after a spirited night of driving, I think I have a problem. I am apparently leaking oil. I am pretty sure it is coming from the seam between the y-pipe & the pipe that goes into the smic. Could it (I am hoping this) simply be a gasket? are there other oil lines in this vicinity? I was able to drive the car home almost 30 miles w/o anything catistrophic happening, and it isn't leaking enough oil so that it is even hitting the ground, there is just a fine coating accross much of the passenger side of the engine bay. the oil pressure gauge in the car was acting normal, but I am not sure that really means anything... there were also a couple of instances where a puff of smoke would billow out of the area, though this only occured a couple of times unless I couldn't/didn't notice it when I was driving.

any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

That hose coupling a notorious spot for air leaks. There is some oil in the intake tract and it is probably being blown out with a bunch of air in that spot. Get some "constant torque" hose clamps (stays tight through heat cycles) and a new coupler (2.75" silicone, same size rubber from a big rig truck supply shop or NAPA auto parts, or get another stock coupling). That should fix the problem and prevent it from happening again. Your clamps might just be loose, or the hose may have a slit in it, as these are both common failures in that area. Or both -- most cars I have seen have loose hose clamps at least. If you can move the plastic pipe up and down by pushing and pulling on it, the clamps are loose.

-Max

 

I suppose I should have meantioned that I have an efini y-pipe huh? lol, it is late and I need to sleep... thanks for the response though

 

are you venting BOV to atmosphere?

 

I have the stock BOVs - with the free BOV mod where they no longer vent into the airbox - the PFS unit in my case

 

ok, I think I found the problem....
there is a small line that runs into the y-pipe that faces the drivers side of the car. I found the connection totally undone, and I am assuming this is an oil line??? this would explain why oil was only on that side of the car, almost a perfect arc extending from the open line....

anyone want to confirm this?

I will get a few pics up in a couple of min after the roommate returns from the video store.

 

No, there is no oil line connecting to the Y-pipe.

 

damn!
I was hoping this was going to be an easy fix....
could one of the seals on the y-pipe be responsible for the oil leak?
it is definatly something in that neck of the woods...

maybe it is time to go single... if I only had $4k -

 

your turbos are most likely blowing a little oil, and it's sneaking thru a gasket leak, or spit hose off the y-pipe.

 

ok, I know we are supposed to cycle a little oil through our turbos into our intercoolers etc, but that doesn't explain why I all of a sudden started getting puffs of smoke coming out of my engine bay. this all started last night...

what lines run oil in this neck of the woods? (I am attaching some pics, so if anyone out there can throw a couple arrows on them, it would be greatly appreciated.

 

pic of my lower y-pipe gasket... i think this guy might be the problem... there is a lot of oil/gunk in that neck of the woods.

 

finally a pic of the whole area - again, if anyone can throw a couple of arrows on the pic and point me in the right direction, I would be most appreciatiave.

 

marked in green

 

you rock!
that is exactly what I was looking for!
anything I should look for in particular when looking for possible leaks?

thanks again ISUposs