fiercestcalm

Came home from work the other day, pulled into the garage and then sadly noticed the smoke coming out from under the hood and smelled that lovely burning oil smell. After cleaning things up a bit and watching to see where the leak was, I think it's the valve cover/cam tower gasket? OK, now bear with me, I'm a female owner and not as familiar with my car as the rest of you guys, so after reading some postings about changing this gasket yourself, realize that it's way over my head and requiring tools I don't have. I call a local mech that came recommended by someone I know, and he quotes approx $800. This is primarily labor, as the part is nothing, and I know the job can take a while, but this still seemed really high to me.

I've owned my car for 4 years now, it's an 86 951, and I've been slowly having bits of work done on it as I can afford it, but I'm relatively new to the Tampa area (I had a guy up north that was real helpful) and am not sure what to do.

ANY advice, help or tips would be VERY appreciated!
Laura

PeteL

Before you panic, is it the valve cover itself or the gasket at the rear of the cam tower?
If it is just the rear (which is prone to leak) it is an easy fix.
If it is the cam tower, it is a bit more involved, but nothing daunting.
Where in Tampa are you?

75ohm

We're here to help... and put an extra set of eyes on the problem... let us know where you are!

fiercestcalm

I'm 95% sure it's the cam tower, which is why I'm feeling a bit discouraged. I'm in Land O Lakes, specifically.

Spidey944

800 is a bit high if u ask me, but there are a lot of rennlisters near you. If I were closer I'd help you. Taking the cam tower off is easy, and repalcing the gasket is easy, not more then 3 hours if you take your time, a lot faster if you have done it b4 like most of us have. If it is one of the cam seals, takes a little bit longer. But I am sure that someone on here has been dying to meet another 951 owner, esp one that is female!

75ohm

We're right around the corner from you in New Tampa... hang tight.

On the back of the cam tower, toward the firewall, check underneath the rear cap for any leaks... if it is leaking enough to smoke a lot, probably not that though. Do you have the specifics of what the mechanic said need replacing?

75ohm

Err ... speaking for myself, married with kids... jeez man... just trying to help... ROFL...

fiercestcalm

It's not in the back, it's in the front of the tower, behind the distributor. The instructions that I saw on Clark's garage indicated that to replace this you have to remove the distributor and your belts will need retensioning which requires special tools, right? Again, bear with me if I'm not explaining all this correctly, but I've been trying to read and research this as much as possible before posting and even before calling the mech. This is what the mech is saying is the cost will be -- the time it takes to disassemble, reassemble, retension.

Hey, that's awesome that you're right around the corner! We haven't met a lot of people down here yet. I often see a red 944 on the Suncoast in Pasco -- would that happen to be you?

fiercestcalm

Haha, no that's cool, married here too My other half is a tech (electrical/computer), not a mech, so he's been able to change out power window switches gone bad and a malfunctioning sunroof, but anything mechanical I would bring to a guy I knew when we lived up north who used to work on these cars at a Porsche dealership back in the days when they were new.

Hey, maybe we can work out a swap of some kind? Need any ceiling fans installed?

75ohm

Wouldn't be me... my car is more oft being tinkered with than being driven - shameful, yes.

Alrighty then, looks like you are in need of a cam seal replacement. Lots of "while you are in theres" as well. When is the last time all the belts/rollers where done? Have you done a front engine reseal on the car yet?

fiercestcalm

In April of 05 we had all the belts and rollers done, new water pump, and front engine seals because it was leaking there at that time. That was at about 125K miles, she has 137K now.

PeteL

Jason -- looks like we are going to have to make a house call....

75ohm

"Have tools, will travel".

75ohm

Pete, when I first saw this post - I thought someone caught you off the dock at Macdill after a soiree at the O-club.

75ohm

Prognosis: Cam tower gasket failure.