Alright.. Some of you may have read my thread about the cam tower leaking. Now im sceptical wether its the cam tower leaking or not.

Forgive me for possibly asking a really stupid question, but could this possibly be a head gasket leak? I really dont have much knowlege about where the oil runs and wether a head gasket leak would cause this leak.

The pictures are taken from underneath the car, so it was tough to get good angles, but you get the idea.





Also note, thats the pipe closest too the firewall, underneath the OR in the PORSCHE on the cam tower. So wheres this oil coming from?

 

Clean off the all of the nasty old gunk, drive it some, then find out where the new gunk is coming from. That's really the only way to figure it out properly.

 

About the only thing in the area is the cam tower gasket. I think that is your problem. The head gasket can only leak water.

 

Headgasket can leak oil, but not in that area.

The high pressure oil passage going up to the head is located near the edge of the gasket, near the engine ID tag. I know from experience. Although it is with an MLS gasket.

 

So how much oil pressure is in the cam tower? It seems to be leaking a TON of oil... And I cant really imagine that its a very high pressure area up there.

 

There should be lower pressure in the cam tower. Its regulated (on the turbo, not sure about the na) by a ball and spring mechanism pressed into the head. Maybe yours is bad/stuck.

Good catch adrial, I forgot about that passage.

 

Like Tifo said. Clean is good.

Check the torque on the cam tower. Anytime you see oil coming down over the exhaust manifolds it is usually coming from there. Nothing between the cam tower and oil pan to leak on that side.

Interestingly, my 84 leaks over the front manifold pipe if I don't drive it. If it is driven it stay sealed pretty well.

Oil's cheap. Mine leaks more than it burns for sure!

 

Given enough time, these cam-tower gaskets will leak. They are a bit of a pain to replace, but give you another 10 years or so.

Depends how much it bothers you. Personally, leaking motors drive me nuts. 'Course spending lots of dollars in feable attempts to make them all go away drives me nuts too!

 

What kinda oil you got in there? 20/50 I hope in this Jersey soup.
Like mentioned before... check tourque on the connections
You don't have to go nuts, just make sure all is reasonably tight.
Some gaskets shrink w/ age and can be put back into service w/ a
little Norwegian steam.
(thats arm strength for those that don't sprekenzi)
MW

 

I have a oil head gasket leak in the same area (just like adrial) that my PO tried to fix with silicone caulk (the bathroom kind, not the high heat sealant). My mechanic found it by cleaning the engine and only spotted it when it was weeping while the car was running. It drips off the engine id tag, and it would only leak under pressure, so I had very little oil spotting in the driveway. But it would stink beacuse it would collect on the exhaust and get burned off there. I went through a qt of oil in about 3000 miles.

 

Im pretty sure there not supposed to fail a month after being replaced!

Im using 10w40 oil right now.. but regardless of what oil im using, that really shouldnt have an effect right? So it looks like im pulling the valve cover now for the third time to see if maybe ill see something. Is there any harm in using gasket sealent on this gasket?

I DONT want to be doing this a 4th time.

 

No, a month is a bit shy of normal life expectancy

Didn't realize this was a recent event. They are a bit tricky. I did mine with a long-time 944 P-car pro. LOTS of work. LOTS of careful tightening sequencing, etc. No kidding, it took him about 30 minutes just to tighten the bolts on the cam cover itself, and this is a guy that does it for a living for the last 10 years. Not easy to get right. That car is some 50k miles into staying dry as of now.

All gaskets on my car went in clean and dry, no sealants used (mechanic's recommendation).

One other thing to check is that little cork gasket on the back cam cover piece(the one held in with 3 little 10mm bolts). These bloody things work themselves loose on these cars for some reason. Not much oil pressure back there, so the torque values are pretty light as I recall. A little oil from there will vibrate and travel along the engine some.

 

Buy a UV leak detector kit and the problem will jump out at you!

 

Thanks for the tips Dave.

And put it in the oil? Is that safe?

 

They make Dye that is made specificly to go into engine oil. Yes, It is safe and it will help you locate the problem. A normal kit comes with a UV light, Glasses, and Dye for all car fluids. *This is the best way to find A/C leaks!*

This is a very nice kit here!
http://www.jcwhitney.com/autoparts/P...002288/c-10101