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Oil leak on exhaust, need help finding source of leak
Hi,
I recently noticed a burning smell whenever I turned off the car, coming from the engine. After opening the hood, I noticed oil on the exhaust behind the engine near the bell housing. I'll leave an image. My main 2 questions are:
1. Has anyone had a similar leak to this? I don't think it's the valve cover gaskets because the owner before me mentioned he replaced them recently. But none the less, it could possibly be them.
2. Is the car dangerous to drive? Could a fire arise from this? It only smells like it's burning once the car is off. When it's idling still, the smell isn't there.
Can't say for sure. It's almost certainly either the valve covers/breather covers or rear main seal. You don't usually see oil get that high up from a rear main seal leak so my money is on valve covers/breather covers, but you may need to look at the back of the engine with a mirror to know for sure (ie. if there is oil all the way up the back of the engine to the valve covers, then it must be the valve covers). Depending on how much you drive, valve cover gaskets tend to last about 5-10 years, so you may be due for a second replacement already. Or they may have been improperly installed. It shouldn't be a safety issue so you don't need to worry about driving it, but you should definitely keep an eye on it and think about getting it fixed sometime soon.
I have oil leak at exact same location as your images. My best guess is improper installation of new valve cover gasket, why? because I just replaced about a month ago and soon after started smelling the burning oil smells..
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