At 10:10 AM 2/7/2002 -0600, you wrote:
>As for the exhaust-ish smell emanating from the front of the
>car: My mechanic tightened a loose bolt on the exhaust manifold,
>and that seems to have helped. But there's still something foul
>happening under the hood (nothing visibly dripping on the exhaust
>manifold though). After I've gathered some more evidence, I'll
>post another question here about it.
Tim. Does the smell tend to occur after a relatively hard cornering or
stopping? If so, small quantity of oil probably accumulates in the valve
cover ridge, and when you turn, it spills over on the manifold. The
manifold is so hot (hottest external part of the engine, DO NOT TOUCH IT!)
that the oil will burn very rapidly, and will not leave any traces
whatsoever. This happens a lot on my green sedan which needs new valve
cover gaskets (will not mess with it till I decide to also replace the
valve stems to eliminate the start up smoke). This is annoying and
embarrassing, but its not too harmful to you and no harmful to the car at
all. The oil burning smell is quite different from exhaust, so you may be
able to tell. You could even spill some oil from your dipstick on the
manifold when the engine is hot, and compare the smells. There is a
possibility though that there is indeed an exhaust leak. If that is the
case, you are more likely to smell it after a hard full throttle
acceleration (that does not involve braking or turning!). Also, the smell
will be similar to the smell at the exhaust pipes, especially when the
choke is on and the mixture is rich (just like it is at WOT). Hope that
can help you identify the source.
D^2, 2x68, both hot-rod looking and sounding dual exhaust
Back to the Home of the Forward Look Network