I have an oil leak that results in smoke from the passenger side of the engine around the middle part of the engine. The top of the engine appears clean but something is leaking at the bottom of the engine and onto the exhaust manifold ? Recently, I have had the distributor replaced but the leak was there before that. This MPV has a newer engine, transmission and AC components, so I would like to fix it for a reasonable price if I can. Thank you for any ideas.

 

how much oil are you losing over what period?

and you need to identify which part it is coming from as it could be any number of places - try an post a picture if you can

Depending where its coming from you can buy some products to refresh gaskets and seal leaks - but it depends on the magnitude of the leak as to how worthwhile it would be to do.

 

Thanks for your help and response. I do no lose a lot of oil as measuerd by the dipstick, but I do see smoke from the passenger side of engine. This is about the middle of the engine. I will post pictures later today.

 

Here is the picture of the area that the smoke comes from. The arrow point to top of the area where the oil leak seems to be.

 

I replaced both the valve cover gaskets, the blanking plate O-ring, the oil separator O-ring ( PCV valve ?). The distributor O-ring was changed by a mechanic a few weeks back. The Mazda dealership sold me 5 O-rings and told me that its a set. Two of these are O-rings for the blanking plate and two for the oil separator and one for the distributor. I could not see where the second set of O-rings would go on a 1996, MPV, V6. Am I missing something ?

The amount of oil lost to the leak is quite small but the smoke is annoying. Is there any other obvious spots that I should be addressing on this MPV ?

The smoke is actually from about the middle of the passenger side valve cover but there is no oil on top of the valve cover at all.

 

Can someone please respond to my "beginner type of questions" ?

 

Not knowing where in the world you are doesn't help.

Assuming you have the same engine as Japan and New Zealand, MPV's here have a very common & bad problem of oil leaks from the sump. They run a two piece/ two level sump. I've seen many and fixed many MPV's with bad oil leaks. The oil leaks onto the exhaust which runs from the front cylinder bank to join the rear bank ( & onwards to the rear of the vehicle)

 

Sorry about stupid questions, but is the sump seal the same as an oil pan seal ? I did not see oil that low on the vehicle. Since I am getting smoke from about the middle of the engine and valve cover gaskets seem to be leak free, I assume the oil is falling onto a hot structure such as an exhaust ? My photo is not very clear but it does show the area where the smoke is coming from.

 

I found the problem. There was a kink in the heater hose that goes just above the starter. The hose was also wedged in contact with the engine metal parts. When the engine heated up it burnt the rubber hose. I thought it was oil until I removed the starter and looked at it. The van was serviced by an inexperienced mechanic who could have known better. Anyway, I caught it before it spring a leak and lost all the coolant.

Thanks ggsumo, for your help. It was nice of you to post.

 

I thought I had found the problem, but not so ! I see smoke when air conditioning is turned on. I also note that the water in the return bottle is boiling and bubbling. The temperature gauge is reading normal all this time.

It seems like the water is perhaps not circulating well. All of the hoses seem fine and the thermostat seems to open as witnessed by the temp at the radiator in and out hose.

What could be the problem that is related to air conditioning. The air conditioner blows cold air, just fine.