THE PORTAL HUB - Pinzgauers, Haflingers, Volvo 303s and more!

Hello everyone. Today I'm having a very perplexing issue. All of the sudden I'm getting oil in my exhaust. A lot of it. Funny thing is the Pinz has been running great! I had driven it home with zero issues and parked it in my driveway overnight. Today I went to take it for an errand and it didn't want to start at first and when it did is was really rough. I was able to smooth her out with about half choke. That's when I noticed all the blue smoke and oil leaking from the joint between the header flange and flex pipe. I'm at a loss. She was running perfect 10 hours before and now this?

Is it possible that leaving it overnight on my driveway incline could have lead to this somehow?

Pulled the plugs and cylinders 1 and 2 are wet with oil.

My guess is oil leaked past the heads/rings somehow. If you were parked at a steep angle, depending on direction, this might be a possibility. Park it level tonight and see if this reoccurs. If it doesn't, then gravity was the culprit. The cylinders angle 15 degrees up from the block, and oil doesn't run uphill.
The plugs look OK, in my opinion.

That's what I am hoping. She was nose up as she sat. I can't overstate how unnerving it is to see engine oil running out the exhaust.

You may also have a plugged oil return on one of the cylinders (check #4 first). This might fill the head up with oil, and it drains past the valve guides once the engine stops. If oil gets past the exhaust valve, the scenario in the photos would make a lot of sense. It has to go somewhere!

Pinzinator,
That's under the valve cover right?

Correct. If you pull the valve cover and oil pours out, you have you answer. Also, your valve cover gaskets were working well!

Yes, I had replaced them 2 years ago. I was happy to see they are holding up well.

I'll pull them tonight when I get home. I'll post the results.

Well,

I found an old post from 2009 that listed my exact problem. Oil running out the exhaust. The original poster had a float get stuck and wash 2 cylinders. I tried the suggested remedy of changing the oil (it smelled like gas) and pulling the plugs and adding a little oil to the offending cylinders. I turned the engine over a few times with the plugs out and coil disconnected. Re installed the plugs and after a nice smoke show I was back in business. So far so good. I have to put some miles on her tomorrow. I left her on level ground tonight.

You're very lucky! Wash can ruin an engine! Luckily this is such a tough motor and you caught it early!

Sent from my Z30 using Tapatalk

So far so good. I put 60 miles on her yesterday with zero issues.