Benzie

Brought my car to the dealer to fix an engine oil leak on the left side of the motor. What brought my attention to it was a burning smell, most obvious after a short (10 min) trip. You could even see wisps of smoke rise from that area. The dealership told me both valve cover gaskets were leaking, along with the oil lines to both turbos. After holding my car for a week and charging me almost $2k, I was back on the road. Car was good for a couple weeks, and then the leak started again, only this time worse. Now it drips oil underneath, where before it never did. I brought the car back to them. This time they tell me that a valve cover gasket they installed was defective (I don't believe this) and they will replace it at no cost. But they also tell me that I have excessive blow-by and that the turbos themselves are also leaking. They want to give me a quote to do a short block! I think they think I'm a big fish.
Here's my question - Is is possible that cylinders are elliptical after only 145k in a well-maintained car? What are the mechanisms for dealing with blow-by and returning it to the crankcase? Are there any valves that should be looked at? What do you guys think about this whold situation? Time to get rid of the ar?

gideon-sf

covered under fact warr
they had to pull the engine to fix (and found some other probs too)
overall job wound out being specd at 9k (due to replacing the engine block)
you can search under my userid for the full deets of the issue i faced

good luck

paulroad

and this is why we keep saying "stay away from the dealers!!!"

What don't people understand with this? Sorry Benzie.. I have to vent.

We as consumers no longer allow dealers to make good profit on the cars thanks to the pricing websites. So all they can do is ram us with high prices for simple work.

Find an indy or ask for suggestions here or the other website.

Benzie

UPDATE - The "service adviser" who wanted to quote me on the small block wasn't at work for the past two days due to the snowstorm we had here in the northeast. I dealt with a guy Fred who is the only guy I trust there. I mentioned to him about the blow-by. He said "don't worry about it. Don't go nuts. It's a mechanical piece of equipment." One day later, I got the car back, no charge to me, with two new valve gasket covers installed, with the comments "clean as best as possible (sic). Install glue on corners. Both turbochargers are leaking oil also (not a lot)". No mention of the excessive blow-by the first guy was talking about. I guess I won't worry about it, and start shopping for turbochargers for a future project. Thanks for the comments and I just completed my last visit to that dealer.

sebas00

It's been 3 years since I started having oil leaks. First, it was valve gasket, then camshaft gasket, and now finally the real problem is that both Turbo are actually leaking.
Since Replacing the turbo is a big job, the mechanics told me to wait until they go bad. Since then, The engine has been running smooth. I put a tray on the floor in my garage to collect the oil and problem solve for now.

incrementalg

Your leak could be something simple like one of the return lines or seals. Wouldn't there have to be a crack in the turbo itself to qualify it as a turbo leak and not a seal or line?

Benzie

I don't know enough about the construction of the OEM turbos to understand how they leak. All I know is, on my car, the oil lines from the turbos were replaced because they were leaking, and now they tell me that both turbos themselves are leaking, but "not a lot". Maybe someone more familiar with the turbos can comment?

doobiesdaddy

Cam Plugs?