Oil leak & rough idle problem

[Desolate One]

Hey guys, been a while since posting on here but I'm not an expert on the EJ205 and was hoping to get some leads on a current problem.

Right now, all of a sudden after 50k flawless miles on my 03 WRX I'm experiencing some problems. There's a bit of white smoke coming from my tail pipe but only just after the engine warms and only at idle. After a bit of driving there's no more smoke at idle. During the same time, just after the engine warms, I also experience rough idle.

When getting under the car I noticed the right axle, subframe, and my H-brace covered in oil and initially thought my TD04 was going wrong. Upon further inspection the exterior of the turbo, oil inlet & outlet, are dry as a bone. The leak seems to be coming from the right rocker cover. Oil was a bit low so I topped it off.

Next obvious question that will be asked of me is modifications. Car is an 03 wagon, fully catted, STi back box, & STi TMIC as far as performance is concerned. Recent work to the car was an oil change 1400 miles ago as well as changing out a bad oil pressure sender in the GReddy sandwich adapter. The only difference with this last oil change, apart from changing out the bad sender, was that I switched from Mobil 1 Synthetic 5w30 to ENEOS 5w30.

Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers

[Timdog1650]

There is a breather on the top of the valve cover. There should be one on each side in a WRX. They have hoses on them and meet at the intercooler and then funnel into the intake tract. Make sure these hoses are on snug or else you can get some oil sloshing/spilling that might cause smoke. Also inspect the seal where the valve cover bolts to the heads. There is a gasket in there and if it has gone bad you might be getting some spillage onto your exhaust manifold. Is there a chance this is in any way related to the sandwich adapter? Is there any oil around your filter? If you can, could you post pics?

~Tim

[Desolate One]

Thanks for getting back. Went riding today with a buddy who's a Jaguar tech and WRX enthusiast as well. I explained the problem I've been experiencing and had him feel the vibration with a test drive. Luckily he wasn't worried about it. Told me to check the idle air solenoid and more then likely some blow by had interfered with it.

As for the smoke, he just told me to get off my ass and flash a map appropriate for my mods! He seemed pretty lax about these symptoms and it really put my mind at ease.

As for the rocker cover gasket, I'm certain it needs to be replaced. The weather here seems to wear seals, belts, etc out sharpish. Said friend had the same problem with the same side rocker cover gasket, however lucky for him it was within his warranty period.

I'll also check the breather lines as well just to make certain. As far as the sandwich adapter, that as well as the filter were clean of any oil residue. If I have a chance I'll try to get some pics tomorrow. Thanks again.

Cheers