Leaky valve cover after Variocam service
07-03-2003, 06:41 AM
#1
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Leaky valve cover after Variocam service
Boys,
after having renewed my 968 variocam, i got some leak at the cover. Initially not much, but thing has become worst with time and after 3-4 months (and 2000 miles) the leak was important. The odd thing is that oil leaks on the exhaust area, and this means than when the car warms up you get a funny white smoke out from the hood: not exhactly a sign of an healty car !
After the Variocam maintenance, the valve cover was reinstalled with a complete "gasket kit" containing the main gasket + sealing/pressure rings.
Well, I read somewhere that a possible solution of the leak problem was to add a washer to the bolt to increment the pressure and/or to mount the gasket cover with silicon.
As soon as I tackled the problem dismounting the first bolt, I immediately found the reason of the leak: the new rubber "pressure rings" (PP 928.104.115.02) has shrinked a lot, so the fixed not torquable bolts does not put enough pressure on the valve cover gasket.
SOLUTION
I reinstalled the old rubber rings, not in bad shape, that I saved. Measuring with caliper, the old rings are around 4mm thick. The new rings have shrinked to 2.5mm only, so clearly you have lost 1.5mm of pressure to the main gasket.
Apart from having shrinked, the new pressure rings appears also of poor quality, being less elastic after 3 month than the original ones after 11 years.
Now the leak has completely stopped, with no silicon and no addditional washers, actually even without dismounting the cover: it is enough to dismount the bolts each at a time and substitute the defective pressure rings with good ones.
MORAL
Do not go cheap with service parts, go OEM. My kit was mixed, with OEM gasket but aftermarket rings. This was enough to generate problem. Leaking oil on the exhaust is not a good idea, and in certain situation could also lead to fire.
Ciao
Ugo
after having renewed my 968 variocam, i got some leak at the cover. Initially not much, but thing has become worst with time and after 3-4 months (and 2000 miles) the leak was important. The odd thing is that oil leaks on the exhaust area, and this means than when the car warms up you get a funny white smoke out from the hood: not exhactly a sign of an healty car !
After the Variocam maintenance, the valve cover was reinstalled with a complete "gasket kit" containing the main gasket + sealing/pressure rings.
Well, I read somewhere that a possible solution of the leak problem was to add a washer to the bolt to increment the pressure and/or to mount the gasket cover with silicon.
As soon as I tackled the problem dismounting the first bolt, I immediately found the reason of the leak: the new rubber "pressure rings" (PP 928.104.115.02) has shrinked a lot, so the fixed not torquable bolts does not put enough pressure on the valve cover gasket.
SOLUTION
I reinstalled the old rubber rings, not in bad shape, that I saved. Measuring with caliper, the old rings are around 4mm thick. The new rings have shrinked to 2.5mm only, so clearly you have lost 1.5mm of pressure to the main gasket.
Apart from having shrinked, the new pressure rings appears also of poor quality, being less elastic after 3 month than the original ones after 11 years.
Now the leak has completely stopped, with no silicon and no addditional washers, actually even without dismounting the cover: it is enough to dismount the bolts each at a time and substitute the defective pressure rings with good ones.
MORAL
Do not go cheap with service parts, go OEM. My kit was mixed, with OEM gasket but aftermarket rings. This was enough to generate problem. Leaking oil on the exhaust is not a good idea, and in certain situation could also lead to fire.
Ciao
Ugo
07-03-2003, 02:08 PM
#3
Race Car
I've been saying this FOREVER! ALWAYS buy your parts from the dealer, genuine Porsche factory parts, especially gaskets, seals, belts, etc!!!
But they can still leak...and a sealant can be used in small areas [at the corners for example] to stop the leaking of the valve cover gaskets.
Even if you have your car serviced at a shop and they diagnose the problem for you, BUY THE PARTS YOURSELF! Otherwise they buy cheap *** parts to install on your car with a 1 year warranty, and don't ask me how much they mark up these parts and charge you and then they fail 1 year and 2 months after they were installed [waterpump, belt idlers/rollers, etc].
But they can still leak...and a sealant can be used in small areas [at the corners for example] to stop the leaking of the valve cover gaskets.
Even if you have your car serviced at a shop and they diagnose the problem for you, BUY THE PARTS YOURSELF! Otherwise they buy cheap *** parts to install on your car with a 1 year warranty, and don't ask me how much they mark up these parts and charge you and then they fail 1 year and 2 months after they were installed [waterpump, belt idlers/rollers, etc].
07-05-2003, 12:46 PM
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Thanks Ugo! So what parts (kit) do I need? Do I order a "kit" from Porsche? Or do I order the parts seperately? I did not keep the old rings....the part # you quoted (PP 928.104.115.02) that sounds like a Porsche part #....how many do I need?
Thanks
Kevin
Thanks
Kevin
