everything is, the Scoob engine is nice to work on. Mine's not seen a dealer in at least 3 years (and only seen a "real" mechanic once in that time for a clutch change)

I've not heard a cambelt squeak - unless the tensioner is giving up? Have you checked the altenator and aircon drive belts & pulleys?

 

Hope so cause I dont mind working on cars its fun esspecially when the weather is nice

where is the alternator belt, it was the first thing I expected it too be tbh but when I opened the bonnet the cam belt at the front of the engine was the obvious culprit

 

You can't see the cambelt (timing belt), as there are the black cam covers in the way. The altenator drive belt is however easily visible. It's relativly short, and goes round the altenator - top of the engine, front centre, the PAS pump (driver's side) and the crank pully (obvious where this is!!)

A turbo Impreza cam belt (or timing belt if that's what you call them - there are sometimes regional language differences) is quite a thing - it's a couple of metres long!

 

Dave,

The flat 4 means that the pistons are lying on their sides, 2 on the left and 2 on the right, hence 2 rocker covers.

On most cars the pistons are vertical.

Red.

 

thanks for trying to explain that mate although I did actually gather that hence why I said I presume it has 2 rocker covers was hoping some1 would confirm it though. a traditional engine (well going off my R5 anyhow) would have the spark plugs in the block/head where as the scoob am I right in saying where the spark plugs are located is in the rocker cover as it was??? is that right.

is the scoob an Overhead cam??? after thinking about it Id hazard a guess as it being NOT if the spark plugs are in the rocker cover. is that right?

again thanks for the help lads, its good to learn a thing or 2 about the cars.

If I bought a haynes manual for it does it cover the turbo models very well or not?

 

There is a cam on either side of the spark plugs under the rocker cover

 

It's twin OHC (per side). Since it's a flat 4, then they're not really physically over head, as the whole thing is on it's side.