I am experiencing rather rapid oil loss 1/2 qt. in 300 miles. There are zero puddles under the car,the oil preassure warning light starts lighting up when I slow down and I do smell a funny burning type odor after a drive. where should I start looking
oil pan?????

 

Before my engine rebuild, my car was consuming 1 quart in 300 miles!! I didn't have a low oil pressure problem though, that sounds scary. As far as the burnt oil smell, I get that even now, and I don't really go through oil at all anymore.

 

car has a rebuilt engine in it, about year 9k miles on it????

 

oh yea once I dump in more oil, the light does stop blinking so perhaps its just a low oil warning not preassure.....

 

You can leak it off the cam cover and onto the headers where it will burn. In combination wit "acceptable" engine oil burn that could account for 600 miles per quart and the smell.

Otherwise there is the infamous oil cooler seals. Look for milkshake in coolant. Then there are just the normal seal leaks - your suggestion of oil pan seal is not one of them.

The oil pressure is troubling though as that shouldn't happen a half quart low.

 

Some common areas that I've found oil to be leaking from, where it can come into contact with the exhaust,(burning smell) are:
1)Rear cam gasket (cork material) the three bolts that also hold on the engine lift ring can come loose and allow oil to drip onto the exhaust manifold.
2)cam gasket itself
3)oil pressure sender. I just replaced mine, and it was leaking like crazy from the seal at the base of the cannister. Oil was being blown back to the exhaust manifold and being burned. Oddly enough, I didn't notice any oil dripping on my garage floor or driveway, eventhough the pressure sender was leaking badly . This leak also made my stabilizer bar bushing get squishy,so I'll be replacing those soon.

 

Lizard944, I think you may have hit on it, my stabalizer bar has a bad bushing also so it may be the preassure sender. thanks.

 

On top of your exhaust manifold. From either the rear main seal or the oil pan gasket. It burns off quick and you cant see it unless its cold out and you sit at idle for a while.

Clean the back of your oil pan and see if n/e accumultes.

Its a really faint smell.

 

hey, i know this is totally off topic but lukesilver, you are in new baltimore?? i live in port huron.... i didnt think that there was another porshe in the state.

Mark

 

When my 951 had its oil leak, it was from the cam tower gasket. Look near the firewall, just over the exhaust manifold. On the 951, there is an oil channel/passage between cylinder 3 and 4 that the oil is pumped up through into the cam tower. Mine was leaking there because the oil is under pressure there, onto the manifold, burned off and gone.

It was slow like yours until one day it let go entirely. I was generating so much smoke I couldn't see out the back window at highway speed. Fun. Lots of helpful people waved and gestured at me in case I hadn't noticed the smoke...

What was really nice about mine was, when I took off the cam tower, I could tell the gasket had been torn right at that point by the PO or the PO's mechanic (probably during assembly), and then gooped with gasket sealant. When the sealant eroded away, whoosh. So, instead of just replacing a 5 dollar gasket while they still had the tower off, I had to pull the whole thing apart.

Idle the engine and peek down there. If that's where it's leaking, you'll be able to see it.

Thaddeus

 

hey marky 522,

WOW, small world. Come over and check out my rebuild in progress.

 

That would be great!!!

Mark

 

Hey Mark, the oil-light on your '86 951 only indicates low-pressure. There is no "low oil level" indictator. By the time the light comes on, you are dangerously low on oil. Are there puddles on the ground where you park? That's a LOT of oil to have drip out and not notice where it's coming out.

If the "funny burning type odor" ins't intense and doesn't sting your eyes then most likely you have oil dripping onto the headers. The rear of the cam-housing has a circular gasket that's tough to tighten down and a lot of times, it's loose. Another common problem is the cam-housing gasket. Which is a bigger pain to replace.

 

Danno, hi when light first came on it was 2 qts. low , then it started coming on at 1/2 qt. low once I fill it back up with oil light goes out, has not come on again for a day and a half no big puddles under car, i can't find the leak, am taking it to the shop in a couple of days.