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Smoke from hood scoop...

32K views 20 replies 7 participants last post by  lindabum 
#1 ·
Hey guys, I drive a 2003 WRX with about 117000 on it, and for a while now I've noticed smoke from the hood scoop at stoplights and etc. I just fixed a pretty bad oil leak by replacing my oil cooler gasket and figured that might help but didn't seem to help at all. Theres a burning smell while driving, obviously gets worse if you switch my A/C off of recirculation. Did a DP/UP job about 3 months ago as well. Smoke seems to be coming from around turbo area, sorry i cant pinpoint it exactly. And no its not blue smoke. Can't find like any drips on exhaust or anything, and A/C drip isn't dripping on DP either. does anyone at all have any suggestions????
 
#2 ·
Could be a leaking oil return line off of the turbo or something else. There could be a ton of different areas it could be coming from. If you can see the smoke coming out of the scoop from a stop then you should be able to see where it's coming from while looking at the engine with the hood up. This will give you and us a much better place to start from. Does it smell like burnt oil, coolant, rubber, etc?
 
#3 ·
sorry forgot to say i guess, yea it seems to be coming from the turbo/UP area, hard to pinpoint it exactly though. and idk what the smell is honestly, can't put my finger on it, something burning though, i know its not coolant and pretty sure its not oil (just fixed a leak on coolant a while ago, and major oil one a couple weeks ago)
 
#5 ·
It's been going on for 3 months? If it weren't consuming something (oil, coolant) then I think it would have stopped by now. Even if it were melting plastic then it would have burnt away everything that would cause a smell already. That's my 0.02. There are 4 smells I would describe possible. There's the hot metal smell when you have new parts that smells like the first time you turn on the heater in the fall/winter, or a little model train set/slot car set when you were a kid. Oil smells a little like raw fuel and it'll give you a headache, so I think you would definitely know that smell. Coolant doesn't smell like anti-freeze when it burns. It's more of a mild choking hazard for me, but the smell is just a little rubbery. The last smell would be plastic, and that smell describes itself. It's warm smelling, but not entirely offensive. I kind of like the smell of hot plastic, it's just oo bad that generally means something is wrong.
 
#7 ·
come to think of it, i did wrap my DP/UP and on my bottom stud turbo to DP i couldnt get it super torqued on, idk if thats somehow affecting it, and smells are honestly pretty strong exhaust, maybe some burning rubber somewhere in there, and possibly oil, idk exhaust is pretty strong smell though. hmm.... its late now but ill have to check my wraps in the morning, but only thing is the smoke seems like its coming from infront of my turbo like, down in that little section by the UP not the DP...
 
#10 ·
Try looking around in the area you see the smoke and look for any signs of oil on anything. Jack up the car and look around also. The wrap from your exhaust should have stopped smoking a long time ago. If you smell a lot of exhaust you may have a leak in one of your exhaust gaskets on the turbo. I wouldn't imagine that would smoke a whole lot though. How much smoke do you actually see?
 
#19 ·
yea took that valve cover off. motor in the car, but let me tell you PITA!! omg, subaru why do you hate us! yea compared to like a flippin honda, this was crazy, and theres two of them (passenger/driver). but yea didnt do drivers side yet, prob gunna do that this weekend. Passenger was main issue, but yea all the gaskets were literally as hard and brittle as plastic when i took them out. just pop off snorkel, airbox and you're there. also gotta take out the two spark plug coils, think it was a 12mm for that. a 10mm ratcheting wrench is helpfull and a 10mm socket on a small ratchet as well, need them for tight space, 8 total bolts holding cover on after spark plugs. again pita, but i think its way worth it. only problem is that (due to the design) i dripped oil on my uppipe while taking the cover off. so now im smoking like a mother. but hopefully itll burn off quick and ill be rid of the leak/smoke/smell.
 
#21 ·
having the same problem with my subie. I just got it in December from capitol toyota off the used car lot. The day right after I noticed white smoke from the hood scoop and called to ask them what it was and took it back for them to look at as well. They said it might be the chemicals used to clean the engine, or they topped off the oil and the excess is burning off. it's a 2002 wrx wagon with about 127,000 miles. it's now almost may and its still burning white smoke......at a lost for words about how to go about fixing it. I've had ppl tell me that i need a new turbo, some tell me that I probably have an oil line leaking any suggestions on what to look for???? where to start looking???
 
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