neilbedwell
New Member
Hello, everyone! I have a 2004 Liberty Limited with about 155K on the clock. I bought it back last August (2014). It was in decent enough shape when I got it and I've been using it as my daily driver. It didn't take me long to realize that the previous owners (I'm the third) really didn't do much to it over the years in the way of heavy maintenance. Looks like all they ever did was drive it and occasionally get the oil changed. Right after I got it I saw that the power steering hoses were caked with crud. After reading on this site I realized they were probably leaky and well past needing changed. I ordered the parts right away and by the time I got them in it was cold here. I just let them sit during the winter since it was too cold in my garage to bother changing them and the fluid level in the reservoir was not going down at all.
Here's where it gets weird. I bought it in August. It had a fresh oil change then. Around October I changed the oil. Within a week after that, I started noticing a nasty smoky burnt oil smell coming into the cabin. My assumption (after some reading here) was that the weather was getting colder causing some metal to metal shrinkage and the fresh oil had broken loose some crud (and maybe the previous owners were fans of that stop leak crap) therefore I had leaky valve pan covers. The smell was VERY sporadic at that time. I would notice it one morning at the first stop light near work and then it might go two or three days with nothing. It stayed that way thru most of the winter.
As winter came to a close and the weather warmed up, the smell started getting worse. To the point that it was constant. Again, I'm sure it's leaky valve pan covers. Now that it's warmer, I can work in the garage. I decided to go ahead and install those power steering hoses I had bought and change the rear end gear oil (Thanks to everyone here for the awesome write ups). I even went ahead and bought a brand new power steering pump and installed it, too. The plan was that I'd drive it a week and do the valve pan gaskets the next weekend. No big deal.
Well, much to my surprise, the day after I put the hoses on - NO SMELL. Then the day after that and the day after that, etc. THE SMELL WAS GONE. Hallelujah, no more burnt oil smell and I don't have to spend a day changing those silly valve pan gaskets. YAY. This went on for the better part of two weeks.
One evening, I came home and needed to drive down to where my garden is. It's a steep little gravel hill, really steep, with a hard right turn at the bottom. As soon as I got to the bottom, that smell hit me. That old familiar burned oil stench that I was sure I had rid myself of for good. Crap! Well, back up the hill and parked it for the night. Next day, no smell. Night before last, I had to go down there again. Same crap, different day. Got a HUGE whiff of smoke at the bottom of that hill. Then the next day, got a big puff of smoky stuff in the cabin at a red light on the way home. But NOTHING during the day. Then last night, smelled it again when I got home and parked it in the drive way.
Now, not one time have I ever had to add oil, transmission fluid or any other fluid to this thing since the day I bought it (other than the ATF+4 I added when we changed the power steering pump and lines, that's it). Even with the old leaky PS lines, I never had to add fluid. I check fluid levels almost daily - they're perfect everywhere. I did notice last night that the level in the reservoir for the PS pump was above the Max Hot line. I took a syringe and drew it out to well below that line (but above the minimum line). I got one slight whiff of smoke this morning at a red light on the drive here. Could that have caused the smell? Where would it come out if it did? I haven't seen a leak of any kind anywhere and, believe me, I've looked. At this point, if it's not the slight overfill of the reservoir that caused it, I'm completely dumbfounded.
Do you folks have any suggestions? I didn't change the belt, it looked really good. It must have been changed recently before I bought it.
Here's where it gets weird. I bought it in August. It had a fresh oil change then. Around October I changed the oil. Within a week after that, I started noticing a nasty smoky burnt oil smell coming into the cabin. My assumption (after some reading here) was that the weather was getting colder causing some metal to metal shrinkage and the fresh oil had broken loose some crud (and maybe the previous owners were fans of that stop leak crap) therefore I had leaky valve pan covers. The smell was VERY sporadic at that time. I would notice it one morning at the first stop light near work and then it might go two or three days with nothing. It stayed that way thru most of the winter.
As winter came to a close and the weather warmed up, the smell started getting worse. To the point that it was constant. Again, I'm sure it's leaky valve pan covers. Now that it's warmer, I can work in the garage. I decided to go ahead and install those power steering hoses I had bought and change the rear end gear oil (Thanks to everyone here for the awesome write ups). I even went ahead and bought a brand new power steering pump and installed it, too. The plan was that I'd drive it a week and do the valve pan gaskets the next weekend. No big deal.
Well, much to my surprise, the day after I put the hoses on - NO SMELL. Then the day after that and the day after that, etc. THE SMELL WAS GONE. Hallelujah, no more burnt oil smell and I don't have to spend a day changing those silly valve pan gaskets. YAY. This went on for the better part of two weeks.
One evening, I came home and needed to drive down to where my garden is. It's a steep little gravel hill, really steep, with a hard right turn at the bottom. As soon as I got to the bottom, that smell hit me. That old familiar burned oil stench that I was sure I had rid myself of for good. Crap! Well, back up the hill and parked it for the night. Next day, no smell. Night before last, I had to go down there again. Same crap, different day. Got a HUGE whiff of smoke at the bottom of that hill. Then the next day, got a big puff of smoky stuff in the cabin at a red light on the way home. But NOTHING during the day. Then last night, smelled it again when I got home and parked it in the drive way.
Now, not one time have I ever had to add oil, transmission fluid or any other fluid to this thing since the day I bought it (other than the ATF+4 I added when we changed the power steering pump and lines, that's it). Even with the old leaky PS lines, I never had to add fluid. I check fluid levels almost daily - they're perfect everywhere. I did notice last night that the level in the reservoir for the PS pump was above the Max Hot line. I took a syringe and drew it out to well below that line (but above the minimum line). I got one slight whiff of smoke this morning at a red light on the drive here. Could that have caused the smell? Where would it come out if it did? I haven't seen a leak of any kind anywhere and, believe me, I've looked. At this point, if it's not the slight overfill of the reservoir that caused it, I'm completely dumbfounded.
Do you folks have any suggestions? I didn't change the belt, it looked really good. It must have been changed recently before I bought it.
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