Fumes coming into the car

[Mta4mania]

Hello everyone

I own a 1998, S reg, MkII Ibiza 1.4 8v with 120,000 miles on the clock.

3 weeks ago the smell of fumes started to come into the cabin while the blowers are turned on (which is all the time now as winter is here).

I am a home mechanic, so I always investigate and solve / fix any problems I find by myself, but this one has me stumped. Anyway, I think I've narrowed it down to 2 possible causes...

1. Exhaust gas leak at between either the head / manifold (new gasket, studs and lock nuts arriving tomorrow) or between the manifold and front section of exhaust.

2. Oil vapour fumes coming from the breather pipe / box for the PVC (crank breather box). New O rings and seal arriving tomorrow for the breather box. Also picking up a pipe for the connection between the breather box and the air filter box.

What has me puzzled is this... I cannot see any fumes rising from the area around the crank breather box and when I have taken the breather box off the car both the pipe and the box are full of emulsion. Has been given a thorough flush with degreasant now and is sat drying out on a radiator. Some emulsion has even got into the air filter box, so could explain the smoke from the exhaust and high emissions at the last MOT.

There's no emulsion under the oil filler cap and none in the expansion tank, so I believe the metal head gasket is fine. Also, the piston rings are in good condition as I got a high, even pressure across all 4 cylinders when I did a compression test. Also, recently replace the rocker gasket, so no leaks there either.

I would appreciate any help that anyone can offer as we can't afford another car (neither do we want one as we love our little blue beeza). All we want is a bit of cheap, safe motoring.

Many thanks in advance

Jon

 

[thebody]

If your concerned about the white emulsion i wouldnt be its the pretty normal for it to build up over the years in your breather pipes

 

[notroom]

Fumes coming in car

Hi I have a 2005 mk 1 seat Leon Cupra R and have the same problem,to me it seems to be a breather problem as I have a strong smell of burnt oil coming in.I have checked every pipe I can get to with no signs of splits or oil any where.Have you had any luck solving yours?
shane

 

[Mta4mania]

Hey fellas

Had some good luck with this job and got straight to the problem.

Turns out it was the crank breather box that was leaking oil onto the front section of the exhaust pipe. The fumes were rising straight up into the air intake for the blowers. New O-rings cost £6 from Seat. They ordered them in next day so collected them today and fit them. Also, the rubber hose that runs from the breather box to the air filter box was bunged up with emulsion. Cleaned it all out and cleaned the emulsion that had spilled into the air filer box. Also, the hose had been twisted when it was fit and had collapsed, it was still in good condition so I refit it correctly. Turns out thats why its been running smokey. Will probably flush the oil system and change the oil next week. Hope it's not hurt the Cat.

Changed the exhaust manifold gasket too, more for peace of mind than anything. Glad i did coz the old one had seen better days.

Hope it helps, will let you know how this gets on.

Jon