Burning oil???

[SuprSpdDB7]

Help! I have had my car for several months now (96 camaro) and for the past few months I have noticed a smell coming from my car! My dad says it smells like burning oil, i always check my oil and rarely need to put more in... what could this be from. it only happens when the car runs for a long time or when the rpm's go near 4000+ (well i have never really smelt it when i ran it slowly) i searched this site and really couldn't find anything that helped, i thought it was that thing that someone said about stuff that people put on an engine to clean it, but it has been going on for far too long now.. please help i am really worried about my car, and i hate sitting at stop lights with my windows open smelling burning oil!

[Andy]

I had a smell of burning oil not to long ago. I got under the car and the valve cover gasket was leaking as well as the rear main seal. As for the valve cover gaskets, they are pretty easy, it just takes awhile. The rear main oil seal is a little more tricky. You gotta take the tranny and stuff off to get to it. Look under there and try to find the source. Chances are that oil is leaking on the exhaust somewhere.

[sped214]

check your PCV valve as well. it's like $2. might want to swap it out just to make sure.

[GregWS6'01]

if it's your Valve seals get it done at a shop. Dealer wants $500 to do it. A local shop can do it for $250....it's alot of work that if you haven't done it before you need it done right

[triad]

Check where the leak is comming from. If it looks like is near the Oil pan then its either the Oil Pan Gasket or the Rear Main Seal (pray for the first one)
I had a similar problem not too long ago and it turned out it was just the oil pan gasket.

[Patrick Javert]

It could be that the belt is slipping. It has happened to me when I go up near the torque peak. The engine puts out so much torque that the belt can't keep up. It could also be your belt tensioner not keeping the belt tight against the pulleys.

[GregWS6'01]

Differentiate between buring oil and burning rubber :D

[knowledgefreak]

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by GregWS6'01:
if it's your Valve seals get it done at a shop. Dealer wants $500 to do it. A local shop can do it for $250....it's alot of work that if you haven't done it before you need it done right<hr></blockquote>

hahah its your valve seals man oh man are you a psychic or something? You have no idea where the problem is. It could be from anything. Most likely points of failure is rear main seal or any other areas. Trouble shooting has to be done to figure it out not guessing.

[triad]

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by knowledgefreak:


Most likely points of failure is rear main seal or any other areas. Trouble shooting has to be done to figure it out not guessing.<hr></blockquote>

Thats what I thought mine was and I even had a mechanic look over it and him tell me it was the rear main seal.
I had a leak (not a bad one but a leak nonetheless) coming from the area around my rear main seal and the oil had leaked all over my exhaust to the point of dangerousness. The problem couldn't be pinpointed until I took it into a shop and had them run over it with a fine tooth comb. It cost me about 430 bucks to fix the Oil Pan Gasket (and labor cuz they had to disconnect the tranny I think) as opposed to 1500+ if it was indeed the rear main.

Point of the story - if you don't know what it is by just running your own basic checks, just bite the bullet and take it to a mechanic have them look at it then take it to a mechanic you trust and have them run a diagnostic for you.

[GregWS6'01]

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by knowledgefreak:


hahah its your valve seals man oh man are you a psychic or something? You have no idea where the problem is. It could be from anything. Most likely points of failure is rear main seal or any other areas. Trouble shooting has to be done to figure it out not guessing.<hr></blockquote>

Can you not even read?? I said IF it's your valve seals. Yes, you can be burning oil because of bad valve seals! I was respondging to point out two points to him. One, what it'd cost and two, that it's cheaper to get work done outside of a dealeship. Trying to help someone out, that's what this board is for. All you wanna do is criticize people.

[GregWS6'01]

Triad speaks some Wisdom.....you can't find that on HOW STUFF WORKS.com

[knowledgefreak]

ya well what triad said is exactly what i said dude, im just giving you a hard time.

[94CaliCamaro]

I'm glad I caught this post, my car is doing the same thing, I just figured that whoever I bought it from leaked a lil oil on something and it was just there burning, I figure it would just burn off. But I'm gonna take it to a mechanic as soon as I can. Thanks guys.

Davy Dave

[Ryan Boileau]

I changed my oil yesterday, and noticed quite a bit of oil on the underbody. Degreased it and wiped it all clean prior to the change.

When I rev the engine, I get oil coming from the rearmost passenger side portion of the valve cover. It leaks from this onto the manifold and burns off, but also drops down and coats the tranny/undercarriage. I notice no smoke or discoloration in the exhaust, but I do have a bit of oil at the small drain plug on the muffler itself.

Is this a bad valve cover, or something worse?

Car's under warranty, and I'll be taking it in to them after the holiday weekend is over, but I'm worried that this is presaging a larger problem. I bought the car in February but have only now hit 3000 miles on it due to some business travels.

Also have grime/gunk coating the differential and part of the drive shaft. Result of same problem, or is this something else?

Searched the forum, and this seems to be the most appropriate post, but it doesn't answer my specific questions. Thanks.

[NSolano]

same problem here, only i seem to have some tranny fluid also leaking. MY dad and me checked it out this morning, jacked the car up and looked at it for a while. Seems like its the rear seal or something. Anyone fix this leak without taking it to a mechanic?? I dont' ahve that much cash to spend. Tell me exactly what to do and buy if anyone knows. Thanks