raulcruz01@earthlink.net

Thanks so much for replying! I wasn't having any problems with this until I changed the gear oil, so I'm assuming there's not an issue with the boots. I guess I love this car so much that I don't want to do anything to muff it up. Plus there's the NASTY smell, too!

hello everyone! I have been wanting an outback for quite some time and finally did it. I bought a used 1996, arctic white, 2.2 outback with 135k miles. Well maintained, clean. I paid $4400 which i think was a good deal. I'm finding myself babying it as I am very happy with it. I've been tinkering with it by doing some basic maintenance stuff. Since I didn't know if the manual transmission fluid had ever been changed, I took on the task (I only know how to do basic maintenance stuff - not TOO mechanical). Draining was messy as it got on what I assume is the exhaust pipe. then I spilled some on the transmission while trying to refill it. Here's my concern: I've been getting A LOT of burning gear oil smell and it's much worse when the car idles. I did this last Friday and even washed the parts of the engine and exhaust pipe that had the spills on them. A couple of days ago, while it was idling I could even see smoke coming from the front vent! I've driven about 50 miles around town and thought that by now I would've burned it off. I've checked for leaks and ther aren't any. I checked the fluid level and it's dead on. Do I need to be concerned? Is there something else going on, or does it just take a long time to burn off. Thanks for any advice you can give!