[heshhouse]

So I have a issue I wonder if anyone can help..
The passenger side of the engine is leaking oil into the exhaust and it is smoking white... So could the head be cracked ??? Im not losing radiator flud .. Im hoping head is cracked over piston rings if anything... Pls give me some insight to what you guys feel it could be.. Oh yeah and my exhaust manifold is also cracked as well...

 

[kms1990]

its common on the vg33 for the passenger valve cover to leak and resemble a cracked head but show little other signs, though it looks like you have torn past that, what did the valve cover gasket look like?

 

[heshhouse]

its common on the vg33 for the passenger valve cover to leak and resemble a cracked head but show little other signs, though it looks like you have torn past that, what did the valve cover gasket look like?

Valve cover and gasket are new.. Not leaking but I do have a cracked exhaust manifold.. And oil does comes out through that crack on manifold which you can see on the pic of the exhaust manifold .. So im really hoping its not piston rings and maybe a valve is gone ... Hell ive even settle with a cracked head as long as not rings... Um I put in K-Seal headgasket repair and it stopped smoking which leads me to believe maybe i have a cracked head.. Im not losing oil that much that I can tell by checking and also not losing radiator fluid ether so im kinda lost on why it is smoking .. Smoke builds up when idle and when driving no smoke... Also smoke is white but doesn't leave oil residue on hand...??? So lost at this point..lol so trying to figure it out and what better people to ask then on this site.

 

[kms1990]

Valve cover and gasket are new.. Not leaking but I do have a cracked exhaust manifold.. And oil does comes out through that crack on manifold which you can see on the pic of the exhaust manifold .. So im really hoping its not piston rings and maybe a valve is gone ... Hell ive even settle with a cracked head as long as not rings... Um I put in K-Seal headgasket repair and it stopped smoking which leads me to believe maybe i have a cracked head.. Im not losing oil that much that I can tell by checking and also not losing radiator fluid ether so im kinda lost on why it is smoking .. Smoke builds up when idle and when driving no smoke... Also smoke is white but doesn't leave oil residue on hand...??? So lost at this point..lol so trying to figure it out and what better people to ask then on this site.

sounds like you need alot of help, you have any trusted shops locally? and that k seal stuff is horrible for your oil lines and passages throughout the engine, it basically turns into gel so yeah you wont leak but you wont get flow either, have you investigated around the bellhousing to make sure its not an RMS leak causing the smoke, my 2000 had one and it was actaully not a horribly hard fix. I can see it plainly their is oil leaking before the RMS though so I find this unlikely, has it overheated or been run super low on oil for any length recently?

 

[heshhouse]

No over heating... Not since ive owned it .. Only oil entering exhaust manifold through the crack here.. Because that side is cracked so the oil comes out through it as well... Which causes the white smoke.. So what would make oil to be pushed into the exhaust manifold Om passenger side..

 

[kms1990]

No over heating... Not since ive owned it .. Only oil entering exhaust manifold through the crack here.. Because that side is cracked so the oil comes out through it as well... Which causes the white smoke.. So what would make oil to be pushed into the exhaust manifold Om passenger side.. View attachment 76198

usually a leaky valve cover and a cracked manifold as you said you had found both of these to be there and had replaced the valve cover and gasket, when you put the gasket in was any silicon used along with it or no? if not it may very well be a small imperfection in your valve cover gasket causing your issues, quick question, can you pop that o2 sensor out and see if it has oily residue all over it or not? that would be helpful in determining if we have a large or minor leak that built up over time in that spot

 

[heshhouse]

usually a leaky valve cover and a cracked manifold as you said you had found both of these to be there and had replaced the valve cover and gasket, when you put the gasket in was any silicon used along with it or no? if not it may very well be a small imperfection in your valve cover gasket causing your issues, quick question, can you pop that o2 sensor out and see if it has oily residue all over it or not? that would be helpful in determining if we have a large or minor leak that built up over time in that spot

It leaks like that everytime I start it.. Thats why it smokes out the exhaust .. It dont smoke while driving to bad but idle it builds up so when I take off from a light or acceleration it smokes like a boat till it all gets out and then back to not noticeably smoking while moving.. But that leak on the manifold crack oil comes out when running..

 

[XT2015]

It leaks like that everytime I start it.. Thats why it smokes out the exhaust .. It dont smoke while driving to bad but idle it builds up so when I take off from a light or acceleration it smokes like a boat till it all gets out and then back to not noticeably smoking while moving.. But that leak on the manifold crack oil comes out when running..

Sounds like a classic worn valve guide symptom with oil smoke at start up that fades with running at speed.

 

[XT2015]

Sounds like a classic worn valve guide symptom with oil smoke at start up that fades with running at speed.

Additional note: Service manual shows that the VG33 six engine has "valve oil seals" install on both the intake and exhaust valves. Maybe the valve guide is still in spec but the oil seal is trashed. Might be time to replace that exhaust manifold and pull the head for maintenance.

