Hissing engine bay? oil everywhere? uughhh..PLEASE HELP

[VEHISIC]

K so long story short, i noticed over the last week or two the smell of burnt oil after i get out of my vehicross...didnt see any leaks thought nothing of it...

last week or so ive noticed a drop of oil after ive come home from work and its parked over night....

a few days ago i can hear hissing coming from the engine bay near the firewall...

yesterday my brother points out that there is a frisbee sized puddle/stain of/from oil on the driveway...now im thinking CRAP...check the oil...doesnt even register on the dipstick...

vehicle has a perfect history, owner used this site religiously...always changed the pcv valves... NOW, i removed the pcv valve, shook it and heard no sound...MAYBE for one second but otherwise nothing...put a new one in...put a quart of oil in (brought it up to half dipstick) started it and phew no blown engine...

ive read through many threads but its weird these different problems are happening at the same time...whats making the hissing? EGR? where is it located..he said it was recently replaced....also could a screwed egr of clogged the pcv thus creating massive pressure to force oil out of where it could find a space???......... please chime in peeps! vehicross slumbers...


Charles

[LittleBeast]

Oil, probably valve gasket. If you buy the gasket valve set ($60 or less at Amazon and RockAuto) you will want to have your Valves adjusted while they have everything apart. Also good time to replace Spark Plugs.

Hissing might simply be the nut underneath the EGR valve this is known to shake loose often, and happened to me. It is just below the EGR valve around a round metal tube, and pushes back up under the EGR valve area and screws back in place.

[VEHISIC]

picture of the nut and or egr? and as for a valve gasket....it would just decide to spill completely out all of a sudden?

[atilla_the_fun]

I had a valve cover gasket (NAPA auto parts Set for -$50, with all plug gaskets) that needed to be changed, on the right side. There was a time when smoke came out of the engine bay on the highway during a cross country drive (1.5K miles). I really didn't have to add much oil, but the gasket was leaking towards the back (driver's side gasket) and oozing oil onto the red-hot exhaust.

A good way to see if you need new valve cover gaskets on the VX is to look at the bolts that hold the covers down. If you see oil buildup around a few of them or around the side of the cover, where it mates - you should replace those gaskets when you get a chance.

You should also get under the VX and look for oil on the back of the oilpan or on the transmission. Between the two there is a little metal plate that is held on by four bolts. Remove this window and you can see the flywheel/pressure-plate and torque converter. Looking inside this tiny window with a flashlight, you may be able to spot oil droplets. In this case it would be your rear-main seal.

There aren't that many places for oil to leak out: Valve cover, rear-main, into antifreeze, around oil-filter, around oil-filter-adapter, or around oil pan.

[Y33TREKker]

Have you determined where the leaking oil may have been coming from?

[LittleBeast]

Hissing also might be the Exhaust flange about to break loose from the connection with the header, this has happened to me twice now. Need a welder to fix that one.

[Ldub]

The clogged pcv (positive crankcase VENTILATION) valve caused a buildup of excess pressure in the crank case.

The hissing is coming from the grommet around the pcv, &/or the dipstick, relieving crank case pressure at the path of least resistance.

The oil is pumping up out of the dipstick &/or a valve cover gasket &/or coil pack O rings, & dripping on the exhaust manifold...

[VEHISIC]

well ill be damned! stupid FRAM oil filter.....was pissing..tightened, then leaked a little more....looks like the rubber gasket on the oil filter is gone or going at one part.....im due for a change in 800kms so might as well do it now!! and hope its just that.

Kind of crazy how i found this right after i searched for oil filters....

http://www.vehicross.info/forums/showthread.php?t=150


hissing....still around the engine bay drivers side-ish near the firewall......egr nut underneath is super tight.....

[Y33TREKker]

well ill be damned! stupid FRAM oil filter.....was pissing..tightened, then leaked a little more....looks like the rubber gasket on the oil filter is gone or going at one part.....im due for a change in 800kms so might as well do it now!! and hope its just that.

Kind of crazy how i found this right after i searched for oil filters....

Cool. Sometimes the easy stuff tends to get overlooked.

hissing....still around the engine bay drivers side-ish near the firewall......egr nut underneath is super tight.....

