ok, agian on one of my restless nights I decided to open up the hood and check around in the car. I removed the battery and the tray and again saw the horrible sight of some rust on the car from apparently when the previous owner had a battery go on him. Anyway, what I also saw was that the drivers side of the engine was coated in a light layer of oil. It looked to be new and not much but I wanted to check with you guys to see if this had happened before. Thanks

 

at the battery tray that will happen. Usually just surface rust and isnt' a big deal.

just wash your car and find out where it's coming from. If it's an easy fix go for it.......but i wouldn't get too bent out of shape over a small leak.

 

is there any chance you have a boost leak and you have some oil blowing down through a coupler or something? You said a thin layer all over like it had been sprayed on. Or is it a drip from somewhere

 

cool, I thought I would check with you guys first. Yea, the oil is on the block but I havent noticed any real drop in oil levels...just curious about it...thanks for the comment though.

 

that could be possible. I do have a big boost leak (4psi), it is pretty evenly spread on the block

 

You have a oil leak. Keep an eye on your oil leve. Oil is the blood of the motor without it it wont run. Dont trust you dummy light and your oil pressure guage will not tell you when you are low on oil. This somthing that always needs to manualy checked.

 

what should I use to clean the block well enough to see where the leak is comming from? The leak starts about midway through the top pully and down and nothing higher

 

GUNK engine cleaner/degreaser or gasoline, both need to be applied on a cold motor (duh). and scrubbed heavily. Avoid any wires and cables and then when you are done scrubbing spray with a water hose. If gasoline is used, then make sure to get all of the gasoline cleaned out. IMHO gasoline works far better than all the special cleaning products.

 

Was it clean oil? It could be spill from the last oil refill.

Dave

 

yeah, it was petty clean, aside from some road grime

 

Are you on your original turbos? If you are pushing a decent amount of oil through your intake tract, it could be leaking out of the seam between your throttle body and elbow. This would coat the entire driver's side of the motor. Also check around the base of the oil filter housing and oil filler neck.

 

thanks rich.....Iwill check that today...I am on origional turbos still. Time to pull out the digital camera

 

Is your AWS hose disconnected and unplugged?? At start up It'll produce a fine oil mist that will accumulate within time.

 

not that I know of...coudl you tell me where it is? I am learning as I go here....

 

Stupid question- what's an AWS hose ?
Joe

 

It's the hose, about 3/4 inch diameter that's connected (..or should be...) to the back of your stock plastic Compression Tube ( CT is the elbow that's attached to the TB).

 

gotcha, I will check that one out when I get back tonite...thanks arex...you are a big help gonna check those actuator rods today as well...can I check to see if they are loose from the top? or is there too much in the way

 

To get a good look and feel from the top, you'll have to remove the Intake hoses/pipes. And even then, the bolts (13MM!!! ) will be a bonified biotch to get to. It's probably easier to lift the car and check from underneath. Let us know waht you find.

 

will do, they are on the passengers side of the downpipe correct?

 

Gotcha- thanks .
Joe

 

Affirmative. Once you get underneath, you'll see the rods(2). One connects to the Turbo Wastegate and the other to the Pre-Control gate via small c-clips. Just follow the rods to the front of the car until you'll see or feel the actuators. They bolt on to the Primary Turbo and are suppose to be bolted on tight.

 

Here's a photo that clearly shows Actuator location....

 

I have the same kind of oil leak on my car right now. I've been getting under the car and retorquing the oil pan bolts and motor mount bolts and couldn't figure out where it was coming from. I've had to add a decent amount of oil lately. I checked it out again today right after I added oil. It was coming from the filler neck joint. I replaced the rubber o-ring that goes in this joint, but I think I remember the joint not going together as tightly as it used to when I rebuilt my motor. I'll check it out later when I pull the manifolds and accessories to do all my polishing this fall. I think oil sits in that angle and leaks down right after its filled and then pushes out everytime the crank case vents on the way towards the catch can hose.

 

ok as to the two problems
1.) The oil- I checked the hose and its on there tight, no sign of leaking from it. I also checked the oil filter and it seemed to be tight and there was no oil on the plug wires. A better description of where the oil is located is that it is directly under the power steering resivoir. I do not notice any oil on the ground where the car is parked so I am guessing it must be a very fine mist and not a drip.
2.) The rods- I checked both of the rods. I pulled the upper intake pipe and the crv pipe and used a undone coat hanger to reach down and pull on the rods. I noticed not movement what so ever in them. But in this process I did notice two things. 1.) There was a little bit of oil deposit in the crv hose after the valve itself but not much. 2.) There was a small deposit of oil right after the first bend of the Y pipe but I could not visably see any cracks.

 

checked around the oil filler and couldnt find the leak there. I took some pics of the area. The last one is of the y pipe.