Burnt Oil Smell in Cabin
 

Hello all, I am smelling burnt oil in my cabin, only when Im stopped at a red light. If I close the fresh air to recirculate I smell nothing. I dont have any oil spot in the driveway at all. I dont even see where the oil is running from. Any suggestions?

Check the passenger side CV boot.

Look for drips on up pipe.

I have same problem, check passenger side valve cover, it drips right down onto manifold and burns off before it will hit the ground. That is more than likely where your leak is from, and or the oil cooler.

Yep, what he said.

These cars are known for that.

Check this forum, lot's of talk about this recently.

+1 for the oil return hose on the bottom of the turbo... mine looked like this. After I removed it to clean it up, it leaked more. Replacing it this weekend.
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8340/8...ccc4d4ee22.jpg

You have to pull the turbo to get at it, but the replacement part is around $10.

To make it easier to install the turbo, pick up 5 bolts that hold the up pipe bracket to the block. Use them in place of the studs on the up pipe.

You can thank later.

Makes lining up everything much easier.

Use anti-seize compound on all the nuts and bolts.

Or it could be that the passenger side CV boot closest to the engine has ripped open and throwing grease on exhaust and everywhere else.

I've replaced all 3 items since I got my Car ~ 4 yrs ago...
(Orange rubber seal at oil cooler, CV boot/ shaft, valve cover gasket)
With my luck the oil drain hose on the turbo will go next.. At least I already have the new hose. The guy at the dealer says to me when I bought the hose.... "Those never go bad..."

Had the same problem last week. Turned out to be the passenger inner CV boot, as others have said. Split open and was slinging grease onto the downpipe.

Just replaced it this weekend. If you decide to swap the axle out completely...do yourself a favor and get the $8 axle seal from the dealer. My buddy and I replaced axle and somehow during removal/install, the spring inside the lip of the seal got pinched and caused the fluid to drip out the side of the trans. Re-did the job today and replaced the seal. No more leaking fluid.

This seems to be a never ending battle. I just replaced the passenger side valve cover gasket... And guess what, I still smell a light oil burning smell. Last I checked the driver's side wasnt leaking but maybe it is now... So damn annoying.

Remember the car is 8 years old. Nothing last forever.

At least most of the normal problems are fairly easy to fix. Or at least all the how too's are here.

I had the smell and it was a leak from the oil cooler gasket above the oil filter.
edit: and the passenger side VC gasket, and a torn CV boot.

It was my CV boot and passenger side valve cover gasket. The stealership wanted $1700 for both jobs. Tires Plus did both for $400 and now no more oil smell.

I had a Jeep Cherokee that was 12 years old and had 140,000mi on it before I sold it. Never had to replace any gaskets or seals on it. There was some seepage but no outright leaks.

The heat from the turbo on this engine is definitely what has degraded the items I have had to change. And the fact that the exhaust wraps around the whole engine... Any oil leaks end up on the exhaust and results in that wonderful aroma.

If all those other items have failed , how long before the oil seals on the turbo fail?

Any tell tale signs?

I just noticed today a burnt oil smell on mine, but I was speeding.....needless to say, I don't smell it when I am going at the speed limit. Maybe I was pushing it too hard and it's just normal? That didn't make sense hahahaha. Smelled burnt oil, I was speeding, slowed down because I got worried.

Here's my list..


Power steering pump leaking from bearing behind pulley... Drains down the front of the timing cover onto exhaust... Along with the power steering hose going into the ps pump. On pump number 3.

Turbo feed line, dripping onto hot ass turbo.

Pass side valve cover gasket leaking onto up pipe

Inner cv boots both sides torn and spraying crap all over everything especially the down pipe. These are replacements number 1 and two .

Turbo coolant line going ino turbo leaking onto hot ass turbo... Burning off and eating the inlet.. Boy was that a damn nightmare to replace..

All work done by yours truly.







Next on the list... Front main seal leaking inside timing cover dripping onto exhaust.

Oil cooler orange o-ring leaking.

Turbo oil return line.


Hopefully that will stop all the effing smoke from coming out of the hood scoop. This car only has 85k on it!!! What a piece of crap. Sorry I'm a bit irritated at the moment I just finished te pass side valve cover and turbo feed line.

^^^ This!

Damn.... I've got this issue too. I can't tell if its bad enough to actually drip on the exhaust yet but the timing belt cover does have an oily stain down the front.
What's up with that? My 140,000 mile Jeep had no power steering leak, none, dry.... But this GT is fun car to drive though...

