Bongo Fury

olebrock wrote:Just to add my tuppence worth, I sometimes have the same smell (I would say hot/burnt rubber smell) with my 1999 2.0l auto. It appears to come from the rear exhaust end and more noticeable after I've reversed into my driveway !! I checked all over for any suspect piping over or near the exhaust but can not find any clues - I don't have any evidence of oil leak marks that Andy suggests (on the 2.0l the exhaust does'nt go under the engine).

Would anyone know if this could be a possible 'cat' smell ? (not the moggy kind )

apole wrote:Hi there,

Firstly it is quite hard to spot as the oil, on mine at least, was very slow trickle from one of the seals on the drivers side. It trickled down the engine, to the sump rim, that rim is then angled towards the rear of the car and it drips onto the exhaust.

Look under both sides of the car just behind the drivers doors. On the drivers side you will see the exhaust run acrossways to join the other pipe, before it then travels down the nearside of the car to the rear. Where the sump corner is, is generally where it drips, you may see a darker colour on the exhaust. Use a clean tissue and rub that round the edge of the sump to see if it picks up oil.

If you look at the sump at the front (this is hard as there is the lower engine cover in the way, and also the plastic cambelt cover across the front of the engine, you may see the oil as well, here it generally shows more as it gets mixed with dust and dries off a bit.

Some pics.

Drivers side looking at back of engine:



Passenger side looking at back of engine:



Notice the oil staining on the exhaust.

This is the front of the engine from beneath, this is during the seal replacement and all the belts, pulleys, covers etc are removed. My one was leaking from the top left hand camshaft seal, you can see traces of the oil leaking downwards:



Smaller pic of above, red line points to the seal that was leaking, green circle shows where the leak was hitting air and gunging up, this is right next to the cambelt tensioner, that was fine and can easily be tested, the tensioner is around £300, unlikely to fail mind, mine was fine.



I have to say the difference now without that smell is amazing, you kind of get used to it in a way and not having it now is great. I did see smoke once a few mins after setting off, sitting at a red light, thought the car was on fire !! That was the thing that prompted me to get it sorted !!

If you need further help with this let me know. How old and what's the mileage on yours out of interest? Cost wise you are looking at around £75 for the bits (that includes a new cambelt and 4 oil seals) and about a days labour. The coolant has to come out too.
Andy

ninjasmith wrote:just to finish off this thread. is was a cam shaft seal. had it fixed at MD motors in walthamstow. nice guy there mick. did me a pretty good deal on it. mot, full service, front brakes, cambelt and two of the seals all for under 600!!

now fingers crossed thats all for the year (he says hopefully)

apole wrote:Hi there,

Firstly it is quite hard to spot as the oil, on mine at least, was very slow trickle from one of the seals on the drivers side. It trickled down the engine, to the sump rim, that rim is then angled towards the rear of the car and it drips onto the exhaust.

Look under both sides of the car just behind the drivers doors. On the drivers side you will see the exhaust run acrossways to join the other pipe, before it then travels down the nearside of the car to the rear. Where the sump corner is, is generally where it drips, you may see a darker colour on the exhaust. Use a clean tissue and rub that round the edge of the sump to see if it picks up oil.

If you look at the sump at the front (this is hard as there is the lower engine cover in the way, and also the plastic cambelt cover across the front of the engine, you may see the oil as well, here it generally shows more as it gets mixed with dust and dries off a bit.

Some pics. CUE: MISSING PICS

the laird wrote:Think you'll find it's the camshaft seals are leaking if its av6

Simon Jones wrote:Bit of a big job for a DIY'er. Worth getting them changed (along with crankshaft seal) when you have the cambelt done. If you're due a belt then get the whole lot done in one go. Typically cost round about £500 as it's at least half a day's labour.