I'm getting a smell inside the cabin after I boot the car, I open the up the bonnet of the car and I can see some smoke not a lot rising from the back on the engine, But I can't tell if its coming from the Engine, or the exhaust, any ideas? anyone had the same experiance?

look for traces (drops) of oil in the area between the engine and transmission (under the car)...if so, then most probably your rear main seal is leaking (requires transmission removal to fix)

 

-Eric

Thanks Eric I will check it tonight.

The main seal is this on the engine side? will the engine need to be removed for it to be replaced.

yup, it's a crank-seal (engine side)

and for replacement of the seal 'only' the transmission needs to be removed

Thanks Eric, do you think the PCV valves being fault might cause the seal to blow in the first place?

Marc, seized PCV-valves, blocked PCV-hoses or an oil overfill are usually the cause of a leaking seal.

So when replacing the seal ALWAYS replace the PCV-valves (and hoses) as well...

 

 

 

Hi Marc

I,ve had a smell like this for about 3months every time i floor it it stinks in the cabin but only when the temp is on hot if i turn the temp to 10 i dont smell it, my heater matrix went and i thought this was it but after ive had it fixed its stil there does yours smell wen the temp is cold or on 10 ??

 

Terry

It smells after booting regardless of heater postion. Discovered most of the smell is outside of the car, if I keep the windows shut I can't smell anything, Looked underneath the car last night, and I can see traces of oil on the exhaust, with my fingers I can feel the oil running down the exhaust, it seems to come from the gearbox/engine area. Checked the oil this morning, and it seems to be overfilled, which could explain it blowing past the crankcase seal at high revs. The oil is past the high marker on the dipstick. Going to drain the oil tonight and put fresh oil, question how much oil do I put back in? how many litres?