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Old 04-06-2013, 10:04 PM   #1
swsubie
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Member#: 300133
Join Date: Nov 2011
Chapter/Region: SWIC
Location: Albuquerque, NM
Vehicle:
2008 WRX
SWP

Default Smoke, lots of it...

Alright, so heres the situation. I drive an 08 WRX and about 2 weeks ago I noticed it started to run hot for about all of 2 minutes, I immediately turned it off and popped the hood. When I looked under I noticed a decent amount of Oil just kind of gathering in the area of the skid plate closest to the oil cooler, and after looking closer noticed the Oil cooler itself was leaking... needless to say I pulled it apart last weekend and replaced the oil cooler and changed the oil/filter.

Everything was fine all week while driving. But, today (about 6 days later) on my way to work the car started smoking, A LOT. At one point the smoke even started coming into the cabin through the AC vent. I had no choice but to try and make it to work which was about a mile away and when I pulled into the parking garage and popped the hood it was hard to tell where the smoke was coming from. Also, i looked back and noticed there was a visible trail of me coming into the parking lot, which was Oil :/ the smoke looked white/grayish. I'm now at work and am just wondering where I should start looking for the issue at hand, I'm pretty new to working on my own car and if its something big i'll just have to take it to a mechanic. Any advice / input would be greatly appreciated.

edit: no cel's were showing when I pulled into the parking lot, and the car was not running hot according to the gauge.
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Old 04-06-2013, 10:17 PM   #2
mitchkeller87
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Member#: 278819
Join Date: Apr 2011
Chapter/Region: MWSOC
Location: Minot, ND
Vehicle:
2008 WRX
Red

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I had a couple oil leaks in my 08. The first was coming from the oil dip stick not staying down. The second one was my oil filter was leaking from not being tightened down.
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Old 04-06-2013, 10:38 PM   #3
swsubie
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Location: Albuquerque, NM
Vehicle:
2008 WRX
SWP

Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by mitchkeller87 View Post
I had a couple oil leaks in my 08. The first was coming from the oil dip stick not staying down. The second one was my oil filter was leaking from not being tightened down.
Do you think the oil filter not bieng tightend down enough would have caused that amount of smoke?? I tightened it down as much as I could, but I did not use a filter wrench. I just bought this subie in Jan and this was the first oil change I had done to it, but in the past on other cars I have never used an filter wrench.
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Old 04-06-2013, 10:45 PM   #4
Dakota D
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Location: Billings,Mt
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world rally blue

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As long as you got a good arm hand tight should be fine. I would suggest looking at the oil cooler again since that's the last thing you touched.
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Old 04-07-2013, 12:14 AM   #5
Aaron'z 2.5RS
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'00 RS/WRX Stg5
'98 RS Stock

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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dakota D View Post
As long as you got a good arm hand tight should be fine. I would suggest looking at the oil cooler again since that's the last thing you touched.
This.. the oil cooler being where it is is a dead giveaway..

We cant put our heads in tyere and look, so its up to you.. should be pretty obvious once you start looking
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Old 04-07-2013, 09:01 AM   #6
mitchkeller87
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Red

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I paid some idiots to change my oil when I was on vacation. By time I got home it had loosened itself up and drained almost all the oil out of the car. The car was smoking so bad I thought I blew the motor.
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Old 04-07-2013, 06:47 PM   #7
swsubie
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2008 WRX
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mitchkeller87 View Post
I paid some idiots to change my oil when I was on vacation. By time I got home it had loosened itself up and drained almost all the oil out of the car. The car was smoking so bad I thought I blew the motor.
That sounds like what happened to me. As soon as I get a day off I'm gonna get under there n check it out. I'm HOPING that's all it is.
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Old 04-07-2013, 09:11 PM   #8
mitchkeller87
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I could smell the oil after a while. It was so bad the entire underside of my car was covered in oil.
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Old 04-08-2013, 01:14 AM   #9
swsubie
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Location: Albuquerque, NM
Vehicle:
2008 WRX
SWP

Default

I looked under my car after I got out of work this morning and there was oil EVERYWHERE... I'm hoping this is what happened, I'm thinking I left the gasket from the old oil filter on there and screwed the new filter and gasket in... So, unfortunately, in this case.. I'M the idiot lol. Hopefully this is all that it was though and itll be a quick, easy fix. Minus having to buy some more Royal Purple
Quote:
Originally Posted by mitchkeller87 View Post
I could smell the oil after a while. It was so bad the entire underside of my car was covered in oil.
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