Oil on exhaust manifold

[Huw Powell]

> Last week, my 5k started getting an occasional smell of burns synthetic
> motor oil. I can see a bead of oil around one of the ports on the R side
> of the engine. I cannot tell if it is an exhaust port or intake port since
> it is only slightly visible from the bottom of the car. I am not familiar
> with the orientation of the exhaust manifold since I have not had the R
> side apart yet. There does not appear to be any oil on the top of the
> intake manifold. Does this mean I can rule out the valve cover?

Probably.

It wouldn't be either manifold itself, since there aren't any oilways 
associated with either one.  The oil is probably just collecting there 
after leaking out somewhere else.  If you can. you need to try to track 
it back to its source.  It might help to clean up the engine carefully 
and keep an eye on it.

Typical suspect leak sources include the cam cover gasket, as you 
mentioned, the cam seal (upper front under the timing belt cover), the 
crank seal (probably too low to get oil up to the manifold, but anything 
is possible), some of the bolts holding the timing belt cover on 
(especially if they have been undone recently), the oil temperature 
sender (again, very low - screwed into the bottom of the oil pump - if 
your car even has one).  There are probably a couple of others I am 
forgetting.

There is also the possibility that it is just oil that was spilled when 
topping up.

Keep an eye on the level, of course, and also on the rate of loss while 
you do that.  If there are no drips where you park, but it is actually a 
leak, then it only happens while running the car.  Letting it sit and 
idle (after cleaning) might indicate where the oil is coming from.

-- 
Huw Powell

http://www.humanspeakers.com/audi

http://www.humanthoughts.org/