Engine Smoking!!! Need help Please!!!

[bleedingagain]

hey everyone. just an fyi, i am new to this board.

i own a 1990 Mazda Protege and i love it, i treat it very well, watching fluids, regular oil changes etc.

but recently i noticed my engine has been smelling like burning oil, and smoking sometimes. at first sight of this i pulled over and checked all fluids, and they were all normal. i couldnt see at the time a sign of my oil leaking, but i am sure of the smell. i searched all over but nothing showed, unfortunately i really dont have a choice other than to continue driving, since i dont have the money for a mechanic right now.

later i drove it up to my local ski resort and noticed even more smoke, so when i stopped i looked under the car and my buddy said it looked like it was coming out of the catalytic (sp?) converter. iim not sure if thats what it was, but thats definitely where the smoke was coming from.

it was under my car this oblong looking thing with a few holes underneath it...i dont know crap about cars, but i need this to stop! i cant be having my car blow up on me, i cant afford a new one!

ALL help is massively appreciated!!! THANK YOU!

[altspace]

Give it the patch....sorry that was bad.

[Matthew1785]

you might need a new catalytic converter if you said its got holes in it that's obviously where the smoke is coming from

[zumzumzoom03]

you might need a new catalytic converter if you said its got holes in it that's obviously where the smoke is coming from


I've heard but never confirmed it myself when a catalytic converter is going out it smells like firecrackers.

[mannydingo]

What is everyone saying here? Catalytic converters come with holes. Second, if it's the smell of oil and it's coming from the cat, it means you have a minor oil leak. The oil drops are landing on the exhaust and sliding towards the converter. The oil is getting burned by the heat of the exhaust pipes and converter. It's probably small enough of a leak that it's not going to show a drop in fluid for a couple of weeks. Keep your eye on both the engine and transmission fluid but don't add any when it seems like it's getting low. Let it get low enough that you know for sure the dipstick is showing that it has gotten very low. After that, go ahead and put more oil to get it up to level. If you have a 1990, you have loads of miles on the car. How many miles?

[bleedingagain]

106k

frankly its in great shape, i dont have a clue HOW, but whoever owned it before me (im told it was an older japanese fellow) took amazing care of it, i mean the body has like a couple TINY dents in it, but other than that, the engine was well maintained.

yeah i was gonna say, i dont know hardly a damned thing about cars, but i know that the Cat is supposed to have a series of small holes in it.

but anyways yeah the smell is mostly of burning oil, maybe burning...something that i cant quite place, but mostly oil. frankly it doesnt smoke a TON, like its hard to see unless you look for it. and you can only see it when i stop, its not even noticable while driving.

[mannydingo]

..........106k

frankly its in great shape........... i dont know hardly a damned thing about cars, but i know that the Cat is supposed to have a series of small holes in it.

But anyways yeah the smell is mostly of burning oil, maybe burning...something that i cant quite place, but mostly oil. frankly it doesnt smoke a TON, like its hard to see unless you look for it. and you can only see it when i stop, its not even noticable while driving.

That confirms what I said about it. Now 106,000 miles is nothing for a Protege.

[bleedingagain]

okay

but what does this mean? is my car gonna blow up? is it safe to drive until i ge tthe cash for it? thanks for all the help though!

[mannydingo]

Oil dripping out of your engine will only ruin your engine if you don't replenish the oil that goes out. Keep an eye on the dipstick to keep the level where it's supposed to be. If you don't want the smell or leak anymore, you have to fix it. You will have to replace the oil seal/gasket causing the problem. They are usually coming from the oil pan gasket, the front oil seals behind the timing belt and associated sprockets/guides/pulleys, etc(this is work) or the valve cover gasket(easiest). There are other places but these are the common ones.

[bleedingagain]

okay as long as its not going to destroy my car im okay for now. although i am noticing the smoke is increasing.

damn i need my tax return like now =-/

[igdrasil]

is it possible to take pics?

[mannydingo]

Yes! Pictures from different angles would let us know a lot. Maybe even some from the top of the engine but more from the bottom--several from the bottom. That's because where you see the drip is not necessarily where it's coming from. It sometimes falls on the top of the exhaust and travels downward and falls elsewhere.

[bleedingagain]

i dont really have a way to take pics though...i dont have any sort of ramp to drive up on. mostly the smoke seems to be coming from under the car and from the cat. so yeah. i can GET pics, just not of the actual problematic areas. lol...so yeah...

i dunno it seems to be running perfectly, its just smoking when i stop, perhaps when i drive it does too, but i cant see, its not smoking THAT much, i mean if you arent paying attention you wont see it. but i DO pay attention, i love my car, it may not be the best car, but its mine. frankly i want to keep it in tip top condition. so i am taking to a mechanic with my tax return on saturday. so any ideas as to what i should tell them?

thanks again everyone!

[igdrasil]

well, then pics of girls w/ nice butts will do fine.

do it.

[mannydingo]

I can GET pics, just not of the actual problematic areas. lol...so yeah...




well, then pics of girls w/ nice butts will do fine.


I cracked up reading that(rofl2) I just wanted to make it obvious to everyone.

