Subject: 91 200 tq

[C1J1Miller@aol.com]

John Heath wrote:
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I have had a situation which is back and getting worse.  Whenever I sit with
the engine idling, warm car, I am getting a strong burning oil smell.  No
smoke, no obvious leaks, I've looked, mechanics have looked, etc.  No
visible leak, vacuum hose behind the block replaced, the branching one, and
I thought it was fixed but now it's back.
Has any one experienced this?  Any ideas?  The car has 70K, runs well, oil
use is less than 2/3 quart in 2500 miles.
Next thing is that when I am sitting and I turn the wheel hard right, it
feels that at certain points I have no PS.  Never noticed this driving.  The
rack was replaced at 47K.  Any connection here?  Pentosin level is fine, no
obvious loss.
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Well, if it's that noticeable, then you're losing a noticeable amount of oil
from somewhere.  The total pentosin reservoir/system is a little over a quart,
so a leak there would soon be evident.  Open the tranny fill, add some oil
until it drains out the fill, and cork it back up.  Check again in a week or
two; if the level has dropped, that may be your problem.  I'd think that you'd
have staining etc. noticeable; if so, where on the exhaust system?
You say you're using almost 2/3 quart engine oil in 2500 miles... my car uses
virtually 0 oil between changes.  So, you're losing a quart or so between
changes, dependant on when you do the oil change.  I know that many of the
normally aspirated 20-valve 5's burn this much oil, but was under the
impression that the turbo 20v 5's typically did _not_.

This means:  
1)  you're burning oil in the engine, or
2) you're leaking oil which is then burning on the exhaust.

If you're burning oil, it's likely due to worn valve stem seals, or worn turbo
bearings.  Any smoke from the tailpipe?  it should be obvious; either on
startup, or when you "hit it".

If no smoke, you're probably just leaking it out.  Couple spots:  one, the
valve cover gasket could be leaking; two, an oil pressure/temp sender could be
leaking; three, the oil lines to the cooler or turbo could be leaking; four,
crankcase breather hose; five, one of the main seals is leaking.

We need some more info to help sort this out.  How long has the car used the
oil?  Any stained spots on the oil pan, subframe, or exhaust?  Any spots on
the pavement after being parked a bit?  Crawl under with a rag, and wipe up on
the block where you can't see and look for wet oil.  
chris miller, windham nh, c1j1miller@aol.com
'91 200q20v ==> http://members.aol.com/c1j1miller/index.html