2 replies to this topic

[grocerygetter]

OK here is the deal, sitting in traffic and at idle last week I thought I keep seeing slight puffs of smoke coming up from under my passenger side hood out of the corner of my eye. Well changing the oil this weekend I noticed that it looks like I have a leak somewhere in the area of my exhaust manifold near the timing belt area. I have not noticed it at speed because it probably disapates so much that I dont notice. Does anyone know what would cause this? I replaced the oil cap last year, maybe a cam seal?

Pics are looking up from near oil drain.

[WhiteT5]

Could very possibly be a cam seal. When I put my cams in, I didn't seat one of the seals properly, and I had a steady leak of a few drops a minute that was leaking onto the exhaust manifold in a location very similar to the one pictured there. The only puzzling thing though is that mine was dripping onto the runner from cylinder #4 (assuming #1 is on the passenger side). Yours looks to be between #1 and #2, closer to the front cam seals, which are no fun to replace. Absolute best way to determine source would be w/ some oil safe UV dye.

[grocerygetter]

Do you think it could be excessive crank case pressure and its bleeding out the path of least resistance? aka my cam seals? Maybe a PCV job is needed?