oil leak, engine smoke

[crxnug]

Hi,i have a 1984 im trying to figure out where im leaking oil after starting the car and after a few minutes of warming up im getting smoke coming from the lower passenger side of engine compartment, i guess wherever it leaking is dripping on exhaust, what are possible areas i should be looking at, would this be the thermostat area?

[sballard]

This is probably the most discussed issue on the forum. If you do a search, you should find zillions of posts. It could be coming from almost anywhere, but there are a few common areas to check - breather hose gasket, oil pressure sensor, valve cover gaskets, seals, hose connectors, etc.

[kokenm]

recently I went through a whole lot of unecessary work for an oil cooler leak.

I have an 82 and don't know if this fits.
I put the car on jack stands and warmed it up. found that the oil was leaking on to the manifold from the cooler. Hopefully this is not the problem. I noticed that the cooler new was 1100.00 and ended up finding it at DC Auto used and tested for 350.00. Don't panic. put it up on jack stands and get out the shop light. check around that area and see if you can find the leak.


By the By: if it is the oil cooler you can remove and replace without removing the engine.. It is a little difficult but removing the engine and transmission was more trouble than it was worth. I learned alot but still more trouble.

Mike

[tonythetarga]

Take a look at the oil return tubes. 2 on each side, bottom of the engine.

[midnight911]

i got meat balled at track for smoking...turned out it was as simple as cam cover gasket. just replace the gasket, didn't even have to drain oil.
but that was just my case...just get the flash light and see where it's from. Could be anywhere as others suggest...

good luck...