Paul Waterloo

I have an oil leak on the front of the motor, it drips down the front of the pan onto the belly pan and then out the holes. It's weird, if the car sits for a week, it seems that it continues to leak, but I don't know if that's the slow migration of the oil or if it's something below the static oil level.

Took everything apart, there is a small pool at the top part of the oil pump, and it appears that it is running down from the upper balance shaft. The backside of the balance shaft housing had dirt/grime and some oil on it, but you can see it run down. My thought is: how does it continue to drip if coming from the upper balance shaft after sitting for a long period of time?

I can't get the oil pump gasket today, and I don't know if you can pull the oil pump housing without removing the pan. I am thinking of cleaning everything up, replacing the upper balance shaft seal (both the front shaft and the housing seal) and putting everything back together. Let me know what you think, thanks.


Here you can see how the oil is pooled above the oil pump plate, don't know how it could get there without the upper balance shaft seal leaking.

Another picture of the same.


Bottom side of housing. Everything else on the front of the motor is clean, don't know how it could get the crud on it without a local oil leak, but it doesn't seem "wet".

Seattle 993

I’d do a total front engine reseal while you’re in that far, maybe with the exception of the camshaft if it’s dry. Pretty simple to do.

in my case, the dealer sealed the lower balance shaft housing (large o ring) but pinched it on installation a long time ago. It didn’t leak for a very long time but as the ring hardened it did start to leak. I found it on my reseal that I’m doing now.

Anyway, id guess that in your case your upper BS housing seal leaked under pressure, and once that seal is broken it just seeps as the engine cools and contracts.

I’m sure there are more experienced folk out there...

Paul Waterloo

I pulled the housing off, the o-ring went from a soft pliable thing to something that was more like mortar. It is now replaced. I will contemplate resealing the main shaft seal (which is dry right now) and the lower balance shaft.....I have all the parts.

Paul Waterloo

So I ended up doing the lower balance shaft seal without issue, and went to do the front main seal, it was a total PITA to get the oil pump gear off, there was some kind of lip on the end of the crank shaft, but we kept cleaning it and cleaning it with 1500 grit wet sandpaper and finally got it off.

Then I put everything back together and ROLLED the new Porsche seal....WTF! I obviously wasn't paying attention to the bottom of it. Searched Rockauto.com and found a non-OEM seal part, found it at a local O'Rielly auto parts store, my son went and got it. It's now installed and we just have to put the belts back on tomorrow, everything has started going back together.

Seattle 993

Wow, that was fast! The advantage of stocking parts. I used curil t on the outer diameter of seals and oil on the inside diameter and they slide right in. Curil t is non hardening (wipes clean when you remove it) and provides a secondary seal. Stays pliable. Check it out...no more rolled seals!