I drive an 02 WRX Wagon with ~20k miles. It has, essentially, a Vishnu Stage 1 that is tuned by Cobb. Last year I was doing some short hop driving and I smelled oil burning. I opened the hood and saw oil-smelling smoke coming from near the turbo. Checked the oil and found it was low. I immediately put more in, went home, changed the oil and never had the problem again.

Fast forward to this week. I am using my car as a daily driver going only 10-15 miles a day never getting above 45 MPH and rarely getting into boost.

Earlier this week I had the same issue: Burning oil smell and oily smoke coming from the vicinity of the turbo. I know that I've seen oil in my IC, so I'm pretty sure this is blow-by oil pooling near the turbo and cooking, so I did a quick test. I got off post and used my turbo hardcore for about 5-10 minutes. Sure enough, no more oil smell.

So here is my diagnosis: Oil blow-by pooling and cooking. Once I get on the turbo it is blown out (probably cooking my cat).

My possible solution is to get an oil catch can.

The reason I can guess that this happens is that I didn't break my engine in well enough... yeah, I knew better but it's a little late now.

Someone out there let me know if my analysis is good/bad/retarded and let me know some other possibilities for fixing/dealing with this issue.

-Etch

 

greg,

i had a problem with a minor oil seeping out the valve cover seal at the rear of the engine on the driver side. it was enough for me to loose about a quart of oil between oil changes. i took it to subaru and they covered it under warranty. it turn out they had to replace the valve cover gasket and this seal that was in the shape of a half moon. well i hope this helps and goodluck.

Jess

 

If that is the case, then mine is coming from the passenger side. I have no idea about the valve-cover shape. Is that possible? MY whole deal with SOA (since I deal with them, now, not SOH) is that I have raced my car, taken it for some SERIOUS off-roading and put it through conditions far beyond the manufacturers recommended guidelines. Therefore, I'll end up doing it myself, or paying for it.

Thanks for the input, and good luck over there. I'll be there for OIF 5

 

There is a common issue with oil (or some people suppose its coolant) leaking at the turbo oil (or coolant) hookups. This drips into the heat shield or the turbo itself and cooks.

Its really weird. I went though a period where this happened often. Now it rarely happens. It seems more often then not when its been a cold night and then I've let it idle a bit long before actually going out for a ride. To me it sounds like a leaky joint somewhere. I'm not overly concerned... i.e. I've ruled out going to the dealership because that's always more of a hassle. (Yeah, they've certainly won, haven't they )

jason

 

I have the same issue Jason is referring to. Coolant is leaking at the turbo and dripping down the uppipe and creating the burning smell (it's more of a sweet smell as opposed to burning). I'm going to put new clamps on the turbo coolant drain line and see if that fixes the leak. I'll inspect the hose as well as it might have a small crack I can't see. It's obviously coolant as there are white streaks down the fender wall and onto the power sterring lines. My STi radiator cap made the problem more evident, but it has been there for quite some time.

 

That sounds like it might be accurate. The last time it happened I had been idling for quite some time, and now that I'm not in Hawaii I end up idling a lot longer in order to warm up the car.

I'm almost dead positive that it is oil, so any techniques, tactics, or tips to fix it would be appreciated.
-Greg

 

you could probable test the blow by issue by capping it off on the intake side with a rubber pvc cap and venting the motor with one of those little pvc filters. I'm not sure its a pvc filter but its like a small 2inch round by a inch to 2 inches tall and has a stem on the bottom to hook up to block vent system. I know I've seen those at Rons. If it fixes it then the next step would be a catch can or you could just get the catch can. hope this helps.