Fluid from exhaust header

[abscate]

Heat on those nuts, then an impact to rattle them off. Might need an Irwin extractor on some of them.

[BlackBart]

I just saw this topic again.

Let’s back up a couple of half-seconds......

There is no water passage against an exhaust manifold.
There is no oil passage anywhere near the plane of an exhaust manifold.
No looseness of an EM would cause fluid leaks. That would imply some sort of crack in the head. Don’t take it off to fix a “leak.”
Have you touched it to see what it is? Oil? It feels like it would have to be running down the back of the head. It would be smoking. Coolant would last 10 seconds once the engine is running, unless it’s running down the side - but you haven’t seen a fluid level drop.

If a pinhole in a pipe is spraying coolant, you should be able to see that and hear it hissing as it evaporates. If it’s spraying oil, from where?

1. Running down from valve cover?
2. Head gasket somehow wicking oil?

[BlackBart]

Those pics don’t reveal what area above the heat shield is allowing something to run down just above the #4 exhaust primary pipe.

[454cid]

I smell exhaust in the cabin when stopped at a light for 30 seconds. I also smell burning from the hood (when closed) in the front right corner (might be belts or something).

Smelling it makes me think it's oil from above someplace.

Burning front right corner may also be a sticky caliper.... when through that myself on my S70.

[FireFox31]

If it’s spraying oil, from where?
1. Running down from valve cover?
2. Head gasket somehow wicking oil?

This post was really helpful. I finally took another look at the leak and it might be coming from the back of the valve cover. The majority of the engine is caked with oil stains but it looks actively wet back there. From the underside when looking at the exhaust manifold, the port for cylinder 4 blocks my ability to see if oil is running down from above.

The car is losing a lot of oil, about 0.5 L in 1600 miles. Some might be burning, the rest is leaking.

Is there a good way to test and confirm a leaking valve cover or head gasket? I just got a smoke machine. Could that be hooked up somewhere? How hard is it to reseal the valve cover? I did the job on my 2002 Mercedes (two small covers on a V6) and survived.

I investigated those tiny holes between the exhaust manifold and the block. There's a tiny hole below cylinder 4 and 5. I was able to poke a thin piece of wood into each hole. Surprisingly, I saw the exact same holes on my other 2000 V70 NA and it's not leaking anything from them. I guess I'll ignore these and not blame them for the oil leak.

Thanks again for your help. Once I get this resolved, I'll feel better about doing other work on this poor neglected car.

[abscate]

The car is losing a lot of oil, about 0.5 L in 1600 miles. Some might be burning, the rest is leaking.

1 liter every 3000 miles? I wouldnt even carry oil for a leak that small

[FireFox31]

The fluid leak beneath the exhaust manifold seems to have stopped. After my post in May, I replaced the PCV system and did an extensive cleaning of the engine under the air intake manifold. Neither of those things seem related to this leak because the PCV wasn't leaking and I didn't clean the back of the engine where the leak was. I also ran an engine cleaner and did my first oil change on the car, switching to 5W-30 synthetic, so that may have helped somehow. I also replaced the intake VVT solenoid, front O2 sensor, the ECT, leaking transmission fluid lines, and the transmission fluid, but none of those seem related.