Please Help - oil smell - advice needed

[Karenjane]

Hi all, I have a 2005 WRX, I have recently had the rocker cover gaskets replaced, after about a week and a half the smell of burning oil hadn't subsided, I checked the oil to find it was critically low, I took it back to the garage who say that there was a kink in one of the seals they replaced, they say they rectified this and thoroughly checked. I'm still smelling oil though once she's up to temperature, also this morning she struggled to start, this has never happened in 15 years, someone has told me to take her out for a good blast but i'm now worried this might cause further damage, i'm at a loss at what to do, losing faith in the garage, any advice would be really appreciated.

[Jay762]

Wotcha and welcome - sorry your intro to the forum is not great.

It could be coming from a couple of different areas front and back of the engine so I would suggest getting a torch out when the engine is running and see if you can see anything.

I wouldn't recommend thrashing it

TD Racing is not too far from you and they have a wealth of knowledge about scoobs

http://tdracing.co.uk/

[Siluro]

The old italian tune go out and thrash it. It never works so don't do that. Sounds like your losing oil so do not thrash it. Need to monitor the oil usage after doing the checks from Jay, obviously if the oil level is dropping your leaking somewhere. I would check for any signs of oil near the exhaust if not burning it out the tail pipe. A drip on to the hot exhaust would do this.

[Tucker D]

Hi there, have you checked for any oil droplets on the road, this would give some indication of where to start looking. Also if it's burning oil it could be an oil feed to the turbo, depending on model. Or it's dumping a load of oil through the intercooler from the crankcase breather. Which builds up, causing the engine not to start straight away. Disconnect the hose from the throttle body and the intercooler and see how much sludge is visible. And like everyone else has recommended DON'T give it a good blasting. Hope this was helpful.