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The car has been sitting for the about two weeks. Went into garage this morning and saw this horror. It was dry under the car yesterday! My cold car dumped what looks like 1/3 quart of oil on the floor. The engine pan is on the car so I know the pan is also holding a lot of oil. I don't understand how this can happen when there is no oil pressure. Why would a cold car suddenly leak a lot if oil? I'm going to jack it up and see if I can determine the source of the oil leak. I changed the oil a few weeks ago and have driven the car about 100 miles since then and it was dry as a bone. There were no leaks till this morning. With the exception of some valve cover seepage, the car has always been dry. I thought I'd throw this one out to you all to see if anyone has seen something like this before or otherwise has a clue. Thanks!
Time to drop the engine cover and see where its coming from. Did you by chance spill some oil when filling? Maybe it sat in the engine cover and leaked out?
One more reason to not install the engine tray. Small filter not on tight? Did you remove the oil line to change the small filter? Possibly overfilled?
So I have the EXACT same issue. 21k miles, never a drop of oil leakage. I had my Indy change the oil/filters and now my lower valve covers are leaking like a Sieve. They say it’s a coincidence. I am having a very hard time believing it. Valve cover leaks weep oil. This is obviously pouring out.
Yes. The shop that changed the oil put it up on a lift and we dropped the engine cover. There was a half quart of oil in it. The valve covers are clearly leaking. I smelled burning oil for the first time driving home from the service.
I had another Rennlister in town who has a lift take a second look. It’s the valve covers but why they began pouring oil immediately following an oil change is still the question.
I've had that happen twice. Once on my GT4 after the dealer bungled and oil change. Either the filter wasn't tight, the drain plug wasn't tight, or they bungled the crush washer (none or two). Either way, they picked up the car and never admitted what they did wrong.
The second time was in my 911 when I slow rolled a speed bump, but the rebar holding the speed bump down was sticking up enough to hit the oil pan and cause a crack. Hopefully that isn't your issue. Oil pan was almost $700, but I was able to install myself.
I think I found the problem. Looks like the passenger side lower valve coves is leaking badly. There is a large pool of oil on the top of the exhaust manifold. I guess the pool finally filled the manifold to the point where it started leaking onto the floor of that garage. That's why it took two weeks! I'm ordering valve cover gaskets. Oh.... It gets better, while jacking the car up using the engine ( I hate to do it that way), I blew out the left side engine mount. Fortunately, both the valve cover and engine mounts are within my skill level to repair (famous last words :-)).
^Glad you figured it out. When I read your first post, I was thinking the leak took some time to find it's way to the garage floor. The engine cover would help
slow this process as well. Keeps us posted on your repairs. Good luck! I blew out my passenger side motor mount as well lifting the car. Look into RS motor mounts!
Welp…. When you don’t drive the car and it sits these gaskets dry up and boom! These cars don’t like to sit around. They need to be driven to keep the seals supple not dried out. Over Winter storage I pull mine out every other week and let it idle up to temp then put it back. This was advised by Porsche Classic over 5 years ago when I purchased mine. Not one leak on my engine. Dry as the Mohave Desert.
Hi GTA,
You are alone, apparently, 993 owners do find their car leaking oil after it comes back from an oil change.
It comes up often enough that I devoted the following page to all the major root causes: https://993servicerepair.blogspot.co...eak-after.html
Hope this helps,
Andy
I think I found the problem. Looks like the passenger side lower valve coves is leaking badly. There is a large pool of oil on the top of the exhaust manifold. I guess the pool finally filled the manifold to the point where it started leaking onto the floor of that garage. That's why it took two weeks! I'm ordering valve cover gaskets. Oh.... It gets better, while jacking the car up using the engine ( I hate to do it that way), I blew out the left side engine mount. Fortunately, both the valve cover and engine mounts are within my skill level to repair (famous last words :-)).
Hi GTA,
Don't be too quick to call this the root cause, many times when the oil is filled too quickly it backs up and overflows the filler neck or the funnel. The technician cleans up the visible oil spill but a lot of it doesn't get cleaned off from the underside of the engine sheet metal and over the next few weeks it works its way out onto the valve covers where it drips on the exhaust, the cause is misdiagnosed as a leaky valve cover.
I hate to say it but a technician is probably never going to tell you he spilled oil when refilling it and it is lost time & wages to clean up the mess as a call-back job. It is much easier to call it a leaking valve cover so at least he can cover his time cleaning up his handwork with new billable work. It's just the way of the world I guess.
A true valve cover leak is small and incremental and doesn't generally involve the amount of oil you are seeing. It also tends to leak while the engine is running not while standing over time and so doesn't accumulate from standing.
I would clean the mess off the engine and then observe if it is the valve cover, as in just the one valve cover seal that needs to be replaced. Replacing all 4 or even 2 when just one may be leaking is a stealth auto shop upsell. For the record, the original valve covers almost never need to be replaced.
01-03-2022, 10:30 AM
BIG puddle of oil of garage floor this morning