[mannydingo]

i am taking to a mechanic with my tax return on saturday. so any ideas as to what i should tell them?

thanks again everyone!

Nothing other than the way you explained the problem here. I would buy a Haynes manual, which is good enough for this, and do it yourself. At the very least, it gives you some jargon to talk back to the mechanic with so you don't look like a complete novice. Try to ask friends about their mechanics to increase your chances of a really reputable and fairly pricing mechanic.

[bleedingagain]

but wait....what about a nice rack? cant forget them!!

okay but on a bit more serious note, i noticed today that a gasket was loose. which may be causing oil leakage, not much, cause i have been keeping tabs on it. but enough

as for the leak, i definitely have a leak thats going into my cat. i think it may be transmission fluid. how could i correct this?

[mannydingo]

Check the metal lines that go from the transmission to the radiator and back. They are partly metal and partly rubber hoses. See, if it's leaking from there. Also check the actual fluid pan all around for leaks, ofcourse.

[igdrasil]

Clean the entire engine with degreaser or any other stuff you like, this way you will be able to see where the oil comes from.

[bleedingagain]

okay so i got a new camera recently so i am able to take pics of the leak

also keep in mind i drove through a mud puddle about 1/3 of a mile before i took these pics. sorry i just took them and its 11:45 at night here so it was hard to get good angles or what have you

<img src="http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y281/BleedingAgain/FluidLeak.jpg"> <br> <br> <img src="http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y281/BleedingAgain/CatLeak.jpg"> <br> <br> <img src="http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y281/BleedingAgain/Engine.jpg"> <br. <br> <img src="http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y281/BleedingAgain/Gasket.jpg"> <br> <br> <img src="http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y281/BleedingAgain/Cat.jpg">

[igdrasil]

Looks like its coming from the valve cover gasket? easy task.

Anyone?

[mannydingo]

Looks like its coming from the valve cover gasket? easy task.

Anyone?

I disagree. Look at both pictures he took from the top of the engine. Neither has oil coming from the valve cover gasket. Ofcourse, more pictures are needed to confirm that like pictures from the rear of the valve cover on both sides. We also need pictures at the bottom of the timing chain cover from the front and the back of it. You need pics of the transmission cooler lines right under the radiator and beyond. We need more of around the whole oil pan and fluid pan. We need them where the transmission and engine meet. In other words we need you to drive it and then come home and put it on ramps and do a complete picture job. If that's just too much then it's time to go to a mechanic to check it for you. All the pictures in the world may not catch it but we need many, many just to try. Sorry

[FlyinHawaiian]

It does look like oil leaking. The head gasket might be going or it might be a slight leak from the oil pan. I just rebuilt my motor and, even though we torqued down and silliconed the oil pan down, it has a very small leak. Other things to check are the oil filter which may be slightly loose, as well as the coolant hoses. Make sure your coolant resivoir is full and that its not leaking. Coolant is one of the most overlooked fluids out there and burns just as well as oil when it hits the exhaust.

Keep us up-to-date, I'd like to see how it turns out.

-Jeff

[mannydingo]

Yeah, but coolant gives an easily dechipherable smell. Motor oil and tranny fluid are harder to distinguish after they burn but you can sometimes tell. Good mention of the oil filter. I always check that but completely forgot to mention it. Once again, he has to get under the car completely to check that and the rest.

[igdrasil]

I disagree. Look at both pictures he took from the top of the engine. Neither has oil coming from the valve cover gasket.

The picture clearly shows oil coming from the valve cover gasket, if it doesnt show the leak in the pic of the top of the engine, is because of the angle the picture is taken.

Like I said before, clean the area where you see oil, and lets see if oil is coming thru that gasket or not.

These mazda engines..., all of em do that.

[mannydingo]

The picture clearly shows oil coming from the valve cover gasket, if it doesnt show the leak in the pic of the top of the engine, is because of the angle the picture is taken.

Like I said before, clean the area where you see oil, and lets see if oil is coming thru that gasket or not.

These mazda engines..., all of em do that.

I will admit it has leaked at some time from there and maybe even a bit now. Hoever, even if it's currently leaking there, from where he's showing the leak it wouldn't end up at the catalytic converter where he said it's ending up. I could be wrong but it just doesn't look like the main source of that oil that's leaking on the cat. You're also right that a different picture can reveal a bigger leak from the valve cover gasket. That's why I requested more pictures. Hopefully we can pinpoint this.

[bleedingagain]

okay i dont know if anyone noticed, but the whole point of the 4th pic was to show that i recently (yesterday) noticed a gasket was adjacted to the engine block. its right above the timing belt. could this be it???? i sure hope so, cause thats an EASY pleasy fix...my luck isnt that good tho lol

[mannydingo]

Above the timing belt? The timing belt is not visible there. You can see the timing belt cover, though. It's under that. The visible belt is a drivebelt but I still don't see what gasket you're talking about. Use the PAINT program or whichever to point to it and MORE PICTURES PLEASE!

[mannydingo]

Hey, fill us in. Where was the leak finally coming from? Well, that's unless you decided to just keep driving it that way knowing there would be no problem if you just kept the fluids up to proper level. Was it maybe leaking out of the crankshaft or camshaft seals? Let us know what happened?