oil leak in exhuast manifold

[SilverJester]

I haven't been driving the car much for the past week or so (maybe once or twice and not hard either). Yet today when I was pulling the bumper off (so that I could load it on a trailer) I noticed a lot of fresh oil sitting around the number 4 runner on the exhuast manifold. I drove down to the end of my street before pulling it up the driveway (so not much driving, stayed in 1st). I don't know what could suddenly cause this big leak...please help (pics below). there is also oil leaking between the 02 housing and downpipe (no surprise there).

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P.S.
Don't mind the bolt or the oil near the EGT probe. The bolt is a heat shield bolt the was simply in the way of the shot and the oil over there is just a drop from when i was checking the oil level (the flash maked it look like a puddle rather than a faint drop). Also the wire running to the nut/stud where the oil is coming from is just a ground wire, but I don't see it being the cause of the problem, it has been on for over a year.

 

[ddavisaf]

Valve seals.
Run a compression test.

 

[mtwollet]

If its valve seals it should be emiting blue smoke to a degree from the exhaust.

 

[ddavisaf]

If it's leaking at the exhaust manifold, it is smoking.

 

[AlphaMale]

the valve seals are new in that head, head was replaced the end of last summer.

That sucks alex, get out your compression tester your rings might be on their way out... that's what the galant manifold looked like when i melted a hole in the number 3 piston

 

[saw wave analog]

i think the real problem here is that you own a dsm. if you drove an omni things like this just wouldnt happen




hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah




oh crap that was funny!

 

[ddavisaf]

the valve seals are new in that head, head was replaced the end of last summer.

That sucks alex, get out your compression tester your rings might be on their way out... that's what the galant manifold looked like when i melted a hole in the number 3 piston

In that case it's your piston oil ring on #4 experiencing a serious case of blow by

 

[SilverJester]

Ok just took a compression test of cylinders 4 and 3 and got 185 & 190 respectively. So compression sounds great. I also notice (in some better lighting conditions that there is no oil leaking at the 02housing to downpipe connection (so I edited my first post and took off the second pic). And no, there is no smoking, which leads me to think that maybe it is just that manifold stud. Maybe I just need to take it out clean it and apply some rtv sealant on it?

P.S.
shane you omni breaks more in one week, than my dsm does in one month.

 

[mtwollet]

RTV Sealant in such a hot area, wonder if it'll hold. WTF

 

[unlmtdndeavor]

Ok just took a compression test of cylinders 4 and 3 and got 185 & 190 respectively. So compression sounds great. I also notice (in some better lighting conditions that there is no oil leaking at the 02housing to downpipe connection (so I edited my first post and took off the second pic). And no, there is no smoking, which leads me to think that maybe it is just that manifold stud. Maybe I just need to take it out clean it and apply some rtv sealant on it?

P.S.
shane you omni breaks more in one week, than my dsm does in one month.

ok. two major things wrong here:
1. there is no oil in the exhaust manifold stud. the stud is thereaded into the head, but does not have any oil running to it.
2. rtv sealant would do nothing but melt off. plus again, there's no oil so that would be pointless. i would check your oil feed line from the head to the turbo, see if it's leaking from there.

 

[SilverJester]

It's fixed...sorry I didn't reply earlier but I had some other problem with the car (with a wheel) that woldn't let me drive it for a while to test out my fix. But, all I did was pull the stud out and put some high temp RTV selant on it...al better now