teamking

Hey all,

I've had an oil leak for some time on my '86 951 that I'm going to fix this winter. Basically, I get two quarter-sized drips underneath the car any time it's been parked. The more annoying part is that it's been dripping down onto the headers, so as the engine warms up, it gets a little smokey.

So, how do I differentiate between the likely culprits: the Rear Cam Housing Gasket and the main Cam Housing Gasket?

The car has 60K miles, but it sat in the POs driveway, unstarted, between 1997 and 2007.

Is the easiest thing to just change the Rear Cam Housing Gasket and see what happens?

Any other ideas?

Thanks!

max_boost951

You can just change the rear and see what happens like you said or you can clean it off really well, add oil dye and check for leaks with an ultraviolet light. I have 70K on my 951 and I just went ahead and replaced the cam tower gaskets. You can also see where the oil is burning on your exhaust manifold. It will leave a black funky appearance if it continues to leak.

mytrplseven

Is it on the front or rear exhaust headers. If it's the front it's likely the front camshaft seals. If it's in the rear it's probably the rear camshaft cover seal (cork) or a tower gasket. Here's a good link for the front seal replacement: http//:www.benms.com/944camseals.html. I just went through this and decided to do all the gaskets and seals and paint while doing my injector rebuilds.

Tedro951

The rear gasket is cheap and relatively painless to try. If it doesn't help, its still one less gasket to mess with when you pull the cam housing.