Just bought a 2003 Bonneville SSEi and notice a burnt oil smell every once in a while. I am having the local garage service the supercharger next week. Do these have a tendency to leak oil? Or might it be coming from somewhere else?

Thanks for the help,

"Nasty Habit"

Check to see if the valve cover gaskets are leaking oil onto the exhaust manifolds. Then again, this might be bad advice.

Macdrive, checking for external oil leaks makes alot of sense. Making an *** of yourself by constantly jabbing back at people that have to constantly correct you is not cool, draws more negative attention to you, and pisses off the Staff.



Nasty Habit, the best method is to thoroghly clean your engine with Gunk Engine Brite or something similar, follow the directions on the can, then watch for leaks. Oil leaks are NOT common on these cars. Areas to watch are the joint where the LIM, Heads, and block meet in all 4 corners, the valve cover gaskets as Macdrive mentioned, and the oil pan gasket (which could be letting oil drip on the exhaust when you drive).

I'm going to disagree only because every single 3800 Series II engine my family has owned (4) has had valve cover leaks. That is the most common oil leak on the 3800. It'* very rare that it'll be anything worse than a few occasional drips, but, it'* still enough to cause the burnt oil smell. Usually they just slowly seep, not enough to drip onto the ground though. The supercharger won't be the cause of your oil leak. I'm giong to guess he comes back to you saying the valve covers are leaking, but don't mention it to HIM that you think it might be that... You don't want to give them any ideas if it isn't actually the valve covers. let them find the problem.

Custom, I'll disagree with you. I bought my Bonnevilles (same valve covers and gaskets) at 65k and 110k. Neither leaked a drop of oil. Of all the Bonnevilles I've personally seen and worked on, only 2 have had VC leaks.

Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't. But as I stated above, the topic author should check them anyway.

I'm going to add an addition to the post above, our Series II 3800'* were the only ones that leaked from the valve covers. Our other 3 3800 powered cars were L27'* and LN3'* and NONE of them had the oil sepage problem. Coincidence?

The problem I have willwren is that you and boosty think you're the only two that should be giving out advice. On every forum I've been a member of, there'* always a couple of guys that fill the need to DOMINATE THE BOARD, but this is the first forum I've ever been to where it'* the administrators that are dominating the board.

Maybe you should make it a rule that only you and boosty are allowed to answer questions.

MACDRIVE:

You are the subject of multiple topics in the Admins/Moderators section and the Gearheads section that were NOT started by either Bill or Bill. We are the two that correct you most often because it happens to be our JOB on this Forum, as well as our DRIVE.

If you'd like to be privy to the details in public or private, start a new topic or PM me.

Give it a rest Mac.

Nasty, two of the Series II (one n/a, the other */c) engines that I have done recently had a very slight leak of the rear valve cover gasket. Yeah, the one harder to get to. Neither car is as new as yours, however. It doesn't take much oil to really raise a stink. That'* the most likely cause of the smell. As mentioned, see what the mechanic says - but be prepared to challenge if he makes it sound too serious.

The seals on the ends of the lifter valley will sometimes allow some oil to seep out, but seldom causes a burnt oil smell, and is more messy than a problem.

To add to Archon'* reply, that MINOR leak is amplified by the fact that the fumes rise up along the firewall, then are sucked into your cabin at the base of the windshield, where your intake system draws from.

You'll smell one or two small drops.