Had my first Scoob nearly two weeks now, but this is the first nite i've driven it when its really cold.

Made the short (< 2miles) trip from my girlfriends, got to my house and pulled onto the drive. I always park with the front bumper almost touching the bay window, to tuck the back in onto the drive properly. In the PIR floodlight i could see the usual shedloads of steam from the exhaust, but then i noticed steam from the front??!!!

It was coming from down the very front, not the scoop. A bit un-nerving as i've never had a performance car beore. Hoping my radiator/coolant pipes or something arent fecked...

I'd driven home off-boost as car wasn't up to temp.

Is it normal?


Andy

Will be a leak.
If it is minor usually powerstearing fluid. You can usually smell it. Drops on to the exhaust.
Could be oil or coolant.
Check it for leaks in the morning
Steve

Well, nothing on the drive this morning and no steam from the front of the car.

So i drove about 1mile and then checked it again... nothing. Bonnet up... nothing. All levels are fine.

I'll see what happens tonight, and have the bonnet up there and then if it does it again..


Cheers

Andy

Might be some drops of oil on the Exhaust manifold. Check the drivers side rocker cover for oily patches. Rocker bolts tend to need new rubber seals on some of the older cars. The smoke will come from the drivers side of the bonnet, the vents or the radiator grill depending on which way the wind is blowing.

Mine does the same occasionally. The oil pressure is high when the car is cold so some oil may leak out from the bolt rubbers. This drips only to exhaust and once the car is heated up it burns off. I only notice it if i stop the car after a few miles (once it's warmed up) or if i've been hammering it and the oil pressure has been kept high for any length of time. I've been checking my oil level a lot and i haven't noticed it drop at all. Just seems to drip the odd drop or two which is enough to cause plenty of smoke. I replaced one of the bolt rubbers last week and never and it helped but i never though that there might have been more than one leaking.... i'll be back under the bonnet to do the other leaking one this weekend. :rolleyes:

Check your exhaust manifold under the driver side rocker cover for burnt oil marks. If it's oily the don't worry cuz it's an easy fix. Just get new rubber washers for the bolts. Even if it's the gasket itself it's still a cheap fix that you could do yourself.

maybe just water got onto your rad. rad gets hot and the water evaporates. Maybe this is all it was?

i get that smell aswell, (93wrx) but mine is defo' power sterring fluid dropping onto the exhaust, ...good bit of info about cover bolts tho' cos i get a bit of oil round them to.

I had steam comming from front at one stage, turned out to be the small Air-con radiator ...needless to say its still there, but with no water in it.

Frank

I got this too a few weeks ago and recently it's been smelling of burning oil when I park up after a thrash but no oil on drive and level not going down. I do however have quite an oily patch on the coolant tank on the drivers side and all the wiring connectors are a bit black. Will have to investigate a bit more this weekend.

were the rods wet at the time , did you go through standing water , can get my evo t d it in traffic if i spray intercooler/rad ....

Cheers for comments. I'll go and have a nose under the bonnet when it stops raining!


Andy

Evo kid: No i did try to think back incase it was that but thats why i got concerned. Can't see any rogue oil...

I'll keep an eye on it.

Andy

redwrx
Those powerstearing reseviours on early cars are a bad design and tend to leak. They chanaged the design on laters cars. So worth replacing when you get the chance. Also heard that legacy reseviours also fit.
Best wishes
Steve