Very slight oil burning smell when coming to a stop. Is my list of stuff to check correct?

[Clint Beastwood]

Doesn’t seem to be coming from the exhaust, and I don’t smell it under the hood/by pcv/intake area. I smell it occasionally from under the car or in the cabin with the windows up and vents on.

from googling around, I see that I need to check the fittings on the turbo. I’ve also noticed more engine movement lately (have a rmm, other mounts stock) and the passenger side mount is squeaking a lot. I read that the mount is oil filled so when I get it up on a lift I was going to check for mount leakage as well, nothing visible from above. If the mount oil leaks down it could be getting onto the turbo or exhaust, maybe causing a slight oil burning smell as well?

intake/exhaust/turbo smart dv/dizzy stage 2 - car runs great otherwise, no smoke, feels really strong.

If there’s anything missing from my list of stuff to check, let me know and I’ll take a look when I get the car in the air tomorrow.

 

[Clint Beastwood]

Alright cars up and cooling off, i already learned long ago to let a turbo cool waaaaaaaaaay down before poking at it. If anyone has anything for my checklist lemme know

I don’t know if the oil leaking from the mount can cause an oil burning smell but SOME mount somewhere feels like it let go. Crank the wheel full left and try to roll from a stop and the car “jerks” as the clutch engages. Does it slightly in a straight line, barely when full right. If it’s engine oil, it’s super slight because I have been smelling it for a few weeks and the level hasn’t dropped at all.

 

[Clint Beastwood]

Hm no oil on or around the turbo.

the front edge of my rmm was kinda oily with a thick pad of stuck on dirt but nothing around it is oily.

 

[Intuit]

Engine oil (way) overfilled?
Did anyone add any lately and miss the hole? (only way to see is to remove the engine cover)

 

[Clint Beastwood]

Engine oil (way) overfilled?
Did anyone add any lately and miss the hole? (only way to see is to remove the engine cover)

oil levels fine, about 4K miles since last change, probably gonna change tomorrow. None spilled anywhere I can see. Immediately after stopping I pop the hood and give the sniff test and don’t smell anything.

 

[Erick_V]

Don’t you have a 2J intake? I would somewhat regularly smell oil after doing a pull(windows up/ac on), as you know the filter and evap hose is right next to the cabin filter

 

[CSM]

check right above the turbo manifold. My 2014 had a valve gasket leak right there that would cause a slight burning smell a few years ago. Ford replaced under warranty

 

[green_henry]

I recently had a plastic bag from the freeway stuck to my muffler. It was half melted/fused to the the muffler and took a week to cook off Smelled bad when the engine warmed up (but less than I thought it would). If you see a bag disappear under your FiST and don't see it continuing on its merry way in the rear view mirror, make sure it's not clinging to something when you get a chance

 

[CSM]

I recently had a plastic bag from the freeway stuck to my muffler. It was half melted/fused to the the muffler and took a week to cook off Smelled bad when the engine warmed up (but less than I thought it would). If you see a bag disappear under your FiST and don't see it continuing on its merry way in the rear view mirror, make sure it's not clinging to something when you get a chance

LMAO this happened to me recently as well. I used to work for a plastics manufacturer and I immediately recognized the burning plastic smell. Sure enough, massive piece of tarp got stuck to my beautiful Thermal exhaust. The smell is gone but not sure how I'm going to get that massive caked on black crap off

 

[Intuit]

@CSM - Propane torch, breathing mask, good air circulation and a scraper should help.

He never told us why he wants to replace this part.
https://www.fiestastforum.com/threads/any-one-know-where-the-oil-separator-is.22501/
Should have zero moving/wearable parts in it.

 

[Clint Beastwood]

Don’t you have a 2J intake? I would somewhat regularly smell oil after doing a pull(windows up/ac on), as you know the filter and evap hose is right next to the cabin filter

ah I need to update my profile. I took it off because the rattling/buzzing and the oil smell drove me nuts. I bought a replacement stock cowl to seal everything back up again.

 

[Clint Beastwood]

@CSM - Propane torch, breathing mask, good air circulation and a scraper should help.

He never told us why he wants to replace this part.
https://www.fiestastforum.com/threads/any-one-know-where-the-oil-separator-is.22501/
Should have zero moving/wearable parts in it.

that is an odd part to replace without a really specific reason.

 

[Clint Beastwood]

Didn’t see anything obviously oily above the turbo/back of the top end of the engine. Did find that my pcv was looking a little juicy and there was a lot of dust stick around it, like from oil vapor. I reseated it but still smells kinda oily when stopping and when parked. If I rev the engine at a stop, no oil smell from the exhaust so I don’t think it’s burning any that way. I stuck a GoPro to my back window aiming down and romped on it a few times, no smoke.

 

[Clint Beastwood]

I don’t want to take it to the dealer until there’s a very identifiable problem because I have 2 ntf’s (no trouble found) for transmission grinding/whirring when coming to a stop. I unflashed back to stock and will keep it that way for a while to accrue some drive cycles. If it smelled gassy or sulfurous I’d assume maybe I killed my stick cat but the exhaust doesn’t even smell very strongly other than at a cold start.

 

[Intuit]

Wind is good for moving oil around. Small amount of oil can go a long way, for sensitive noses. Have you cleaned off the engine? Don't know if these are setup that way, but many engines will have oil leaking from the valve cover gasket and into the spark plug wells. Might be able to stick something to suspect areas around the engine that will absorb and discolor with oil, but not burn up with the heat.

 

[SteveS]

PCV valves are a good source of hot oil smells. If it gets oil fogged again in a few weeks, replace it.

 

[Clint Beastwood]

So now it's much more of a hot oil than a burning oil smell. Still can't find any visible source, but it is getting stronger. I'll probably let it get worse and worse until it's a really obvious issue. I had my wife drive behind me and she said she didn't see any smoke or smell burning oil.

In any previous car that was *burning* oil, it would do it at start-up when the engine was still cold. I fired up the car and gave it a little rev while cold and went and smelled the exhaust, no detectable oil smell. Once the car is hot, or after compression braking, that's when I smell oil.

The hunt continues.

 

[SteveS]

https://www.corral.net/threads/oil-smell-on-deceleration-whats-causing-it.270520/
https://www.miataturbo.net/general-miata-chat-9/burning-oil-smell-decel-10930/
Looks like a fairly common issue, and involves PCV valves.

 

[kivnul]

Every blue moon I smell oil when coming to a stop after I installed my vented Damond OCC. Unsure if this helps.

 

[Clint Beastwood]

https://www.corral.net/threads/oil-smell-on-deceleration-whats-causing-it.270520/
https://www.miataturbo.net/general-miata-chat-9/burning-oil-smell-decel-10930/
Looks like a fairly common issue, and involves PCV valves.

yeah. I knew some people had pointed out some really specific locations to check on the fist so I was kinda fishing. It doesn’t smell like it’s burning and I can’t find any specific “wet” spots, so I’ll keep on trucking for right now. I went to a big empty lot and drove around in reverse with my windows down to see if I smelled oily exhaust lol I did not.

I did notice it’s strongest if I stop the car, kill the engine for like 10 minutes, and restart. Damn this cramped engine bay I need to find my bore scope to poke around there looking for oil lol. I used my phone once on my fiat and dropped the phone behind the engine / on top of the trans... not doing that again lol