I'm actually rather tired of it myself I'm going to look at appliance cars this weekend with my wife.

This is my second Legacy, first with turbo. Smelled oil in both of them and contributed significant $$$ to a few dealers and garages to get them fixed. Seems like they tell me what it is, repair is done, not long after, smell oil again. Frustrating! Just had all CV boots and turbo replaced and still smelling oil. Will try to check the aforementioned ideas though. Thanks all!

Or you could do this...

http://www.google.com/search?q=vorte...1SmHEOE7rZxeM:

Would a leaky valve cover gasket cause excessive oil consumption? I notice after trips from Chicago-Detroit that I'll be down about 1/4 quart, with noisy valves upon starting up. FWIW I have the burnt oil smell at idle too. Just replaced passenger CV boot because it was slinging grease just like everyone has been discussing.

HAHA I'm not the only fan.

Got the same problem. So just to confirm, it's usually the inner boot? My WRX did the same thing. Ended changing the entire axle. That's not necessary, right?

Seems to be a subi thing. I leak no oil and have no problems to speak of. Get the smell if I drive the car hard.

True, I only get it driving above 100mph.

^ check all your oil lines in you turbo...

I have the same issue on the passenger side and it is getting worse lately. I've done a search but didn't locate a walkthrough on replacing the passenger side valve cover gasket. It is difficult to do? I've done a lot of my own maintenance including spark plug replacement and up pipe installation, but this is new ground.

Please don't flame me, I did search and would just like to get some information on changing this out and any tips, tricks and tools to make it easier.

thanks,

Not a flame... but.

http://legacygt.com/forums/showthrea...ket-81725.html

So it's not a walkthrough but there's some key things in that thread - it is claimed to be easy to do and can be done when the engine is still in the car. The valve covers are held on with bolts, you need a gasket kit, couple of hours time...

maybe there's not a walkthrough because it is regarded as not needing one and still not flaming - if perhaps you aren't sure you can do this without one, perhaps you shouldn't be attempting to do this kind of work? You will need to be handy and have a clue, move a few things out the way but this job is not a difficult one.

Tips and tricks and tools to make it easier?

Don't drop the bolts into odd places of the engine bay as the trick will be trying to find them again later. Tools? A 10mm socket.

We're happy to help here but are you sure this is a job you want to tackle - what's got you concerned about the next step on from spark plug replacement? You already learned there about the clearance for that... possible but tight.

Found a walkthough for you here:

http://sl-i.net/FORUM/viewtopic.php?t=12784

Hopefully it will allay some of your fears.

I've done an easy experiment on my own, and it seems to have greatly reduced the burnt oil smell in the cabin after longer drives. I used to top off my oil to the small hole above the "F" on the dipstick. In the past few weeks I've tried to keep it at the "F" instead. Using Rotella T6 fwiw.

Thanks for the information-- I'll get more familiar with the the site and be better able to find things. Thanks for your help!

I have done a lot of work to the car myself. I have an excellent workspace and all the tools that I'll need. I know from experience that there are always little tricks that help make the job go easier. There are also the 'gotchas' that you want to be aware of. I have some great information from my last vacation as well.

Now all I need is the time and peace to get it done.

Thanks again.

I drained my oil yesterday after consistently dry dipstick during readings. I ended up with approx. 3.5 quarts- this after topping up with about 2 quartz for the past month. Where the hell is my oil going? Getting faint burning scent, after spirited driving. Boot has long been replaced, Coolant also swishing around in heater core ( all hoses and radiator caps replaced)..This is really beyond vexing me right now.:mad:. And FWIW, I religiously use Rotella T6. Question I have is, Could possible head gasket change be needed?

you check the pcv?

^, nope...will do

I replaced mine and my oil consumption dropped from 1qt per 900 miles to somewhere in the area of 1qt per 5k.

anyone have a pic handy of where the PCV is located?

http://legacygt.com/forums/showthrea...t-95003p7.html

Thanks. Me thinks that's the culprit.

rob-2,
Do you recall what condition the pvc that you removed was in? Does it have a spring loaded check valve or does it just have a small diameter tube? Thanks.

I replaced an entire black part and didn't see the valve itself. It's a ball bearing setup and the new one rattled just by looking at it. The old one was gummed up and didn't rattle much.