VaSteve

I have a 944 S2 track car. I use Mobil 1 and it has always burned a good bit on the track despite good compression numbers last I checked. I think I added 4 quarts over the past weekend.

I think I have a leak. There is some sludge on the rear of the upper balance shaft but I think that's more of an issue of sloppy oil additions on windy days. When I put the car on the lift, there are usually drops on the bottom of the oil pan and running under the car (again, could be run off from the oil additions).

The only think I can think of is the RMS. If so, I suppose this is a job I could do in my garage, but could I do it on a scissors lift? will all the bracing of the lift itself be in the way? How much trouble am I asking for doing this by myself? I know the transmission is heavy... Does the torque tube need to come out or just be pulled back for access room?

Thanks

SID443

If the shroud on the end of the torque tube comes of easy enough you could pull the tranny and the tube pops out easy .if its on there good like mine was,you gotta drop the gas tank also.the shroud hits the tank with about an inch of spline up front still needed for clearance.u might b able to undo motor mounts and shift motor forward abit.if the shroud comes off the end of tube u should b golden.

VaSteve

Yikes. This car had a clutch job about 5 years ago, so I think it would come apart nicely. I hope.

SID443

If you replaced the clutch and didnt have any issues id imagine you should be ok.the tranny is abit heavy,i used a floor jack with a decent piece of wood to help support and then lower it out of the way. Good Luck~Sid

Oddjob

What's the mileage on the engine and your hot oil pressure at idle and high rpm full load? Unlikely you're losing 4 qts of oil out the rear main in a wknd. The car would leave a large puddle under it idling in the driveway if you had a rear main blow-out, and the entire bottom of the car would be a huge mess. How much do you see running under the car?

VaSteve

Engine has about 125K on it. Oil pressure is up there at 5bar under load. Probably around 3 when off the track. It's fairly messy underneath. I need to get it on the lift and inspect it closer. There's a good sized slick under the car from front to back.

I know it burns a bit, but this has gotten ridiculous.

I don't think the RMS is blown out completely, just leaking, but you have a good point. The place I park it is not a slicked mess. The paddock was hard to tell.

I wonder if I might have a pinhole leak in the oil filler neck or something. I replaced the o-rings on that last summer thinking that was the problem.

pontifex4

+1 -- the underside of your car would be completely covered in oil if that were all coming out the RMS. I would guess that your valve seals are also bad, unless you're sure the head has been off and redone. Mine on a 135k mile 968 were like this:



If you can pull the header and look at the exhaust valves through the port, it will tell you more -- my valve stems were really oily.

VaSteve

To my knowledge the head has never been off. Valve seals also sounds expensive.

Where is your photo from? under the Valve Cover?

pontifex4

The seals are cheap, actually. I have a set that I can send you for what they cost me. Getting to them is more work, though, since you need to pull the cams, lifters and valve springs.

VaSteve

So I should be looking at that green thing? That's the seal? This is a DIY job?

pontifex4

Also, when you put your finger on the depression in the rear of the balance shaft covers, can you move the caps around easily? Oil on the side of the block is usually from those caps, in my experience, but again, that doesn't explain so much oil loss / usage.

pontifex4

The green thing is the seal, correct. You pull the old ones out (carefully) with pliers, and push the new ones on with a socket. It's a big job to get that far, though, since the belts have to come off, the cams need to come out, then all the valve springs have to be removed.

Also, please note that this is just a guess -- it could be several other things, as well. Do you know how your compression is?

VaSteve

The benefits from teleworking today.

The top one (driver side) was easy to reach and yeah, it moved pretty easily. I have been told that can be replaced "pretty easily". Just requires removing the manifold, etc. which I have done before.



Compression was OK last time I checked. Maybe a year and a half ago. I can pull out the tester and test again. (Not right now, ).

When I last checked the compression, I noticed oil in the plug holes and bought a kit to replace all that VC seals (and never installed it). But I don't think that's where the oil is going.


I'm driving the hell out of this car and I have been told engine braking has a lot to do with oil being pulled back in and consumed. This car sees "moderate" street use.

Other interesting deal is that, I will come off the track and drive aways home. I stopped the car and restarted it and the idiot light was on on the dash. I had that twice this weekend, which is out of the norm.

harveyf

I guess if it were me I'd totally degrease the engine and then perform some careful observations as to where the fresh oil starts to show up. If you want to speed up the process, take it to a shop where they add a dye to the oil and then inspect it with a blacklight. No sense in chasing oil leaks based on what if scenarios. BTW, if you are throwing quarts of oil out your rear main seal, I would think your clutch would be toast by now.

Were you at VIR last weekend by any chance? I was running the orange Newhillgarage 944. I used about a quart and a half last weekend.

VaSteve

No, I was at Summit Point for three days. Did a LOT of laps.

I typically burn a little less oil at Summit than at VIR.