Notice a slight burning rubber and oil smell. Took a video of it. Any ideas??
Engine smoke and smell (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Nefyn
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- series 100 smoke
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I suspect your valve cover gasket is leaking and dripping onto the exhaust.
General advice on that is to very gently snug up each bolt and see if the leak stops. Inevitably you will end up having to remove the valve cover and replace the gasket.
Take the engine cover off, the big plastic thing on top of the motor. This will give you a better view in there. Oh and top off your oil if it's low.
General advice on that is to very gently snug up each bolt and see if the leak stops. Inevitably you will end up having to remove the valve cover and replace the gasket.
Take the engine cover off, the big plastic thing on top of the motor. This will give you a better view in there. Oh and top off your oil if it's low.
2001LC
SILVER Star
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Awesome…thanks guys. Is it safe to drive before I fix it? Oil level is full so appears to only be a minor leak
Yeah you can drive it, they have probably been leaking a little bit like this for months already
Interesting. Had the exact same issue in December as well, after changing over from regular to full synthetic oil at 135K miles. It started smelling 'rubbery' after a few days...
Feared the worst at first as it looked like a leaky steering rack (yet no lost oil there), but opein inspection see that oil started leaking from right side valve cover, down onto the shield over the exhaust manifold, . Oil was a bit over filled at time (no bueno).
Been gone since then, hence driven next to nothing so about to check torque on all valve cover bolts today.
Hopefully a retorquing to 53 in lb will solve this.
BTW, common to see a sudden leak like that after switch to full synthetic? Car has not had a single drop of oil leaking, ever, until that switch.
Feared the worst at first as it looked like a leaky steering rack (yet no lost oil there), but opein inspection see that oil started leaking from right side valve cover, down onto the shield over the exhaust manifold, . Oil was a bit over filled at time (no bueno).
Been gone since then, hence driven next to nothing so about to check torque on all valve cover bolts today.
Hopefully a retorquing to 53 in lb will solve this.
BTW, common to see a sudden leak like that after switch to full synthetic? Car has not had a single drop of oil leaking, ever, until that switch.
I always thought it was an old wives tale that switching to synthetic caused oil leaks.
However I had the issue with my lx - valve covers started pouring when I switched to synthetic at 96k. Time to switch out the gaskets- retightening will only buy you a year or so at best
However I had the issue with my lx - valve covers started pouring when I switched to synthetic at 96k. Time to switch out the gaskets- retightening will only buy you a year or so at best
Did tighten the surprisingly VERY lose valve cover bolts. Both sides were hand tight, if even that, but only right side showed signs of a leak. Also lifted the cover for right cam/timing belt to ensure that it was not the cam seal. Timing belt and area inside looked as good as new. Three easy to access bolts - tightened far more than the valve covers. But there is a center anchor, a longer bolt, that clearly is a PITA and I guess not supposed to get it out unless you also remove the thermostat housing (allowing the cam cover to move forward and out of the way). Did not dare to try to pull it out of the actual cover, as I still managed to get a decent glimpse of timing belt and roller.
Update; haven't driven yet, but when I was in there I also replaced the remaining 7 spark plugs (one was replaced when a coil-pack went bad in 2017, less than 12,000 miles ago). As car now just passed 138K miles, they were overdue - but did not look bad. Will take a few photos and provide info in a separate post later in the week.
Update; haven't driven yet, but when I was in there I also replaced the remaining 7 spark plugs (one was replaced when a coil-pack went bad in 2017, less than 12,000 miles ago). As car now just passed 138K miles, they were overdue - but did not look bad. Will take a few photos and provide info in a separate post later in the week.
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Yeah, too much of a coincidence. Synthetic is more 'fluid'
But so far smell has sort of disappeared, and now hoping for the best (maybe a year as you say). Have parked the LC and driven the other car for a little while, and I hope that small droplets (currently have paper underneath for tracing) are just residual droplets (at least it is far less than before). Once weather is a bit better, will need to drive car up on ramps and carefully clean up the area of oily residue. Just looks so messy, when everything else is bone dry even after 22+ years.
