Hello to you all, im a cornish newbee, can somebody please help me so i can sleep at night ,
I have just had my engine rebuilt by david and his guys at API, i run her in as david advised, i am now on 2300 miles and have noticed a horrible gut renching smell of burning oil , she has not developed any bangs or rattles, no smoke out off her rear and she is not showing any oil loss on the dipstick,
Can anybody please advise me what this could be and were to look

 

Have you spoken to David at Api? Could be something simple like a cam cover leaking onto your headers?

Mit

 

Hi Mit,
No i have not spoken to david as yet, only noticed the smell yesterday evening when i got home from work, but will be on the phone tomorrow am,
would the cam cover leak be visable ?

 

Best bet is to ring David on Monday I would say.
Other than that you could check on top of your block to see if theres any oil or powersteering fluid on top that is burning off & causing the smell. Reason I mention that is because my p/s tank leaked on to my engine block & caused a horrible burning smell with the added bonus of white smoke occasionally.
Also worth checking to see if theres any oil on the exhaust system and as Mit said about the cam seals but I don't think this will be visible unless you remove the cam covers. My friends was leaking oil from this place and it was easily sorted in the end. I'd put a large piece of cardboard under the car engine tonight and this will help you spot any oil drips that come off the block & give you an idea of the location. And keep an eye on that oil level; although it is usual for the engine to use some oil during the running in procedure. Hope it works out ok in the end, Gareth

 

it will more than likely be cam covers mate, mine leaked... will cost about 200 quid to have the covers replaced and fully sealed... you could probably get it done cheaper at a cheap garage but then you run the risk of it being a ****ty job

 

Cam cover, driver's side, leaks onto up-pipe.

 

ive got same smell on my 2001 bug.its doing my head in now,and today it felt like it was "splurging" like it wanted to go faster but kept jumping.getting her booked in tomorrow for as soon as i can.im not losing any oil,and no where near ready for service.

 

Hi there,
will try the cardboard trick, just checked under the p/s tank and its all dry,
Thank you for your help

 

Hi There,
We got a couple of good tuners and fitters down here, will book her in for a quote,
Thank you for your help.

 

yep definately oil leaking from the cam cover onto the uppipe very common on boxer engines i washer'd the cam cover bolts out to make it seal tighter.