 

[Satito]

Check to make sure that that stud on the exhaust manifold is actually tight. When I first got my X I had a slight oil drip on one of my manifold studs and on inspection it was loose. Tightening the stud to spec did the trick. Note that I am talking about the stud and not the nut that holds the manifold to the stud. I had read that some of the studs go through oil galleys in the engine block. Not sure if that's true, but my leak was cured. Also do not crank on the stud too hard. You don't want to snap that bad boy off.

 

[XT2015]

Check to make sure that that stud on the exhaust manifold is actually tight. When I first got my X I had a slight oil drip on one of my manifold studs and on inspection it was loose. Tightening the stud to spec did the trick. Note that I am talking about the stud and not the nut that holds the manifold to the stud. I had read that some of the studs go through oil galleys in the engine block. Not sure if that's true, but my leak was cured. Also do not crank on the stud too hard. You don't want to snap that bad boy off.

Looking closely at the pictures provided I see that there appears to be an extra thread showing on the stud with the oil leak. Apparently not seated as deep as the one to the right.

 

[Paulsxterra4x4]

So I have a issue I wonder if anyone can help..
The passenger side of the engine is leaking oil into the exhaust and it is smoking white... So could the head be cracked ??? Im not losing radiator flud .. Im hoping head is cracked over piston rings if anything... Pls give me some insight to what you guys feel it could be.. Oh yeah and my exhaust manifold is also cracked as well... View attachment 76196 View attachment 76197

What a bitch, I replaced my oil seals on the passenger side, My X has 229k miles but I change the oil every 1500 miles. Back to your job consists of remove radiator, fan blade, hoses, timing belt, top intake, bottom intake, exhaust bolts on to take head off to change valve seals distributor can stay on ! I shopped on Rockauto for the head,both intake gaskets good luck

 

[Ksaint1]

So I have a issue I wonder if anyone can help..
The passenger side of the engine is leaking oil into the exhaust and it is smoking white... So could the head be cracked ??? Im not losing radiator flud .. Im hoping head is cracked over piston rings if anything... Pls give me some insight to what you guys feel it could be.. Oh yeah and my exhaust manifold is also cracked as well... View attachment 76196 View attachment 76197
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So I have a issue I wonder if anyone can help..
The passenger side of the engine is leaking oil into the exhaust and it is smoking white... So could the head be cracked ??? Im not losing radiator flud .. Im hoping head is cracked over piston rings if anything... Pls give me some insight to what you guys feel it could be.. Oh yeah and my exhaust manifold is also cracked as well... View attachment 76196 View attachment 76197

Honestly if its an R50 just bite the bullet and replace them with new cats, idk what state you live in but I will say this my R50 had 2 large cracks on driver's side and right by egr bungalow due to consequential damage from oil seeping on the header over time the issue I have in CA i used after market geaderd looks cooler louder but they would not match 6 point cat from r50 I used some from a frontier federal approved on ebay only because my smog guy won't fail me for visual however catback on mine rusted to hell I tried 3 diff companies to get a doug thorley catback or even a gibson no luck backorder and bad customer service ended up getting an oem aftermarket catback just need to get it welded on... Godspeed Goodluck my Friend

 

[Paulsxterra4x4]

There are two solutions to the problem, 1 sell X, 2 spend 6 days as I did removing the head.

 

[Allbrant]

Do a leak down test

 

[PHENOMENON]

I had a similar issue with 1998 Pathfinder. Like you i thought it was a head gasket issue but it wasn't. The issue was my heater line eroded and leaked coolant on the exhaust manifold causing it to crack. I replaced the manifold three times.

Thank God for Auto Zone's lifetime warranty replacement.

 

[Ksaint1]

That Doug Thorley sound doe....

 

[Ksaint1]

Ok ok no more heroics serious shit... I been in the process of replacing the front axles 97 pathfinder 176k R50 and passenger side control arm inner bolt is stuck now on me and I used pb blaster and hand started would go a 1/4 of the way in and then get stiff. Tried the old back and forth by hand trick got it half way started using impact since its cold rn in CA damn thing stuck now rounded a lil goona go undersized tommorow with Pittsburgh socket and get it out and buy a thread chaser. Anyone know by chance what thread pitch and bolt is it m14x1.5?

 

[kms1990]

Looking closely at the pictures provided I see that there appears to be an extra thread showing on the stud with the oil leak. Apparently not seated as deep as the one to the right.

man i was away for a few days not having my x anymore and not having the ability to buy another has me demoralized a bit so thanks for picking up where i dropped the ball and quit sharing what i saw wrong you hit the nail on the head i was needing to point many of what you did out to him.

 

[Ksaint1]

Ordered a thread chaser kit metric fine from Lang ima go over all my subrame holes after reading about the rust recalls and subframe control arm issues