I have a 1998 Uk Wagon. Completely standard. Bought it 2 months ago at 93k and have been loving it ever since! I have a slight worry tho. My car smells hot/like burning when i arrive home. It doesnt seem to matter whether i have been giving it the boot or not. Sometimes i get the smell. Some times i get it a bit and other times not at all. I always warm her up and cool her down, and have a full service history, with regular oil changes as expected. Last one done by myself about 5 weeks ago (used Millers 10W-40 fully synthetic).

Any ideas? I asked the chap from Subaru Botley (Soton) and he said they tend to run very hot and can smell hot as a result. I found this a worrying fob off. Anyone else experienced this type of problem? Turbo going? Oil leak cooking up? Cheers. Tim

 

Dont like the sound of that,possible causes for smelling is either a new exhaust but this doesn't sound as if yours as been replaced and the other is leaking oil dripping on to the exhaust and if so blue smoke will be evident..best bet is lift the bonnet and have a serious look around to source the smell.Scoobys do not run hotter than any other turbo car and as such I have never noticed any smell from either of mine when stationary.Get a second opinion whilst the smell is evident

powerman

 

hi


i have a similar smell with mine, a uk 98 turbo wagon with 82k, after my spin home from work i get the whiff of something hot smelling, but i know that my rad is leaking from the cracking end tank sydrome and my clutch is slipping.... is ur wagon having any similar probs? the smell to me is like antifreeze steam.... when sitting in traffic after a run down the motorway i can smell it in the car slightly. when cooled i open the header tank and the exactish type smell can be found there.

no oil beaing burnt or anything just loosing water slightly.

HTH

Rich

 

it has a new radistor fitted within the last 6 months. HAve been under thebonnet, and can see or smell nothing in particular. I think i will take it to the garage to make sure. Problem is i dont want them to start changing things that aint broke!

 

could it be your rocker cover gasket?dripping oil onto your manifold when hot?it smells when warmed up!

 

Yep, i had same problem which was rocker cover gasket,cost £100 to fix at local scooby garage.

 

£10 on the rocker gasket/ gaskets - probably the turbo side (o/s)

 

I am getting almost exactly the same thing with MY03 WRX.

It has only been like this since the garage did oil change yesterday. I am gonna take it back to them on Monday. Will let you know.

 

I had same problem


Garage had spilled gearbox oil and it was burning off on the fanimold

took a while to get rid of the smell

 

Yep sounds like rocker cover gasket, drips onto headers on the up-pipe side. I took the old (rubber) gasket out, cleaned it, used a tube of instant gasket - sorted for about 3 quid.

Probably better to get new gaskets but I'm a tight git!

 

very common is power steering pump leaking fluid that makes its way down to the exhaust manifold

 

all great suggestions. thanx guys. i will have a good look for leaks. I think there may be a slight oil leak, so i will look into it. £3 sounds better than £100, but i want it fixed right, not bodged (sorry Jamie - no insult meant!).

 

None taken mate!

In my case just the gasket was not damaged - just needed cleaning. Instant gasket just helped to make a good seal. I don't see the point in spending money when I don't have to (yes, that TD05 and Apexi PFC were ABSOLUTELY necessary!).

If I have to redo it in a couple of years then so be it. Good luck! J

 

I had this with my 97 Turbo, if you have a look around here you will see that the crankshaft oil seal tends to go at 100k. I used to get a slight smell occasionally of oil and changed the seal while I was changing the timing belt. The belt is due at 45k and 90k anyway. The seal is only a tenner, I know a few places will change the seal as a matter of course at the second belt change, looks likely to me

 

What has been said here already, rocker covers or front crank seal.

Crank seal happened to me, but only leaked slightly when i booted it; oil can drop onto manifold very easy and burn off.
It COULD be a loose oil filter, this has aslo happened to me, filter not really a good design, and should be checked every so often.
Have a look underneath, (lie on back and worm ur way underneath)
look for the pesky drips, check tighten the filter, look around the seal edges. check the cam belt cover edges, if crank seal issue there could be drips from around there.

But all in all, mine did generally smell hot at times.
do those oil level checks once a week

 

Gidday

I have a 98 UK Wagon with 82k on the clock. same smell happend, which was followed about 3 weeks later by smoke pissing out of the bonnet scoops. Turned out to be oil dripping from the rocker cover gaskets - cost £90 for the delaer to diagnse it and priced £350 for repair (both sides). See thread titled garage / mechnic london area -search for "garage" will show it up.

 

£440

My £3 sounds quite good now doesn't it?!

In all seriousness, if you can use a spanner (10mm ratchet one is best), then this job is pretty straight forward. I've heard 30mins per side quoted but unless you are a swrt mechanic then 90mins is a bit more realistic.

 

Do you need to remove the timing belt to do this job? What is involved? I can yield a spanner when needed, but only when i know what i'm doing/looking at!

 

No not at all. It's just a bit fiddly - I did the drivers side, and removed the airbox to gain access. You then just remove the 2 x HT leads and 6 x bolts, then the cover just lifts off. These are the gaskets you will be replacing:


For each side you will have; one big gasket + 2 smaller gaskets to go round the spark plugs, 6 x bolt gaskets and 2 half-moons which go at the free end of the cams. They are easy to fit as there are grooves in the cover that they push in to. A thin film of sealant/gasket will help hold them in place they slip out easily.

Didn't do the otherside but it's the same principle, might help to remove the battery. Ratchet spanner will make things a lot easier!

 

This is exactly the thread I need, as you could say I had a burning smell this morning - along with a cloud of smoke for the last quarter mile before getting to work!

For no reason at all (mellow commuting mode, not ragging it!) I started getting smoke out the bonnet vent and as I was going along I was leaving a cloud of smoke behind me, as well as a burning smell.

Luckily I was close to work, so I only drove for another half minute and then parked up. The engine was running fine btw but I've not started it again since. Immediate inspection showed oil had blown all the way under the car and coated just about everything, but the main problem was oil cooking on the headers and dripping down seemingly from all across the front of the engine. At first I suspected a rocker cover gasket then noticed that it was coming out both sides, so thought it unlikely that both gaskets would go at the same time. Couldn't fathom it out until the RAC man came along and took the belt covers off and they were still sopping wet with oil. Naturally we didn't turn it over it in that condition, but the engine bay was basically dry again. Probably half a litre of oil on the floor, but it had definitely stopped, and the oil was on the bottom mark of the dipstick - lucky I topped it up last weekend....

So, Mr RAC reckons it's a crankshaft oil seal. This sounds like the most likely thing, what sort of a job is this to tackle? I'm sending it up to Scooby Shack tomorrow for them to look at it, but I just like to get it worked out myself before I send it off to be worked on.

Any ideas welcome. Is it normal for a seal like this to just 'go' for no reason? BTW it's done 109k miles, so this fits with what someone else said about the oil seal going at 100k. Is there anything else that I should get done while they're there. Obviously the cambelt, but anything else easy to get at? I definitely want to put an oil catch tank in but I've never had the inlet manifold off yet, so I'm not exactly sure where all the hoses go cos I can't see them!

 

replacing the oil pump is an idea and a new belt tensioner?

 

Yes I think that might be an idea.