Long, but hopefully entertaining...
Over the past year or so, I have had a minor oil leak somewhere in the area behind the turbo that I had originally attributed to the turbo oil return tube. I've tried different return tube setups in an attempt to kill the leak, but alas, it has persisted.
All of a sudden, with smoke streaming from the engine bay while merging onto the freeway a couple weeks ago (on the way to John's BBQ), I knew it had gotten worse. A LOT worse. Worse to the point that under any kind of pressure, it would come POURING down right onto my downpipe. In the end, I had it towed home to try and figure it out.
With the car up on stands in my garage, and my brother at the key, I slide myself underneath risking scalding oil burns, on my face no less, in order to see from where this infernal flow --no ERUPTION!-- of oil is originating.
Like anyone lucky enough to have survived ownership of one of these cursed machines for more than 4 years (and somehow maintaining a decent credit rating), I have developed a cynical, glass-half-empty mentality when a problem inevitably rears its ugly head: It's probably ten times worse than than it looks from "this angle". And I know you guys all know what "this angle" is. For the newbs out there "this angle" is what can be seen of your engine while sprawled out on the ground trying to diagnose the problem through the space between the bottom of your front fascia on your lowered car and the concrete while the BCAA truck is on it's way. Which is to say, fuck all...
Anyway... as my brother cranks the car to life, I lay under the car peering through the blurr of my nowhere-near-clean-enough-to-see- anything-useful safety glasses knowing fullwell there is no way the answer is as simple as a massive leak in the afore-mentioned turbo drain tube. But as I followed the gushing flow of oil upward along the side of the block, past the oil drain tube, past the oil feed for the turbo, past the turbo itself (pheewwwww)............ and up into the shadows below the ehxaust manilfold??? There aren't any external oil lines up that high as far as I'm aware...
Sputtering in confusion :?, I get my brother to kill the engine and crawl out from beneath car to have a look at the manifold from the top. Not being able to make out anything useful, I remove the heatshield and place it aside revealing some oily residue but no obvious...... what the :shock: !!!
One of my lower centre exhaust manifold studs is dangling by half a thread! :shock: :shock: upon closer inspection some of my other studs are loose!!
Oil coming from the hole for an exhaust manifold stud? Is this posible?
Also, what kind of damage would loose studs cause to my manifold?
