I have a problem with a slight burning oil smell in the cabin, sometimes my eyes are stinging from it as well! Doesnt seem to matter whether I flog or baby the car, still a slight wiff of it around.

Thing is, I cant find an oil leak anywhere that may b causing this, nothing is dropping onto the exhaust or turbo that I can see!!

Anyone with any experience of this or a similar problem??

Edited 30 December, 201213 yr by cyclesoul

Is your car a tdi? Bcause if it is could be smell of dpf burning off soot.

sorry no, petrol TSI

Could be a loose or split crank case breather pipe.

^^^ mine was on a tfsi, just a pin sized hole too.

thing is, when I open the bonnet, there is no smell at all coming from the engine bay. Its a real head scratcher

Look for drips of oil or oil on pcv pipes under the engine cover. Does it idle ok?

Excuse my ignorance, but wat does pcv stand for. Seems to idle pretty good, slightly lumpy. On rare occasions it holds revs for a few seconds. I recently used Subaru upper engine cleaner on it and that greatly improved the smoothness of the idle as well as through all the rev range

Positive crankcase ventilation. If the valve is broke it can push oil through the oil cap causing a smell and making the idle rough.

Is there any oil on the ground under the car after you drive away where the car was parked?

No no oil, lower tray is drip free n dry. N as isaid there is no smell coming from the engine or bay whilst running or after a strop!!

Did you ever sort this? I can smell oil/petrol from the engine bay after shutdown and in the cabin when coming down to idle revs. Can't work out where it's coming from. I had an oil leak recently which has been fixed, but the smell is still there.

Is it definitely oil hazza and not an exhaust leak? Do you only get the smell when stationary or when moving too?

Is it definitely oil hazza and not an exhaust leak? Do you only get the smell when stationary or when moving too?

 

It's really hard to tell. Most of the time I never smell it, but there are times when slowing down to lights, I can smell it. Then, when I get out the car I can smell oil coming out of the bonnet with the warm air.  

 

The previous mechanics foolishly forgot to securely fasten the oil dipstick after a change and I didn't spot this until ~10 miles later which sent oil all over the bonnet and pipes. This has been cleaned and when I had the IM off recently I could see any obvious spillage so I'm not even convinced that this was the cause of the smell...