Exhaust Leak? - smell in cabin

[sssstew80]

Hi All

When the car is stationary with the engine running, or when driving at low speeds i have a very strong exhaust smell come into the cabin, its been mentioned that this could be an exhaust leak, is this right? If so how do i go about fixing it? and finding it?

Thanks
Stew

 

[aragorn]

You sure its exhaust fumes? More common would be a cracked breather hose letting oil vapour out into the engine bay, which then in turn gets sucked into the cabin.

An actual exhaust leak would be quite noticable i'd imagine... You'd hear it for one!

 

[sssstew80]

You sure its exhaust fumes? More common would be a cracked breather hose letting oil vapour out into the engine bay, which then in turn gets sucked into the cabin.

An actual exhaust leak would be quite noticable i'd imagine... You'd hear it for one!

Hmm youve got me wondering now, i know what you mean about the noise of an exhaust leak, it is a little raspy but nothing huge.

Re the breather hose, any idea where i should look for this?

 

[wallace78]

on ur rocker cover thats were mine is on ur left hand side!!

 

[mx_rab]

Make sure whenever your driving that you have atleast one window fully open, especially if its exhaust fumes as you may be slowly poisoning yourself with carbon monoxide. To locate the leak get it up on a ramp or jack it up (safely) and slide underneath, see if you can here any hissing. Try this after you have checked the breather though.

 

[Bradderz_1988]

Block breather tends to become brittle and split not that expensive from dealers around £20 iirc and they have changed the compound to plastic. Also check for any leaks at the injector seals or the pipes at canister purge solenoid on the airbox as they tend to break when replacing the air filter.

 

[sssstew80]

cool thanks for the pointers, will take a look this weekend and let you know.

 

[sssstew80]

Well, had a good look over it today and couldnt find anything! All the oil pipes mentioned look in good condition, jacked the car up and got underneath and the exhaust seems fine, no leaks, had a good sniff all around the engine bay when left idling but couldnt smell any leak... very strange. I did note that it didnt come in through the vents when starting and idling on my driveway, seems like i would need to go out and drive then pull up at lights for the smell to come in. hmmmm, gonna have to ask a mechanic to look over it now.

For the oil pipes i presume you mean the small ones running vertical then bending round to the left in my pic below?

 

[S4_dan]

If you mean the pipes i have coloured red, then those are your fuel pipes iirc.

 

[sssstew80]

ah right, so which ones are the oil breathers?

 

[aragorn]

Underneath the inlet manifold mainly (the silver bananna like thing)

 

[sssstew80]

ahh ok, thanks. so is that an under the car job to look up at?

 

[aragorn]

never tried on a NA 1.8. On the turbo motors you can see under if you move the water reservoir out the way.

 

[sssstew80]

OK, will have another try. I took a look last night quick before the light faded and saw a small plastic elbow which might be it, but i dont have a clue how you access it to change it as it seems all up in under the inlet manifold which curls around in a semi circle?!

 

[Bradderz_1988]

The block breather went on my 1.8 ADR not to expensive and just a case of whipping the manifold off 45 mins top.

 

[sssstew80]

Yeah, so ive confirmed it definatly the breather thats broken off with the hose hanging down. Anyone have a guide to remove the manifold to get to this?