koudja

hey all,

i'm a new owner of an 03 allroad (6sp ) with 136k on it. I've put about 600 miles on it over that past couple of weeks. It has had a faint smell of burning oil since I got it, but that has been increasing lately and I'm seeing a a quarter sized drop on the ground when parked overnight.

Valve cover gaskets and cam seals were done by PO at 119 (PO gave me all maintenance records). I put new spark plugs in it a week ago and the top of one was entirely covered in oil (#6? driver-side rear). Just took it to my Indy and they're going to put a dye in it to make sure we know where the leak is coming from. From reading the forum I thought it was going to be a clogged PCV, but the shop said those lines are all clear. Just wanted to get the forum's opinions before I go and do VCG, tensioner seals, and plugs.

Some other things that are going on that may or may not be related: very slightly rough idle. boost isn't always linear (I can sometimes feel a lull in pull around ~3500~4000). intermittent fault codes from the O2 sensors:

16805 - Warm Up Catalyst; Bank 1
P0421 - 35-10 - Efficiency Below Threshold - Intermittent
16815 - Warm Up Catalyst; Bank 2
P0431 - 35-10 - Efficiency Below Threshold - Intermittent
Readiness: 0000 0000

and, finally, on road trips the CEL comes on after an hour of driving at highway speed. it goes off after a day of driving around town. as for driving style, 99% of the time i'm really easy on it (trying to milk it for mpg), but once in awhile it's fun to put my foot in it. mpgs haven't been terrible, but a little lower than expected.

the small boost lines on the top of the engine are looking worn and have visible cracks in them. i've read on here that at this mileage it's a good idea to replace the plastic PCV spider hoses, what are your thoughts? also, should I just plan on replacing all boost related wear items (n75, wastegates, tbb, etc.)?

i'm competent with a wrench and plan to most of the work on this car. but, sometimes i'm too busy to tackle things and just want the shop to take care of the oil leak.


thanks all for your help.


john

koudja

Update.

The results of the dye showed leaking at spark plug#6 to be minimal. we looked closer at the VCG service at 119, they only replaced valve cover gaskets and cam seals, but not the plugs in the back. the dye was showing the leaking coming from passenger and driver side camshaft plugs.

When I start looking into the slightly rough idle, o2 codes, CEL at highway issues I'll start another thread.