Maybe a vacuum line on the EVAP system that's in that general area? Just don't forget the echo effect. Maybe the PCV grommet got blown out and is letting air escape, but since that grommet is located underneath the black plastic engine cover, the sound is traveling backwards and it just sounds like it's coming from farther back?

[atilla_the_fun]

There is literature to support that Mobil 1 and K&N are some of the highest quality filters. Look into either if you want a good replacement.

[VEHISIC]

ill do the full mobil 1 oil and mobil 1 filter tomorrow...stupid fram....rediculous how many years its been and they still have that same problem from time to time....

ill check the vac lines later on, put in the new pcv brown and blue one that came with the vehicross from the previous owner, hissing isnt coming from that spot.

thanks again everyone!

[SlowPro48]

PCV? Fahgettaboutit. It's just held in by friction. Can't see it retaining enough pressure to hiss. Besides, if you've got that much blowby you would see the smoke billowing on startup before the cats heat up and hide the oil burning.

It would have to be a heck of a vacuum leak for you to hear it over the engine noise.


So my money's on LittleBeast and the exhaust leak idea. Let us know what it was!

[Ldub]

PCV? Fahgettaboutit. It's just held in by friction. Can't see it retaining enough pressure to hiss. Besides, if you've got that much blowby you would see the smoke billowing on startup before the cats heat up and hide the oil burning.

It would have to be a heck of a vacuum leak for you to hear it over the engine noise.


So my money's on LittleBeast and the exhaust leak idea. Let us know what it was!

I'll tell you why I posted my PCV theory.

The same thing happened to me, 2 weeks ago...

Due to my travels to & from bieng relatively short distances, my pcv system (not stock) was collecting condensation during my drive, then freezing when I got to work. Same thing happened on the way home, day after day.

Finally, all the accumulated condensation froze the catch can, & some of the lines, solid...no where for crank case pressure to go, just like a clogged pcv valve.

When I got to work one morning, I smelled burning oil & popped the hood to investigate. After seeing the exhaust manifold below the dipstick smoking, I realized where the oil was coming from. At that point, I pulled the hollow elbow that I built to replace the pcv valve. (same friction fit, same grommet)

I couldn't believe the amount of pressure that escaped when I removed it, it was like a geyser of crankcase vapor...& loud.(hissing, for 3-4 seconds)

I woulda never believed it, had I not seen it with my own two eyes...

[Vendetta]

It would have to be a heck of a vacuum leak for you to hear it over the engine noise.

There was an episode of M*A*S*H once where Hawkeye temporarily loses his sight. Standing in the operating room, he was talking another surgeon through a delicate operation; he couldn't DO the operation himself because he was, well, blind. When the operation was nearly complete, Hawkeye (just struck me, the poetry of his name, at least as it relates to the episode) says to the surgeon that he might want to double check the sutures because he's "getting a whiff of bowel." Sure enough, the attending missed a spot. Even though I was just a kid, that feeling of awe and respect for true "master," even if just a TV character, has stuck with me all these years since.

Last year, when I had my engine replaced, I was admiring it with the mechanics at the shop. With the motor running, and the air box gulping, the head wrench walks over to have a look-see. He leans over the engine bay, does a double take and says knowingly in his Turkish accent "I hyear vahcyoom heesing noise," and proceeds to reach over the engine shroud and find this tiny little hose disconnected from its flange. He plugs it in, smiles at me and says "now yhew can go."

In that moment, I was that kid again.

-V

[SlowPro48]

Ldub, your hole must be tighter than mine.

Seriously, I think my PCV valve would pop out of the valve cover before it built up enough pressure to hiss. It's that loose. Ah well, might be time for a new grommet...

You know, I thought of something that would pull enough air to hiss but wouldn't cause a CEL - brake booster hose!

Vendetta, yes some peoples' ability to pick out details is truly impressive. I've got a friend who runs sensory evaluation panels and I'm always amazed at her stories of how well the experienced panelists can pick out and identify the most subtle changes. I've tried it before just for kicks and can't tell one flavor from another while the guy beside me with the same two samples is identifying 40 attributes that are different.