Hi
I have a year 2000 forester s turbo
Recently drove it and noticed a smell of burning, looked under bonnet and coming up just behind the water filler cap were small amounts of smoke. It seemed to be coming from the gap between the exhaust and the water filler tank on the left of engine bay near the back
It did stop after a couple of minutes, on just running engine nothing came back but when i actually drove it it was there again.
Can't decide wether it smells like rubber or oil
just hoping its a small amount of oil getting on exhaust
Are there any belts around that area?. (no squeeling noises)
Just a little worried as am about to drive this to france next week
Could it be anything to do with the turbo as it only came back when I drove it again
Thanks

 

You need to get it checked out mate as if it has a oil leak it could rear it's ugly head and leave you stranded at the side of the road, or worse still cause a engine bay fire!

 

I had similar with my car and thought it was the dreaded headgasket but it turned out to be the CV boots had split.
Hope that helps

 

Chances are its the rocker cover gasket dripping oil onto the exhaust causing smoke to rise out of the bonnet, Have a look with a torch, standing at the drivers side look down to the bottom/ side of the engine for signs of oil

 

Hi Yes I have had a look there is a small amount of oil underneath the plug caps and sat on a metal lip near the base of the engine

 

Is there any chance you can get a photo of it?
It would help with the diagnosis.

 

Will take engine protector off today and take it for a run and have a proper look

 

Buy rocker gasket kit and sealant. Include washers for bolts and gaskets for holes were sparkplugs go. 99.9% thats what it is. Camskill do a kit I think, certainly get them on ebay.

Cheap and not very hard to do, but do it properly first time or you WILL have to do it again.

 

Thanks yes I have taken shield off and there is small amount of oil around edge of rocker cover. I can see where it has dripped onto exhaust cover. There was only a small amount, have nipped all the bolts up a little am not using any oil so will keep my eye on it and replace if it starts again thanks a lot for all your advice. Cheers tony