Chris38

I am new here and need a little help.
I have a 87 944 turbo with a freshly rebuilt motor. ( bought it this way). It was built by a certified porsche mechanic in Birmingham alabama.
It has developed a oil leak under the intake. Only leaks when boosting hard. Or at least it leaks worse then. AOS is new along with seals. I can not seem to locate the leak but it is pooling in a one spot on motor above the turbo.

Tom M'Guinn

Welcome! Great looking engine bay!

Have you pulled the intake to take a look? Lots of opportunities for leaks under there. The top elbow on the AOS can be hard to seal up (and would leak/spray more under boost), and the original clamps on the other end of the 3-pipe manifold can get loose and leak too. The dip stick can pop up and send out an oil mist if the crankcase is pressurizing under boost. There is an oil feed line that goes from the balance shaft cover to the top of the turbo that can leak (not common, but possible). Oil migrates too, so it could be something further away, like the cam tower gasket/seals, balance shaft cover, etc. Maybe take a picture of where the oil is pooling up. Best bet is to clean everything up till spotless, put some leak-tracer in the oil, run the car a day or two, and then look for the source... Something like this:

Chris38

This is it after i finished the paint. The motor had only 500 miles on it when i bought it so i hope it is something simple. I am a pretty good mechanic just never fooled with a porsche before. As soon as i can get some time i will get some photos and maybe the courage to go ahead and pull the intake. The p.o. used almost all lindsey parts in this project and she runs really strong. Just didnt want to get over my head yanking a porsche apart. lol. Hopefully its something simple.

Chris38

Finally getting some time to pull the intake to lacate a small oil leak under hard boost. Will i need any new gaskets or seals and how hard is it to remove the intake? Any help is appreciated.

Voith

Nice car. That fuel pressure gauge is said to sometimes leak and cause engine fire, Id remove it. Better safe than fire.

rlm328

I have had a pressure gauge on mine for years with no problems. It does look like you have the original fuel rail. I would inspect it regularly as it is almost 30 years old and they do develop cracks (which is one reason most of the engines you see pictured do not have the cover on). With all of the after market stuff on the motor I am surprised that the fuel rail was not replaced.

Since the engine had a fairly recent rebuild you should not require new intake gaskets. They are made of paper and can tear if you are not careful. As stated earlier these things can develop links almost anywhere.

Humboldtgrin

Either you will love that car or hate it. It depends on your skill level as a mechanic, your bank account and priorities. Definitely replace all the fuel lines (front and back)and fuel rail. I would say it's easy to replace the turbo, but I've done it so many times that I forgot if it's difficult. I'm in the process of replacing my turbo again to a LR super53 and adding other parts that are in the mail. You will need patiance, money, and a lot of both to work on a 951. Even more if it's modified. Have fun and remember the front fuel lines at the least. There's not much to taking off the intake manifold. It's actually easy because there's no hidden hoses unlike the 944 intake regarding the IAC. Just remember the oil dip stick is bolted to the intake. I would investigate the ballance shaft cover seeing how it was recently "sealed". Check all the bolts for tightness as well.

Cyberpunky

I am not a mechanic(but have worked on cars for years in car audio) and was intimidated by the idea of taking of the intake, but due to a situation with a former mechanic, I decided to get in and give it a go myself. I read up on Clarks garage and went for it...slowly. Now I have taken the intake off about 6 times and can do it in about a tenth the time, the first time took.

It's not a hard job and as it comes apart, it makes sense how its put together and so looses its intimidation. As you have a modified set up, it is actually a lot easier than an original factory set up. Getting at a bolt on the front of the intake required me buying a few tools to get at the bolt. Eric suggested I should modify the dip stick support mount, where it mounts to intake, from being the normal hole(makes it a pain to take on and off) to a slot. This allows you to just loosen the bolt rather than completely undo it, to remove and replace intake. As this bolt is a major PIA to undo, due to its tight location, this was a gread mod. I did it using a pair of cutters. You simply cut through the top of mount to make a channel/slot.

With the intake gaskets, just be aware that the front one is the reverse of the other 3. When I took mine off the previous mechanic who had fitted the intake, had put it on the wrong way.

Anyway it isn't a tough job and once you have done it, it is so much easier the next time, just visit clarks garage and read up how it's done and take your time.

As above, sort the fuel lines and rail, as fire isn't an acceptable outcome and personally I would also suggest ditching the fuel Pressure gauge too, as knowing it could fail, would haunt me, even if the odds are low.