i noticed the other day when i decided to smell my oil before the annual change, it smelled kinda like exhaust and some of the exhaust came out of the dipstick tube after i had shut the engine off. so i started it with the cap off and the exhaust came out a little bit, but got sucked back into the tube when i applied throttle.

i then noticed a crack in one of the hoses that went from the oil filler to the throttle body and messed with it a little bit. it tore a little more when i tried to take it off (it was stuck and had to wiggle/twist/pry it off) and noticed that the exhaust came flowing out a lot more, so i taped it up with some black tape nice and tight, and it improved a little bit, but it still comes out of the dipstick (not so much the oil filler now). does that mean i could possibly have a crack in the dipstick or the surrounding area? like a gasket?

it doesnt appear to have a hard cold start. doesnt smoke out of the tailpipe, doesnt get hot, no gas in the oil, or oil in the anti-freeze, or anti-freeze in the oil. id fluctuates when cold at first start up in the morning but does fine. idles rough sometimes though when sitting at a stop light (think it could have been the gas i put in it that day). anyway, thanks for your help in advance.

 

sorry, i meant i started the car with the oil filler cap off ha oopsie

 

jagnoob,

Nothing to be concerned about. These Cat engines have an Exhaust Gas Recirculation System (EGR) If you look closely you will see some of the piping attached to the side of the oil filler pipe,and also to the intake manifold and air intake. It's sort of like a curved, twisted 'T' shape

The system does however clog up due to the oil and it is a good idea to take the pipe off and clean it out from time to time. If it hasn't been done previously you may have trouble getting the rubber pipes off their connections as it hardens with age, contaminants, etc. The pipe has a tendency to break so best to have a spare on hand before you start.

If you've got a Haynes manual, check it out as it explains the system and has good diagrams.

 

Perfect reason to eliminate the EGR system, as I always do on emissions exempt cars :-)

 

mastts89xj, how do you eliminate the egr system?

jagfix38, so the smell of exhaust in the oil is normal? or could that be a cause of taking the dipstick out while its running? maybe causing an abnormal flow and contaminating the oil?

also, do you know of a place i could order a shop manual? i downloaded a haynes pdf manual but its not very descriptive as usual..

 

Yep, smell is normal...it will improve with a clean and oil change. Pulling your dipstick with the engine running will have no effect on pressure, oil, etc.

Try ebay for the manual.

There is also an EGR valve on top of the inlet manifold that has a tendency to carbon up. it's quite a large component with a couple of wires coming out the top of it and needs a large spanner to undo...just be sure to replace the washer with a copper one. Sorry I haven't got a pic but if you google it ( I think it is JLM1741) you'll see what it looks like.

 

It's not hard. For most the cars I've done it to egr block off plates exist. That being said I've hand made them. Take off the egr, trace the shape onto cardboard, run to home depot and buy 1/4" thick sheet metal. Trace the pattern, cut it out. If you wanna get fancy, use anodized spray paint from auto zone, looks great. If you need shorter hardware for the thinner plate use washers or go to the hardware aisle. I use copper rtv to seal it.
Then enjoy a cleaner engine internally and a much simpler system. I eliminate it all including the charcoal can.
To eliminate the charcoal can just tee the emissions lines to each other to close them off, pull the charcoal can and the vent line can be capped with a 5$ breather filter.

 

jagfix, is that an IAC valve? i googled it but they called it a stepper motor.
thats so weird, ive never seen smoke come out of the dipstick tube. well i guess you learn something new everyday, thankfully its nothing bad. ill clean the throttle body up a bit and whatever else has potential to clog and flush the oil this weekend. thanks a bunch

 

Keep us posted!

 

for sure. this is my first jag, or even the first jag ive ever been inside of, let alone driven and owned.. ive been working on ford, chevy, toyota, honda etc but never went to the dark side of european engineering, beyond changing the oil on my mothers bmw, so im sure its going to be quite the learning experience im sure ill be using this site a lot

 

Yep, that's the part....stepper motor, IAC valve

 

would the stepper motor affect the idle when first started? ive also noticed that the idle will go up and drop a couple times during a good 3 or 4 minute warm up first thing in the morning.

 

Stepper motor could definitely cause that. Check for vac leaks too.

 

could you possibly explain how the stepper motor works? i took it off and plugged the connector in and turned the key but when i turn the key to 'on', it sounds like it struggles to come out and the plunger BARELY moves, but when i turn it off, the plunger retracts and goes back to the out position.

 

so i think ive found my problem, but i dont know what the unit is called. anyway, it has a hose coming from the oil filler tube via the crankcase vent hoses or whatever and 2 other hoses going down under the intake somewhere.

the main port going from the oil filler (to the unit) was clogged COMPLETELY. i tried blowing through it and wouldnt budge, so i found a sewing needle and tried to push it through and still wouldnt. i could tell there was a port on the inside so i stuck the needle in as far as it would go by hand and gave it a good couple whacks on the concrete and the needle poked through and i then proceeded to blow into it and a bunch of black stuff came out. AHH i hope this is it!

 

that was it! no more smoke coming from the oil filler! but a little comes out of the dipstick tube when i take the oil filler cap off while its running, and the idle still fluctuates at first start up. am i supposed to do a hard restart? ill give that a try, if it doesnt work, im guessing its a vac. leak somewhere.

 

Good Work.... that's the pipe I was referring to in my earlier reply.

I pulled out my Haynes after reading through your posts. If you can get your hands on one it will really help you sort through any issues you come across. Yes, I know it is not set out very well and quite often you will need to read through it carefully but in most cases it does a reasonable job of explaining the various system parts.

All the EGR, Air Inlet stuff is located in Chapter 6 and the EGR and Air Inlet are two different systems, working in combination. Please forgive me for not sitting down and typing word for word from the manual but it would take me forever to do so and then there is the issue of copyright.

One word of caution, and although Matt is correct in saying that various 'systems' can be eliminated... just be careful if you choose to do so as it can cause all sorts of issues if you're not certain about what to keep and what to throw away.

 

understood. i think ill keep it the way it is now that its ok. all i need to do now is flush the oil out real good, hopefully getting rid of any sludge that could cause a blockage. i hear ATF works good for flushing? anyways, thanks again to both of you, id be screwed without you.

 

I knew it case your crankcase vent system