Turbo oil leak?

Are you sure it is not a smelly heater fan speed resistor? Or leaking antifreeze?

some Vauxhalls have a filter inside the top engine cover, which, if blocked, causes fumes to eject elsewhere.

Otherwise a leaking or blocked pipe or gasket may be the answer.

mrcheerful

You're right. An internal leak usually shows up by a noticeably smoky exhaust. And I can't see how an internal oil leak, could result in a smell of burning oil through the air vents. There's no direct connection between the oil and ventilation system.

How does the car run. Does the turbo appear to be working as normal? Is there any excessive smoke? particularly when you accelerate after decelerating for a short time?

If the answer is yes to the first question, and no to the second, I would guess your turbo is OK. And if the turbo does need replacing, I'd take it somewhere else. £1100 sounds like a ridiculous price for a new turbo inc fitting. I don't know about Astra turbos, but most std turbos are around £250-400 at most, in which case over 700 quid to fit it seems an awful lot of money.

Yes. Take it somewhere else, or even have a mobile tune-up guy have a look at it. The least he can probably do, is tell you whether the turbo is knackered or not. Mike.

My mate had a cavalier. I'm not sure how closely related your turbo lump is to the 2.0 lump in his H reg 2.0GLi, however he had a periodic burning smell through the vents that turned out to be the rocker cover gasket weeping and causing a drip on to the exhaust somewhere. The internal blower fan sucked smoke into the cabin.

This seemed to have been caused by Vauxhall being cheap bastards and using cork gaskets.

Might not be the rocker cover, might be somewhere else, but I'll agree with you and other posters that if the turbo was leaking internally then its unlikely you'd not notice oil in the exhaust.

Douglas

I had a couple of turbo cars, both Saab 900s. When the turbo seals were failing on that, it was extremely obvious because it used to smoke a lot when hot after a run, or when applying power after being on the overrun. And I mean a lot - sit for a minute at lights, you'd be shrouded in smoke. You don't smell it in the car when it's moving at all though.

Your problem sounds much more like a leaking rocker cover gasket or seal somewhere that's weeping oil onto something hot, which is where your smell through the vents are coming from.

HTH

Jinx

It's funny you say that, I have a problem also with the heater motor I think I was told.. the fan doesn't always come on when I start the car, then if I go over a bump it will start.. this is occasional.. but could it be related??

I think the coolant system is fine, although I have had a new radiator fitted about 6 months back..

Thanks

Dave

The engine seems to run as normal, I haven't noticed a lack of power or any smoke from the exhaust.

I thought it was a ridiculous quote, I won't be getting them to do any more work now anyway, sounds like they haven't a clue!

Dave

Thanks for the reply Douglas. I'm glad to hear that the turbo sounds to be OK. I don't know what Vx use on this engine for gaskets.. I will try to get the car on some ramps and see if I can spot any leaks or trace any smoke.

Thank you

Dave

Well that sounds a horrible situation to be in, and i'm definately not getting anything that bad so you're probably right. I will get it investigated more based on all the advice from you all.

Many thanks for the help.

Dave