Hey Guys,

I must admit that this 911 is now beggining to grind me down!!!!!

The car has been in to a local Porsche specialist to fix some oil leaks. They found rocker cover gaskets and LHR timing chain cover to be at fault. Replaced all (including nuts on covers) run the car (idling) for a few hours and no leaks present. When I picked the car up, there were none of the normal oil spots on the floor and I was over the moon.

Driving it home, I noticed the car getting a little warmer than normal and just put it down to weather etc (its actually warm in Wales today!!!). Pulled up to a junction and the car died on me - left the clutch out before coming to a complete stop and she fired up and went fine again, done the same at the next junction?? - no misfires - anything - running really well.

Got home, parked up, just gone out to look at it and it is still leaking oil!!! I have also noticed that oil has sprayed up onto the underside of the spoiler and a few spots across the engine lid. The drive home was a bit "spirited" at times.

Anyone got any thoughts on this - I am losing all faith (and love) for this car!

 

I also forgot to mention that the car has also started to be reluctant in going into Reverse gear. It'll catch but only just - not even enough to turn on the reversing lights - the garage had a look but couldn't diagnose.

Forward gears are all fine with no grinding or anything - any ideas on this also!!!!!

 

? did they do a engine drop to install the seals. I just had the same problem with mine and found that the crackcase vent tube to the oil tank had broken at the flange where in goes into the engine. directly behind the intake. blew oil everywhere..... I just removed the intake breather and could just see the problem. it had become very brittle over the years.

 

Thanks NineOneOne, no they didn't drop the engine.

I have noticed that the oil pipe that runs around the back of the engine (parallel with rear silencer) has a few drips on it and the joint (rubber to metal) is also damp. Does this oil pipe see a lot of pressure? - I am thinking that on idling, pressure drops and does not spray out but once running, pressure is up and it sprays - the harder the acceleration the harder it sprays??

Please give me your thoughts

 

Wayne,

There is no real pressure at the breather; remove the air filter and have a good look behind the airbox. The attached image shows what it can look like - underneath the engine didn't look too bad.

These engines are a bit of a pig. I've just had a full restoration on my 2.7 and still sorting out oil leaks - inlet rocker shaft on No 5 was leaking, fixed that now it looks like one on the other side is leaking. Just keep plugging away(no pun intended).

I had a similar stop/start problem and it was just dirt on the points - on the CIS engines the points only fire LV not HV and a small speck of dirt can cause the problem you describe but what car have you got?

PJC

 

Cheers PJC,

This oil pipe that runs around the back of the engine - do you know what this pipe does/connected to?

Perhaps I am being a bit fussy, the car will only leave 3 small spots in the morning - all funnily enough directly under this rubber/solid oil pipe . Got a sneaky feeling that this pipe is shot.

By the way, its an 82 SC so no points - I am tempted to throw it back at the specialist!!

 

Wayne,

The breather pipe comes off the top of the crankcase and goes to the top of the oil tank. Mine only dropped 'a few spots' but look what was happening above!

Can't help with the cut-out problem - let's hope some of the guys on the forum pick this one up - they are not normally so reluctant. This message should take your thread back to the top of the pile!!

PJC

 

In my experience, once they start leaking, you have to machine all the surfaces on both the case and the covers to get them to stop. Or at least new covers.

Reverse gear: Try looking at the coupler in the rear seat area. the set screw somtimes loosens and goes out of adjustment. The shifter shaft should be spotted at the right location. Similarly, the splined end of the coupler can move. Once I had mine adjusted correctly, I spotted the shaft with a punch so I could check easily afterwards.


Hope this helps.

 

Wayne: This is really a tough one to comment on. Nothing can substitute for a set of experienced eyes, but I'll try to give you a couple of ideas. First, the oil under the rear spoiler indicates that the leakage is from under the engine, not inside the compartment. Rocker covers/gaskets rarely leak on cars that are on a factory service schedule, and timing chain housing cover leaks are even more rare. I would guess that you have one, or two, camshaft o-rings leaking. That oil will, when the car gets warm/hot, run down the forward side (driving direction) of the chain boxes, and drip onto the rear of the right heat exchanger, the oil pipe that you mention (across the engine near the muffler), and onto the ground (left side). This dripping oil will be picked up by the air passing under the car as you're driving, cause it to swirl around the rear bumper, and blow onto the underside of the spoiler. My questions for you: (1) How many miles on car?, (2) Has it had Carrera Tensioners installed?, (3) How experienced is you local specialist? (The reason that I ask this is because experience brings with it the knowledge to diagnose leaks.), (4) Have your oil return tubes been resealed/replaced?

OK, the oil line that connects the engine pipe to the front cooler thermostat will eventually leak at the metal to fabric connection. Usually it can produce a few drips, but not what you describe. If the right cam o-ring is leaking it can drip oil onto that oil line, making it look like the line is leaking. Again, without being able to see your car it's tricky to tell you what's going on. Do you have another shop that you can take the car to?

Reverse: Your symptom is usually caused by an out of adjustment shift lever. You want to inspect the lever's fore/aft position. Place the car in neutral, put the driver's seat all the way back, crawl into the car (kneel on the floor outside the car and go in head-first forward of the front seat). With the shift boot pushed down, or raised up to the ****, look at the bottom few inches of the exposed lever (between the bend and the floor), that part of the lever should be vertical - without exception. If it is not, the shift rod in the tunnel has probably slipped where it clamps to the shift coupler below a service panel below the rear seats (accessed under the rear tunnel carpet).

Do some checks and get back to us.
Pete

 

Pete,

Once again thanks for your invaluable advice.

In answer to your questions, the car has done 130k with no tensioners installed and my local specialist has a good reputation. The car runs beatiful - 188 bhp at the wheels on a recent rolling road (which in my opinion ain't bad for a supposed 204 bhp model - loss through tranny etc.)

I didn't realise that there were O rings on the cams - is this an engine out job?

The oil return tubes look fairly old and I have thought about changing these but they are both dry.

I will check the shift coupler again this weekend - if you remember I've had problems in the past!!

Even though the car is grinding me down at the moment - I still love it to bits!!??? - is this typical Porsche ownership?

Once again thanks

Wayne

 

Wayne: I asked about the tubes as an afterthought. They will usually start to leak while the car is left parked for a number of days, 3 or more. They have to be really bad to leak while driving. The cam o-rings, one at each cam, are located at the rear of the cam under the cam chain sprocket. The job is done in the car, the cams must be loosened, the sprockets removed, the o-rings replaced, and the cams must be re-timed at assembly. Obviously this is the time to do the Carrera Tensioner upgrade, and 6 new chain ramps. With 130K on the clock I can almost guarantee that those o-rings are leaking!

Your power loss to the rear wheels is normal. Yes, with the mileage that your car is at you will be fixing things along the way, but if your car has no broken head studs it should still have years of entertainment value left in it. Hang in there, and ask your tech about those o-rings!
Pete