icellphones

I have a 98 A8 with 92561 miles I noticed a burning smell checked under the hood no leaks on top looked under the car oil is leaking from somewhere on the left side rear what could this be?

Ashleey

Check the power steering reservoir. If that is low then that may be the problem. I'm not sure about the spec of your car, but mine has the sports suspension (a European car). This is an oil filled suspension shared with the power steering. Look for thin pipes inside the rear wheel arch that look like brake pipes. Mine had corroded and were leaking. The tell tale sound was the power steering pump working overtime. It was a simple fix but the oil is quite pricey.
Alternatively, check your head gaskets as oil can drip from there and along the exhaust pipes and hence the oil smell from the rear. A much more expensive fix, but the oil is cheaper!

icellphones

No doubt about it it is engine oilno visible leaks anywhere on the car.

Rtrn4Deposit

and that's why you smell oil but don't see any leakage.

The oil breathers remove the crankcase pressure and they go bad quite often becasue they are rubber and exposed to a lot of heat.

There is a proceedure out here if you run a serch to replace the hoses.

PaulW

When was the timing belt done? I bet they didn't replace them....see audipages.com procedure for the timing belt replacement to determine how to replace them.

Part Number: 077103487A

<img src="http://www.audipages.com/Tech_Articles/enginemechanical/tbp72.JPG">

Ashleey

And if you don't fix the breather hoses you will blow a head gasket. Take off the plastic engine cover and listen for hissing and look for wear

JimR

I don't think I've ever seen that.

Ashleey

I didn't do it myself but you can see them easily with the cover off..

icellphones

Is this a job that I should do myself or let a repair shop do it and how much shoul I expect to pay? Thank you

Ashleey

Take the engine cover off and have a look to see what you think