os993

It looks like I've picked up an oil leak from below where the spark plugs fit in, on right hand side. Besides worrying about this leak, am also worried that this oil drips on the heat exchanger, which obviously gets very hot. Am I facing a fire hazard?

This shot is looking under right rear wheel wheel, next to muffler.


Another angle..


Any thoughts/comments greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Mike J

I had exactly the same thing about a month back...the valve cover gasket is leaking. If you are a DYI, then its pretty easy. Order a new gasket, jack the rear of the car up, remove the wheel so you have access, remove the rubber heating connector between the heat exchanger and blower (to make more room), undo all the bolts holding the cover on. You may have to use an assortment of short allen keys and other tools but you should be able to get them all off. Mine were quite tight in that they must of had loctite on them.

Remove the sparkplug lines before so you have some more room. The cover should come off real easy. Replace the gasket, re-install the cover, tighten down (not too tight...I found it hard to use a torque wrench in there so I did it by feel..), put back the ducting, mount the wheel and "bob's your uncle". Oh, I used a drop of loctite on each bolt as insurance...

No more leaks, no more oil smell. I don't think you run a fire haszard the it sure smells!

os993

Hi Mike! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Hard to imagine life B

os993

Oops, pressed the wrong key...

Bottom line, thank you for your feedback!

os993

Actually, another quick question...so when removing the valve cover gasket, is oil going to come pouring out?

Do I need to drain the oil prior to doing this?

Thank you again. <img src="graemlins/xyxwave.gif" border="0" alt="[bigbye]" />

Robert Henriksen

Oleg, I did the driver's side, lower gasket; I got a few tablespoons of oil dribbling out (without having drained the oil). I wouldn't expect the passenger side to be any different. Some newspaper & a rag were all I used - not even a drain pan.

A word to the wise: the first gasket replacement, I used a wrench to tighten down the ten bolts. Oil kept leaking! Bought a second gasket, did the R&R, and JUST used a hex key to ***gingerly*** hand-tighten the bolts: Leak-b-Gone! I learned my lesson.

Oh, and if you don't have hex keys w. a ball-head on the long end, it's well worth a $20 investment at Sears!! I'd thought for a while you had to go to Snap-On for such spiffy gear, but Sears carries the exact same stuff - for the same price as the Snap-On version. (when it comes to hex keys, anyway)

os993

Thank you Robert - cheers! <img src="graemlins/beerchug.gif" border="0" alt="[cheers]" />

Mike J

Oleg,

Just to support Robert's reply, the passenger side only drops a little oil as well...not much more than you are leaking anyways. That is the side I had to fix.

I also agree on the tighness of the bolts...if you really torque on them you will flatten the gasket so I used "feel" since I could not get a torque wrench in and snugged them up to a "reasonable" value by hand. Have not had a drop since (knock on wood).

Good luck!

vjd3

And I wouldn't worry too much about a fire hazard in the interim; anyone who's owned an older 911 will tell you that oil dripping on the heat exchangers is just another way to verfify that there is, in fact, oil in the car ...

Vic
95 C4

Bins

And dont forget to wash the leaked oil and dirt away from the cover, etc so that you notice if any new leaks occur.

Ray Calvo

Another tip; as I seem to remember, the recommendation was to tighten the valve cover nuts/bolts in a crosswise manner, starting at the center and working out towards the ends. Tighten them a little bit at a time. This way you avoid warping the valve covers. Torque spec is 9.7 Nm; do your own conversion.

No info in the 993 shop manual; must be covered in 964 shop manual.

I don't know about the 993, but on old 911s there were sealing washers between the covers and the sealing nuts (looks like they eliminated them on the 993/964 when they went to bolts).

Good luck with those dopey Allen bolts; make SURE you have a good Allen wrench and SECURELY insert it into the bolts. I've stripped my share of them at one location or another.