'86 turbo track car.
This was sudden issue while on track. Smoke coming from under hood, pull off track right away and there was oil all over the headlight motor, and covering the power steering lines...right in that area. The oil is spraying/blowing, not just dripping. The oil filter is tight. Don't think it's the filter. Along with this, the car seems to be down on power, not boosting fully. The oil only seems to leak under track conditions. Can't get it to happen just driving on the street, although the boost issue is there on the street.

Any ideas on where to start?

 

Oil cooler lines are in that area. OPRV is bolted in that area as is the oil thermostat. Thermostat is the large round cover (huge, maybe 50mm) with a large hex socket in it. OPRV is a bolt head, 24mm I think. Could see if thats tightened.

 

Might also be the pressure sender under the oil filter, mine leaks.

 

I don't think it's the thermostat as it's tight and dry around there. It could be the pressure sender under the filter. The oil is on the filter, covering the power steering lines and on the headlight motor. Engine and area below is dry. Also seeing some oil on the belt cover to that side too.
Would the pressure sender cause oil to spray in these areas? Again it doesn't happen under light load but only can get it to happen under hard driving,on track.

 

I had this happen. In my case, the oil cooler line had a small slice in it - but it was immediately above the power steering belt, and so it would drip onto the belt and fling it everywhere. Check for small leaks in the vicinity of belts.

 

The oprv has failed if it's spraying with a lot of pressure.

 

Yes, mine is leaking at the same place with the same results.

 

closing the loop on this...

Sometimes the solutions are easy and right in front of you but can drive you crazy trying to run it down.

I've been dealing with a no start issue for some time so the oil leak item has been back of mind. The no start issue was tracked down to a bad DME...these computers are getting old and while they have performed admirably, mine finally died...new one on the way from ECU Doc.

Back to the oil leak...while talking through the issue with my mechanic, and shining a light around the area that the oil was, a tear in the coupler from the hard pipe to the intercooler became apparent. The piece was fairly new, which is dissapointing but I was stoked to have found the problem with both the oil spraying and being down on power

 

Wait...so the oil was from blowby in the intake charge escaping from a leaking boost coupler? That doesn't seem normal, when you say it was spraying I'm picturing a whole lot of oil coming out with some force...there shouldn't be that much oil in the intake charge.

 

Agreed, if theres that much oil in blow by, you probably have bad seals in the turbo, or something else is leaking in that area.

 

also, your lower balance shaft housing oring behind the power steering pump console mount is probably just spewing oil and washing to the oprv / sender and headers. #1 common misdiagnosed leak.

 

+1, its surprising how much oil can come from there. I just resealed my lower shaft 2 weeks ago because it started to randomly pour oil one day.

 

It wasn't a bunch of oil. Just some. It was getting wet on the headlight motor and coil area. Was happening under track conditions only with sustained high rpm and boost.