Exhaust Leak/Soot on Back of Engine w/ Smell

[Brado]

Year/Make/Model: 2008 Speed3
Mileage: 170K chassis / 10K motor
Location: AZ
Concern: Exhaust soot on back of engine, underneath manifold & turbo
DTC's: None
Modifications: BNR S3 / EGR delete (pertinent mods)
ECU/Tuning Software: Accessport V3
Tuner: DramaTuned
Is the concern intermittent? No
Can you duplicate the concern? Yes
Recent Repairs: Motor replaced 10K miles ago
Correction: N/A

Hey gang, I have spent the better part of 3 hours trying to determine where this exhaust leak in my car is and short of having a shop look at it I figured I'd post here just in case someone else had some similar experience.

I can't give an accurate time frame, but let's say the last 3 months I've been able to smell exhaust gases inside the cabin on a hard acceleration. Turns out I've got what I imagine is an exhaust leak within the engine bay. I've attached some pictures of the soot on the motor, along with the very silly but also only place I can imagine it coming from.

I have taken a mirror and snake cam to the exhaust manifold, downpipe, turbo, etc. and have not found anything immediately obvious for the source of this soot. I'm told the stud/post on the turbo that I suspect is for mounting a heat shield, which I don't have. My wild shot in the dark is that somehow exhaust gas is coming out of this, but I realize that's probably a laughable joke at best.

Before anyone asks, gaskets/welds all look fine. Turbo was freshly rebuilt at the time of the motor swap by BNR directly, so if anything is broken I'm hoping it's the downpipe or the manifold...

Looking for ideas and am open to suggestions!

 

[Easter Bunny]

The issue is that you are dramatuned and your motor could blow up at any second

 

[Brado]

The issue is that you are dramatuned and your motor could blow up at any second

These unproven, hidden behind paywall, claims are comical to me.

 

[Awafrican]

Looking to move the drama tune thread so everyone can see it, it's been going on from years he's a garbage tuner, you have the ability to see the thread yourself and all the screen shots of conversations with the tuner and logs that were taken from his "tuned cars". Easter bunny is right anyone tuned by dramatune is on a ticking time bomb for their engine.

Now before this devolves more let's get back to the issue at hand, the exhaust leak, I don't think it's coming from that heat shield stud looks fairly clean on the inside, in the pic of the exhaust leak it looks like the leak is coming from the top left of the pic I'd look around there, perhaps the port on the block?

 

[neganox]

These unproven, hidden behind paywall, claims are comical to me.

EB is rarely wrong.

Check your exhaust manifold gasket for cracks? Did you use new mazda gaskets or crappy ebay gaskets? Have you put a bolt in the exhaust side of the turbo where you have indicated? I would assume BNR would've checked that during the rebuild and I haven't heard of exhaust sides cracking from them.

 

[Brado]

EB is rarely wrong.

Absolutely terrible reason and logic to throwaway years of firsthand positive experience. Objective evidence is needed.

Looking to move the drama tune thread so everyone can see it, it's been going on from years he's a garbage tuner, you have the ability to see the thread yourself and all the screen shots of conversations with the tuner and logs that were taken from his "tuned cars". Easter bunny is right anyone tuned by dramatune is on a ticking time bomb for their engine.

Then move it and stop wasting time. I've been asking since May of 2021 for this information to be public. You cannot make claims without evidence and expect me to jump on board. Additionally, only exclusively in these forums do I hear bad things about DramaTuned, and it's from less than a handful of people. With no objective evidence to go off of, I can only go off the anecdotal evidence of nothing but positive experiences from me and the community.

Now before this devolves more let's get back to the issue at hand

Would appreciate you not letting it devolve in the first place in the future. If we're going to have the elitist look at the tune and immediately hand wave genuine concerns away, tell me what value is the troubleshooting template in the first place.

I don't think it's coming from that heat shield stud looks fairly clean on the inside, in the pic of the exhaust leak it looks like the leak is coming from the top left of the pic I'd look around there, perhaps the port on the block?

I've checked the port as much as I can. Nothing I can see.

Check your exhaust manifold gasket for cracks? Did you use new mazda gaskets or crappy ebay gaskets? Have you put a bolt in the exhaust side of the turbo where you have indicated? I would assume BNR would've checked that during the rebuild and I haven't heard of exhaust sides cracking from them.

No eBay gaskets were used, only went with stuff that was vouched for during my rebuild. I can't see any exhaust gas leaking behind the gaskets, and it's all lower than I would anticipate if it were a gasket leak.

The stud on the exhaust side of the turbo has never had a bolt in it, but if it was leaking then that would be a true wildcard as I also have not heard of anything from BNR leaking as such.

 

[L337TurboZ]

If the turbo is missing a bolt for the down pipe or mounting then it's probable that something warped and that's why there's a leak now when there wasn't one then.

 

[Easter Bunny]

The spot looks pretty concentrated can you hear anything when the car is running? Check hot and cold

 

[Brado]

If the turbo is missing a bolt for the down pipe or mounting then it's probable that something warped and that's why there's a leak now when there wasn't one then.

Are you referring to the 5 studs/nuts for the downpipe to turbo? Those are all solid from what I can tell. The gasket is also white around all the edges still.

Turbo exhaust housing that is pictured above is the part that is missing a bolt, but seems to be for a shield and not important from what I've read. I tried to look up said shield online and couldn't find much of anything unfortunately. Nobody seems to keep those around.

I did get under the car when it was on and didn't notice anything outside of normal engine noises, but will give it another go when I get some time. I've got an appointment to get it diagnosed next week, so one way or another I will get an asnwer.

 

[Easter Bunny]

What downpipe do you have is there a flex section in it?