club.liberty.asn.au

Hi everyone,

I'm a newbie to Subi. I just bought a 2004 Gen 4 subaru GT with 195000 km on it. It came with a log book and has been serviced regularly. before I picked up the car the owner used a subaru upper engine cleaner and changed the oil. He disconnected the pipe between the air box and sprayed the upper engine cleaner inside. Now that I have the car, after I drive and stop the car, I can see smoke coming out from the right hand side driver's died of the engine bay. I opened the hood and tried to find the source of the smoke and it seems like it is somewhere beneath the air box pipe. I'm not losing oil, the coolant is still green and it smells like it is burning engine cleaner/oil. I drive this. At for work so I'm a bit worried. has anyone had the same issue?

The car also pulls hard when needed so I doubt it is a blown turbo.

Could anyone help me with this problem?

Thanks

Jack the car up, and check the drivers side inner CV boot. I reckon it's split.

The smoke is the grease being flicked onto the dump pipe and burning off

Split drivers side inner CV boot is pretty common because it is so close to the dump which obviously gets very hot and ruins the rubber..

zch91 wrote:Jack the car up, and check the drivers side inner CV boot. I reckon it's split.

The smoke is the grease being flicked onto the dump pipe and burning off

Split drivers side inner CV boot is pretty common because it is so close to the dump which obviously gets very hot and ruins the rubber..

+ 1

Thanks for reply guys!

I'll have a look at it today!

Hi guys I had a look yesterday,
But all the CV joint looks perfect, no rip no crack nothing!
Also I checked everywhere from the bottom side but there was no oil leak at all.
I'm little bit confused now. As I double check where the smoke come from yesterday, it come from under the air box piping as well as near the front parts of turbo. And it's white smoke as well. Turbo still spools and boost hard.
I just don't know what is it.have Anyone experienced same things??

Thanks

I think my 04 GT may have the same issue as i've noticed this too, although it seems intermittent.

Just a thought as i'm waiting on my new 02 sensor from japan but when i take that to get fitted, would getting the inner cv boot replaced be an expensive job from a mechanic due to time / labour, by the looks from ebay the part itself isn't costly?

thanks in advance,

Ryan

GT Gravity wrote:I think my 04 GT may have the same issue as i've noticed this too, although it seems intermittent.

Just a thought as i'm waiting on my new 02 sensor from japan but when i take that to get fitted, would getting the inner cv boot replaced be an expensive job from a mechanic due to time / labour, by the looks from ebay the part itself isn't costly?

thanks in advance,

Ryan

1 spanner and 5 mins work is all that's required to replace the O2 sensor

As for the cv boot it is a very straight forward task- would take less than an hour start to finish if you know your way around the lib (I've done 2 on mine)

Replacing the actual boot requires more time than just popping a new shaft in. Price wise probably similar depending on which replacement Shaft you get (genuine, aftermarket, reco)

Update: I was driving today and saw bit of white smoke come out of bonnet so I stopped and had a look.
As soon as I open the bonnet smoke went away, but still I was worried so I turn around and went back home,(3min away)
I had a closer look and it turned out there is a decent oil leak, and oil is touching the exhaust and burns off, so that explains the smoke.

I checked oil level it was 1/8 less from full, I got it serviced 2000ks ago.
Seems like there are oil leak from drivers side timing belt cover. But when I open it up inside is clean and dry.
However the little plastic piece on the bottom of the timing cover was covered with dirty grim/oil.

But still can't find where it's coming from, anyone had same problems before?
My car has done 197ks on it, so might be oils seal?oil pump?

Any help/info is appreciated!

Double post

Check the following places which are probably leaking onto the timing case then exhaust :

- rocker cover gaskets
- banjo fittings for turbo oil feed lines
- avcs solenoids for leaking
- Pcv valve under inlet manifold for blockage / leaks
- breather hoses on rocker cover

my mate reckons it's the cam cover gasket, but I'm new to those boxer engine so I'm not sure.
Is there possibility of been the cam shaft cover leaking?

I currently have a similar oil leak. My mechanic is saying that the turbo oil return pipe has a small leak which drops on the hot manifold. The leak isn't affecting my oil level between services.... It's more of an annoyance. It may look bad but a 5cent sized oil drop is enough to smoke up pretty good.

I've been told the turbo and manifold will have to be removed to fix the problem so I'm just going to leave it and upgrade my turbo system. Hope this helps.

Zaccy182 wrote:I currently have a similar oil leak. My mechanic is saying that the turbo oil return pipe has a small leak which drops on the hot manifold. The leak isn't affecting my oil level between services.... It's more of an annoyance. It may look bad but a 5cent sized oil drop is enough to smoke up pretty good.

I've been told the turbo and manifold will have to be removed to fix the problem so I'm just going to leave it and upgrade my turbo system. Hope this helps.

Thanks for the info!
Well, that's not good at all,I don't have a plan to upgrade my turbo since my lib is an auto.
I will do the timing belt this weekend so will see where exactly the oil leak come from.

I know where your leak is coming from. It's dropping from your cylinder head's valve cover or the exhaust cam sensor. Check valve cover gasket when engine is cold, and also feel with hands the underside of the exhaust cam sensor. Sometimes it leaks through the sensor itself, not just around its o-ring!

Hi guys thanks for the info!

Well, I think we found a leak, it was the rocker cover gasket and cam seals.
However, I couldn't fixed them as the part I bought from ebay didn't fit, I called them give put my VIN etc but they still telling me that one I have received is the right one even tho it's completely different.
The plugs were even different, don't we have to use long length spark plugs for gen4 engines?
Does anyone have some parts number for cam seal and gasket kits?

Thanks
Regards