legacycentral bbs

So, the same day my transmission decided to start screwing with me, I notice that every time I come to a stop, there's a shitload of smoke pouring out the scoop and sides of the hood. When I get home (I was about 5 min from home), I notice that there is oil everywhere on the passenger side of the engine, and all over the airbox and intake tubes. I wiped it off the engine and exhaust and all that, and replace the hose I thought was responsible for it. The next day it's back, and all over the place under the hood. I had a bottle of oil stop leak laying around, so I dumped it in for the hell of it, and it hasn't helped at all (I wasn't really expecting it to though). I started putting 20w50 to try and slow the leaking.

I've looked all around and cannot figure out where the oil is leaking from. I need to find and fix the problem, because I really don't need the cops following me because of the smoke (I'm kind of a little uninsured right now, until I get enough saved up to get insurance again).

Are there any areas in specific that I should look at? I just don't understand how everything can be fine for damn near a year, and then all of a sudden this leaking and all.

hate to say it but; it's a legacy...it's gonna leak oil. J/K... check the oil lines near the turbo (we do have hose right? been a while since i've seen under my hood...damn snow) but coming from the passenger side like that, that'd be my guess.

It can be a bastard to find oil leaks when ther's oil everywhere

if you can't find it, go to a PRO auto supply and buy the UV dye leak finder for oil. You dump it in, then use a black light to find the leaking spot. Works like a charm. A screw-in black light bulb put into your trouble light works fine, in a darkened garage or at dusk.

Legacies do not leak oil if you take care of them, and do seals when changing your second timing belt

I haven't had a chance to try the UV dye yet, but I took the intake tube from the turbo to the throttle body off again, and there's oil everywhere inside that tube, and all over the inside of the turbo outlet. Does that sound like anything in particular? I just don't understand how everything can be fine for damn near a year, and then one day I get this bullshit oil problem like this

Have you been boosting hard lately? Kind of sounds like you have cracked piston or ringlands and are boosting the engine casing, forcing oil out!

no, not really. I've just been driving it the same way the whole year I've owned it, and lately I've actually been driving around off boost (for the most part) since the smoke from the oil burning off isn't as bad that way. It drips onto the exhaust and smokes like hell when I come to a stop at a red light.

Also, I did notice when changing my spark plugs, that the right rear plug by the washer fluid bottle was covered in oil when I pulled it out.

I've got a pretty bad feeling about all this, and I've got a feeling that I can't afford whatever it needs, but I need the car to get back and forth for work

If you can steam clean or degrease it it wil be easier to find the freshest leak afterward. Mine had a lot of problems with the valve cover gasket & cam seals/o-rings on the pass. side (rear of head under turbo). Based on your description of the location it sounds like mine. Mine was not a huge leak however. Just very smelly & visible since every time you stop, especially if sitting a few minutes, the smoke started coming out. Hope this helps a little.

Hmm, I was kind of thinking that the valve cover gasket was at least partially to blame there.

Yeah, once I get the car started, it'll start smoking slightly, pretty much right away. Once I've been driving, if I slow down to about 15-20 I can start to see it pouring out the scoop, and at complete stops, there's a rather large cloud of it by the time the light changes.

You know, I almost had to laugh when I read this because my car started doing the samething a few days ago. I was going crazy trying to find the leak and then I noticed that after running the car kind of hard that the dipstick was sticking out a little, now I haven't done a compression test yet, but with out a doubt it is a cracked piston ring or a blown piston. I'll let you know what the deal is after I do a compression test.

When I do go on boost, although it is rare anymore, it pulls just as strongy as before I was having this problem. My dipstick never pops up, but it does smoke out the tube when I check the oil level after running it.

When on boost, it compensates for broken parts. I had a cracked piston and shattered ringlands on #2 and shatterred and missing ringlands on #4. Still hit 10 psi. But once I was off boost, uh, barely ran. But get it back up to boost and away I went. With alot of smoke.

Damn, so this really is not looking good. Maybe I should try and pick up that $300 89 Civic I saw in the paper. If I only had the $300 to do so, whatever it'll cost to insure, and somewhere to store the Legacy

have you done a compression test yet?

not yet, but I've been meaning to. What do the compression testers cost anyway?

I think I paid $15ish for my cheapy.

Alright, the compression was as follows

left rear 135
right rear 55
left front 120
right front 65-70

I forgot about the whole put some oil down the hole and see how it is after that, so I'll get around to doing that today probably.

ahh crap, that's looking at the engine from the front of the car. So left would be passenger side, and right is driver's side. My oily spark plug behind the windshield washer tank is the lowest compression cylinder

I lost those pistons twice.

OK, I redid the compression test and nothing changed after dropping some oil in the holes, so I don't know what that means, other than my driver's side is running like shit.

I lost cylinder 4 last week too. Compression: 25. . . and that's BEFORE it got really bad.

I went to see a customer last week and in the middle of a conversation, he says, "I think your car is on its last legs." "Why?" I ask. He points to my car across the street on a side street. The front end was facing away from us but a big fog of oil haze was engulfing it. It was embarrassing, pitiful, and comical all at the same time.

MPtyza, seems like you, djwhetzel, and I have similar things giong with our engines right now.

Damn, my car isn't that bad. yet. I know with my luck it'll get real freakin bad when I have absolutely no money whatsoever.

So, can I just get a new block and be running good again, or are my heads fucked up too?

Your heads should be ok.

And all you have to do is replace your pistons with new rings. It is time consuming to do it the first time, but relatively easy.

OK, I think it's done. I was going down the highway (along side an SVX) about an hour and a half ago, when smoke pours out the hood and exhaust so bad that I couldn't see the car behind me. I pulled off at the exit I was going to take anyway, and I couldn't even get all the way up the off ramp. The gas pedal did jack shit. When I finally stopped, I popped the hood to find a fuckin fire on my damn exhaust right below the airbox. That finally went out, and after a half hour or so, I tried to restart it to go the 4 miles back to my house, and it would crank like hell but not start. I finally called my uncle and we drug it into the gas station parking lot that was 20 feet away. Gotta find a place to sit it until I can fix the damn thing or until spring.

OK, so I finally got to do a compression test on my car. To my surprise it was very similar to MPtyza's.

Cylinder 1: 130
Cylinder 3: 120
Cylinder 2: 52
Cylinder 4: 52

A rebuild is definitely needed. I have to wait until student loans come in which should be about 2 or 3 weeks. If I get a chance to, I'll take some pictures and post them as I'm doing the rebuild.

Does anyone know what the compression is supposed to be on my EJ20G? I'm just curious how bad cylinder 1 and 3 are. I have heard that it’s supposed to be around 150 PSI and I have also heard 200 PSI.