So I am driving home yesterday, accelerating onto the freeway when all of a sudden I see smoke pouring out the back of my car. No noticable change in power, no noises. I get on the freeway and am going 65-70mph and the smoke fades out, and I check my oil pressure guage, perfectly normal, between 70-80. Again, no noise, no noticable performance degredation. I limp it home, about 3 miles, and park it. There is some dripping oil on the driver side of the engine by the front left tire, and oil on the driver side of the engine. When I look down there I see a narrow metal pipe going into what could be best described as a round metal piece that kind of looks like two pie tins put together, but much smaller, like 4" in diameter. Coming out of that is a braided line, that looks collapsed.

This is a 2003 350z, any ideas? I've never had problem one in almost 4 years, and then this out of nowhere.

 

it sounds like you're leaking from a seal. A braided line should never look "collapsed" unless there is heavy damage to it. I would suggest cleaning and de-greasing the engine bay thoroughly. Let it dry, and start the car to see if you find where it's coming from. A clean bay will make it much easier to find the source of a leak.

 

Possibly brake or power steering line??

 

braided line between your master and slave cylinder for your clutch maybe? Check your fluids.

 

Ur going to have to be a little more specific, all lines are rubber or steel unless ur boosted. And to location

 

Power steering might make sense. Sorry if I can't describe it well, if you are looking down the opening on the driver side of the engine, by the brake fluid reservoir cover, there is another connection that looks similar. Further down, on the lower half of the engine, above the front control arm, is where this one is located.

I'm going to go put it up on jack stands in the garage at lunch today and have a friend look at it. He said the same thing about degreasing it first, but oh well, hopefully he can spot the problem amidst the mess.

 

I am very happy, and very mad. It's going to cost me next to nothing, but what happened makes me very angry. I took it to Carmax to see about selling it on Saturday, then brought it home and parked it. It sat until yesterday where I drove to work, then it did this on the way home yesterday. Well, guess what it was? They had checked the oil while checking it out, and instead of putting the dipstick back in the hole, they just kind of jammed it between the engine and everything right next to the hole. When I got on it, it shot oil out of the dipstick tube up on the hood and then it ran down on the driver side of the engine and the wheel well. Worst part is, I am still wanting to sell it, so I can't really tell off Carmax for f**king me over like this, because then they won't buy it. So, going to Autozone on the way home to get some cleaner and rags so I can clean up this mess they caused.

 

Crisis averted. I personally like "Foamy Brite Engine Degreaser"...it's hella cheap too

 

Had a feeling it was something rediculous, Theres just nothing else there that would cause those probs. The dip sticks are a little hard to stick but there was no excuse for that
Just be VERY happy ---No harm but a mess and the Foamy should take care of that

 

I was gonna say check your dip stick. We see that ALL the time here at my work. The dip stick on the VQ is a pain to get back in the right spot. More so once you start modfying the engine

 

Does that Foamy Brite leave a film? My buddy was telling me he likes brake cleaner as opposed to engine degreaser, because the engine stuff tends to leave a film and a smell. What is your experience?

 

Iv never analized it----Course u can always Foam it or Degrease it and come back and detail with the Brake Cleaner. Pesonally I degrease then after it drys, spray with a 50/50 Mr Clean and water then hit it with the hose----carefully. Actually MC is a good degreaser for ur mess

 

Well, I cleaned it, and drove it a day. It still has a faint french fried orange smell, but for the most part it's gone. It's wholly gone from my grasp though, sold it. They re-appraised it too. I half wanted them to notice some remnants, so I could lay into them about how they almost screwed me over, but apparently I did a good job cleaning up their mess.

Thanks for the help/advice guys. No more Z for me. I was selling it because my wife got a 2007 X3 and I'm just going to drive her 96 Accord until we move to NC at which point I'll likely get a new 2007 335i sedan (my dad can get us BMWs at 2% under invoice).