Oil leaking on the downpipe portion of stock ex. manifold

[s13pignose]

There seems to be an oil leak as of lately, to where oil is somehow making its way down the drivers side portion of the downpipe on my stock exhaust manifold. Only seems to burn on the drivers side from what i see when I get down and look? Any idea where it's coming from. Kinda cold for me to take the heat shield off and look.

Any help much appreciated

[s13pignose]

btw this happens every so often for baout 2.5 weeks now, after hard driving mostly. So not from like a recent oil change or anything

[s13pignose]

I felt behind my motor and hand came back around oily..oil look kinda oil..not too fresh. Couldn't see really where I was feeling, but pretty sure right below valvecover, but not pass the head. So maybe back VC gasket? Also what about oil pan gasket..friend said maybe thats leaking and oil is blowing off on to the manifold dowm pipe? Think mechanic said it look bad one time before in the past, but like I said none of this stuff happened till now to cause me to worry

[Matej]

Are you sure it's oil? It could be power steering fluid. Mine usually sprays everywhere.

[burnsauto]

clean your engine, drive it for a little....find your leak.

[codyace]

on the back of the block there is this breather thingy for the OE pcv system....that leaks like a bitch on some cars.

[s13pignose]

Didn't know that, nice to know...saw some sorta pipe thing behind the motor and didn't look like the egr i don't think.

On the PS theory that isn't a bad idea, but I actually looked under the car while running, and turn the wheel left and right, nothing would squirt out. But hoses coming from the resevoir do look greasy and where they meet the rack. Like I said mostly happens when I've been at wot alot.

But back to that pcv breather this is on the KA's? Whats t.
he solution to it leaking...I replaced the actual pcv valve like a year and half ago

Thanks for all the suggestions cause I'm really lost lol. I'll hose the motor down when temps aren't near freezing, and then keep an eye on things

[projectRDM]

Valve cover. There is no PCV system on the back side of a KA.

[s13pignose]

Alright gonna have to get that taken care off. I still don't see how it's getting on the exhaust manifold side. There's no oil on the intake side , exhaust side, or center of the valve cover when looking from the front of the car. Only the back I guess. Now how it would end up dripping on the down pipe is beyond me...unless like mentioned earlier it's PS fluid.

Maybe I should mark my ps resevoir with tape, and see if the fluid gets below that?

[projectRDM]

You can.

The valve cover will leak anywhere the gasket gives out, it doesn't have to leak from each corner. I've seen a leak coming from one spot or the entire thing, you'll know for sure once you pull it off though.

[codyace]

Valve cover. There is no PCV system on the back side of a KA.

ah, i had SR in mind

[s13pignose]

You can.

The valve cover will leak anywhere the gasket gives out, it doesn't have to leak from each corner. I've seen a leak coming from one spot or the entire thing, you'll know for sure once you pull it off though.


Makes sense...thanks

Thank you all for the suggestions

[s13pignose]

Are you sure it's oil? It could be power steering fluid. Mine usually sprays everywhere.

Okay I never posted about it last time cause I didn't think it was, but I've had a puddle of clear fluid underneath my car two or 3 times now that has a oily feel to it. Not quite as thick as motor oil. I ruled out ps fluid at first cause its purple, but I took a bit out my ps resevoir and smeared on the ground, and it matched the color of the puddle.

I don't think its brake fluid, cause I swapped wheels last weekend and saw no signs of cracked lines and I haven't lost pedal feel. My car is automatic, but the transmission was rebuilt last year and I've had no problems..and I check fluid level from time to time


Only thing I noticed tonight was clamps on the hoses for the PS system were a lil loose, so I tightened the ones I could reach, and will try and use a wrench on the other tommorow.

Last but not least I sprayed behind the motor one day at the car wash since my last post. I checked for oil a couple days later, and sure enough there was some. So I prolly have a bad valve cover gasket too.