Oil Leak(s)
 

So I spent some time today trying to track down some of my oil leaks and I saw this one in real time. Problem is I don't know what it is, or what I might have to do to stop it. It was dripping once every couple of minutes or so, coming from the little hole in the silver cylinder thing. This is taken from the right rear wheel well with the wheel, valve cover shield and muffler off.

Also attaching a pic of the different drips on the cardboard. This is w/o undertray and secondary muffler installed. The cardboard is new and has been under the car for 7 hours now (spirited drive before then). This is taken from behind the car, looking underneath.

The biggest leak seems to be coming from the (or accumulating on the) center bolt hole silver and foam casing that goes over the lower left valve covers. I didn't take that or the Cat off to investigate there today.

BTW, having the secondary muffler out while looking, I decided to give her a spin w/o it to see if a g-pipe would work for me. No way!! It almost gave me a head ache with the top down.

That looks like the housing for the drive gears for the power steering pump.

The gears are driven from the cam shaft which pokes through the case. The seal has been known to leak. I've done mine, as have several others.

Of course, that's just a possible explanation. There could be another sort of leak (pressure sensor behind air box, for example, or power steering fluid) that is finding it's way there.

Engine drop required for that? I'm starting to think I should drop it this winter and seal everything, but maybe that's because I'm naive.

Engine drop not required. Though, it is a very tight space to work in. Several folks have done it without a drop, but I would not look forward to doing it again.

Is the drip coming from inside the housing?

Clean up all around and especially above and see if you can determine where the leak is originating.

I've just done some of these leaks on the 964 and I would say every seal I replaced was totally knackered, no wonder they were leaking a lot. I also did the crankcase breather gasket and sensor o-rings etc on the top side at the same time, car has gone from dropping quite a bit of oil to virtually nothing - deffo worth the effort and not very hard either. Heres some pics:

http://83.142.230.23/transfer/dg/964_oil_01.jpg

http://83.142.230.23/transfer/dg/964_oil_01a.jpg

http://83.142.230.23/transfer/dg/964_oil_01b.jpg

http://83.142.230.23/transfer/dg/964_oil_02.jpg

http://83.142.230.23/transfer/dg/964_oil_03.jpg

http://83.142.230.23/transfer/dg/964_oil_04.jpg

I just finished replacing the PS pump drive seal and O-ring on my 93. It had been leaking from the same area for about a year - steadily getting worse. The job only took a few hours - until I tried installing the PS drive gear backwards. That cost me $165 and another week. Don't do that. There's a good write up here on the list - do a search.

You do not have to drop the engine or drain the oil for this fix.

My PS pump and housing went without a snag until I needed a 36 mm flare crowfoot to get the oil line out of the way. There is no need to remove it, but you need to loosen the nut to swing it out of the way enough to get the housing out enough to remove the O-ring seal.

Garage floor under my 964 is bone-dry.

Which of these can be worked on w/o draining all the oil? Also, this may be a dumb question, but can I pull off the lower valve covers w/o draining the oil? I have valves ticking after my first attempted adjust.

My valves were once adjusted without draining the oil. Never again. They dripped and dripped and in the end it took a long time to burn off all of the oil that got on the engine and exhaust.

Of course, it was done on a lift; meaning level. I suspect if you lift one side at a time that would help prevent the dripping.

Just one experience. . . .

For the valve adjustment: If you tilt the car (as mine is currently) you'll only get a few drips from the oil return tubes area and the lower valve covers themselves. I just put some cardboard down to catch it.

There should be just enough room between the PS drive casing and the hard oil line to get to the O-ring and seal - therefore eliminating the need to drain the engine oil. If you need more room, you will have to drain the oil before removing the oil lines.

If you are replacing the valve cover gaskets, I recommend changing out the PS drive seals if this hasn't been done. It won't be that much more work and you will be fiixng two significant sources of potential oil leaks. My PS drive seals were very brittle - they came out in pieces.

I did my power steering o-ring when I adjusted the valves a couple of months ago. If you can adjust your valves, you can certainly handle changing out the o-ring. My old o-ring was definitely shot. It was hard as a rock and very brittle.

[QUOTE=Chipster;6765019]There should be just enough room between the PS drive casing and the hard oil line to get to the O-ring and seal - therefore eliminating the need to drain the engine oil. If you need more room, you will have to drain the oil before removing the oil lines.QUOTE]

You can get the housing out without pulling that hard pipe, but if you could loosen it just a bit and move it just a little bit, would be much simpler. And make sure that you don't catch the inner lip of the seal on the cam as it goes in, or you end up doing the whole job again. Ask me how I kow.:rtfm:

OK, I'm trying to compile a list of parts to order. Looking for seals and O-rings that can be replaced w/o dropping the engine. Also, I think that most of the items mentioned so far are on the passenger side? I've got bigger leaks on the driver side. What should I look for there?

So far:
Power Steering Drive Seal 999-113-463-40-M204
Power Steering Drive O-ring 999-707-293-40-M17
Engine Crankcase Gasket Set 930-100-901-04-M17

What else? and thanks for all of the help thus far.

With oil leaks always start at the top of the engine and work down. Id deffo do the crankcase breather gasket and the other o-rings and crush washers in that area:
http://83.142.230.23/transfer/dg/964_oil_04.jpg

Along with making sure you dont damage the inner lip of the new seal on the cam(good tip) also make sure you set the new seal to the right depth in the cover - ie make a mental note of how deep the old seal was before you clean all the old marks off, FYI it has be quite deep as the PS pulley has a raised part on the back that could foul it if not pushed deep enough. All this will make sense once you have it in bits.

As for the drivers side give it a clean and then a hot drive and see where the leaks appear then report back.

Good luck.