T-5 Oil Leak from Back of Engine, Smoke Rising

jnitschke123 · Post by **jnitschke123** » 04 Oct 2016, 11:10

Hi all,

My '97 850 T-5 Wagon has an oil leak from the rear right side of the engine.

Once the car reaches normal operating temperature, a thin plume of smoke is visible from that area, and it has a burning oil smell to it. I believe that oil is reaching the exhaust manifold or the hot side of the turbo.

Any ideas of where I should start looking for the leak?

Cheers,
Joey

splattj · Post by **splattj** » 04 Oct 2016, 13:30

Mine is doing the same thing. O-Ring for the turbo oil drain/return pipe is leaking on mine. Not looking forward to it since I'm AWD.

jnitschke123 · Post by **jnitschke123** » 04 Oct 2016, 13:50

Eeeks. Hopefully it isn't that bad of a job for you. So you have the smoke rising from that area too, eh?

Good luck!
Joey

splattj · Post by **splattj** » 04 Oct 2016, 14:41

Yeah, I have oil burning off the downpipe after the car gets hot. Dripping down the back of the block and off the oil pan too. Cleaned it all real well with Brakleen and the return line got wet again just idling. I think it sprays a little with crankcase pressure and hits the exhaust when driving.

Post by **cmblackburn** » 04 Oct 2016, 15:18

Turbo oil drain, rear driver's side cam seal are the first suspects in my head. Also make sure your oil cap gasket is pliable, oil can be pushed out of the top of the engine and drip down off the back of the head.

jnitschke123 · Post by **jnitschke123** » 04 Oct 2016, 19:45

Just replaced the turbo drain tube seals and the job went well. However, The oil leak remains.

While looking under the car, I noticed that the cooling tube that goes along the backside of the engine is dripping wet with oil. I believe that the oil leak is higher up on the back of the engine.

Post by **rspi** » 04 Oct 2016, 20:02

Has the head been rebuilt lately? Have you pulled the spark plug cover to see how much oil is on top of the head?