Got a leak need some help...

[hatchet9mm]

Like a lot of 7Ms mine leaks, some times quite profusely. I know I have a leak at the egr cooler, and I know this will be a pain to fix seeing as it is between the fire wall and the head, but I have another problem. After I have been driving a bit, I park and pop the hood and see what looks to be steam/smoke, my guess is it is coolant burning off from the leak but it is also smoking up front by the thermostat housing. What is even weirder is that it smells profusely of burning oil, but none of the "smoke" is blue. Is that just oil burning up in the turbo and I'm just smelling it, cause I can't find a leak but apparently there is one.

If you have any idea and are in the Indiana area and wouldn't mind taking a look it would be much appreciated, just PM me. I just got her on the road about 2 months ago and I just want her to be in tip top shape by spring so I can get down to business.

 

[RotaryHead]

did you recently do a head gasket job

 

[hatchet9mm]

The engine has a fresh rebuild with about 2000 miles and I have probably had the EGR coolant leak the whole time, but I just started noticing the smoke in the cold weather. the Head has been torqued to 80ft/lbs with a 1.4mm cometic MHG

 

[RotaryHead]

and the i forgot what its called but the front plate that bolts to the block behind the timming belt was milled with the block
i may be thinking to far um ck the cps seal and see if the valve cover gasket is tight

 

[hatchet9mm]

and the i forgot what its called but the front plate that bolts to the block behind the timming belt was milled with the block
i may be thinking to far um ck the cps seal and see if the valve cover gasket is tight

CPS Seal? :dunno: and the valve cover gasket I think those are fresh but I'll see its only like 30 bucks for a set of those right? And I'm pretty sure that plate your talking about was milled with the head or whichever way is right I can't remember.

 

[hatchet9mm]

CPS, just remembered. Cam position sensor. Sorry had a brain fart. Yeah I would but I have no place to do any work. How long until it gets serious, can I just keep filling it up with oil and coolant?

 

[hvyman]

so are you loosing coolant and oil? the egr cooler at the back of the head only has exhaust gas in it not coolant.

did you ever do a retorque?

 

[RotaryHead]

theres a heater hose above the egr plate that could leak. and just filling it up is a temporary thing that you souldnt do for long but you could go a min like that

 

[Vrank!!!]

did you put silicone at the front of the headgasket where the plate behind the timing cover you guys are talking about meets the block? I thought both my 7Ms had a bad front main seal after doing the hg until someone pointed this out to me, one car leaked a guart a day and gradually got worse, the other leaked like a quart every few miles. That one did need a front main too... I'm assuming all your seals are new?

 

[twan]

yeah i have the exact problem. but i dont loose oil at all maybe because i have a na? its getting worse and i can see antifreeze pissing out somewhere from behind the head. so its possible its a egr cooler ehh? is there diagrams of where they run?

 

[hatchet9mm]

It couldn't really be only that plate cause I'm only getting leaks on the exhaust side, but I can't get to the heater hose and I have to DD this car so right now just dumping money in in the form of oil and coolant is the only thing I can do.

If I can find a place to do it I would do a retorque, cps seal, cam cover seals and maybe a thermostat housing gasket if there is one. hopefully if I ever have time to do it I'd be able to get at that coolant hose while I Have the cam covers off.

 

[hatchet9mm]

So if the egr cooler doesn't have coolant in it, whats leaking, is it that heater hose the only thing that it could be or is there something else?

 

[D7MSupra]

There is a coolant line down belowe the tstat houseing infront of the exhaust manifold. Right below the cps. It goes from the head to the heater bypass tube that runs down the side of the block under the turbo and manifold. I bet that is leaking. Inspect all of that as well as up behind the head where that tube comes around. I had to replace all of those lines because they all popped while doing doughnuts. Id also replace the lines where the cooland goes in and out of the turbo. Have fun and make sure you have plenty of tool comboes like long needle nose pliers so you can get the clamps easier. CPS could be leaking oil to as mine does and im about to have to replace it.

 

[hatchet9mm]

Are you replacing the whole unit or just the o-ring seal (CPS)? Thanks for the input, I'll definitely keep my eyes out while doin the retorque, etc.

 

[M_31_07]

That burning oil you're smelling may be from the CPS, you might want to replace the o ring. If you look close the oil drips down to the turbo manifold (i'm pretty sure this is where your smoke/steam is coming from, cuz this happened to mine before.

 

[hvyman]

theres 2 hoses and a metal pipe behind the head that have coolant.

 

[hatchet9mm]

I know that there are those, but It is coming from the top of the engine, those hoses are way to low. I have seen the flow and it is coming from the top of the head.

 

[hatchet9mm]

I replaced the valve cover gaskets, that seems to have fixed most of my oil problem, now I'm going to pressurize the coolant system tonight to try and find that leak.

 

[hatchet9mm]

So I tried to test the pressure through the coolant system, but vatozone didn't have the adapter for import radiators:icon_evil:icon_evil. but I have noticed that after I let the engine cool the upper radiator hose is empty, do you guys know if this leads to a specific leak?