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by **BZG Wagon** » Fri Apr 15, 2011 10:19 pm

My 3sgte caldina has a faint smell of burnt oil coming from the air vent while stationary.

Only happens when the car is warmed up and completely stationary, with the the air set to 'fresh' (outside) & the fan on.

It doesn't appear to be losing / burning through oil (so I presume there's a small leak somewhere, finding it's way onto the exhaust?).

I can't for the life of me find where it's coming from. Can't smell anything under the bonnet, under the car, by the wheel arches etc. No leaks around the sump or oil filter. No drops of oil under the car.

Does anyone know where this might be coming from or where the air vent sucks air from? Are there any obvious places I should check first?

by **touge_ae101** » Fri Apr 15, 2011 10:39 pm

haven't got a catch can or venting the rocker cover to atmosphere by any chance?

by **Brawler** » Fri Apr 15, 2011 11:16 pm

Isnt that just like an old toyota smell?

OMG so shiny! · by **Dell'Orto** » Fri Apr 15, 2011 11:27 pm

Cam cover is probably weeping at the back, and its slowly seeping down onto the exhaust. Takes bugger all to make you notice the smell

by **BZG Wagon** » Fri Apr 15, 2011 11:41 pm

touge_ae101 wrote:haven't got a catch can or venting the rocker cover to atmosphere by any chance?

Nope. Engine is setup 100% factory (other than the extra lug on the manifold). Smell started randomly.

Dell'Orto wrote:Cam cover is probably weeping at the back, and its slowly seeping down onto the exhaust. Takes bugger all to make you notice the smell

I'll have a look tomorrow. Didn't notice anything leaking around there but I'll take off the intercooler for a better look.

Is the oil pressure sensor on the back of the engine? Do the seals on these often fail?

by **xsspeed** » Sat Apr 16, 2011 10:50 am

BZG Wagon wrote:Didn't notice anything leaking around there

It's a 3s, it WILL leak :lol:

by **Boosted_162** » Sat Apr 16, 2011 11:48 am

xsspeed wrote:
BZG Wagon wrote:Didn't notice anything leaking around there

It's a 3s, it WILL leak

Or if it doesnt, check the oil cos its probably empty :lol:

by **BZG Wagon** » Sat Apr 16, 2011 12:38 pm

LOL - where do 3s's 'normally' leak from?

Damn the back of the engine is hard to see down. There's a bit of oil around where the cam cover is, near the oil cap, but I can't tell whether it's leaking or just spillage from two decades of oil changes.

Might have to start pulling bits and pieces off the engine.

Oil on the dipstick hasn't moved even a tiny bit. No drops on the ground.

OMG so shiny! · by **Dell'Orto** » Sat Apr 16, 2011 1:28 pm

They usually leak from the back of the cam cover :lol:

by **iOnic** » Sat Apr 16, 2011 2:53 pm

Change your cabin filter

by **BZG Wagon** » Sun Apr 17, 2011 9:43 am

iOnic wrote:Change your cabin filter

Caldina's the age of mine don't have them.

by **RomanV** » Sun Apr 17, 2011 10:14 am

The air intake for the aircon etc comes from the rain drip tray thing in front of the windscreen.

does the caldina have a rubber strip that runs along the rear of the engine bay to seal it off?

by **BZG Wagon** » Sun Apr 17, 2011 9:35 pm

Dell'Orto wrote:They usually leak from the back of the cam cover

Hey... Spot on

It's leaking in the back corner near the throttle body. Seems to be a reasonable amount of oil coming out of there too.

Replacing the gasket - is this a straight forward & quick repair on a caldina? I'm thinking:
1) Take of I/C and other plumbing.
2) Unbold cam-cover.
3) Remove gasket - do I need it plained flat?
4) Replace cam cover - do I need to torque the bolts or do them up in any particular order?

..or should I give my local mechanic a call?

OMG so shiny! · by **Dell'Orto** » Sun Apr 17, 2011 10:14 pm

Easy done, no need to get it planed, the new gasket will be much softer than the old one so will mould to the head better. Maybe put a dab of RTV at each corner. Do the gen 4's still use those silly screws to bolt down the cam cover?

by **gt4dude** » Sun Apr 17, 2011 10:40 pm

I've owned 3 3s-fe vehicles, 1 3s-ge and 1 3s-gte. All 3 3s-fe's leaked out the back of the cam cover, none of the 3s-g*'s leaked there at all.

by **BZG Wagon** » Mon Apr 18, 2011 12:17 am

On closer look, the oil seems to be coming from a sensor feeding out of the engine. Back right hand side if you're standing at the front of the car. Above where the PCV breather line runs and the sensor is facing upwards, sitting just a fraction below the cam cover.

I think this might be the cam position sensor? It was soaked in oil what ever it was. Tried to clean the area so I could work out exactly where it was coming from, but there isn't enough room in there.

I'll take the intercooler and air box out when I get some time to get a better look.

by **BZG Wagon** » Wed Apr 20, 2011 8:06 am

Pulled the i/c & air intake off last night and cleaned as much oil as I could from around the engine, seals etc so I can work out where it's leaking from.

A coulpe interesting things:
1) Cyclinder #1 was filled up to the top of the spark plug with oil. It didn't look like it was running down from the gasket and I wonder if it was from when I spilt a fair amount of oil duing my last oil change. Plug looked good & & drained the oil out of there.
2) Cycliner #2 had a foul smell, was completely brown an burt on the inside and the coil was also brown and blistered. The plug was quite lose so I wonder if exhaust gasses were getting through somehow. The plug looked sweet though.

OMG so shiny! · by **Dell'Orto** » Wed Apr 20, 2011 7:52 pm

Unlikely to be from a spill, the boot should keep it fairly clear. Likely is the sparkplug seal leaking through.
Interesting #2 plug was loose...coils do break down, and its possible its been arcing out for a while.

by **BZG Wagon** » Wed Apr 20, 2011 9:56 pm

I'll keep an eye (or nose rather) out for it. It didn't smell at all today and I did a fair bit of driving. Hopefully now everything's clean it'll be easy to work out if oil is coming from somewhere.

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