ACEparts_com

Hi all, I've been busy reading about TT troubles since I took ownership of my own TT last month and guess what? I've got a couple of concerns myself!
The car has done 37K and my previous car was a 964 which used to '****' oil out of everywhere. I eventually rebuilt the engine although even that didn't cure it!
Anyway, back to my Turbo, last week I did my first track day ever and it was amazing, but the next morning I noticed a small amount of oil on the garage floor. Now, having owned a 964, the sight of oil doesn't scare me and as it was going in for the wiring loom warranty replacement as well as an early 48K service, I didn't concern myself with it too much.
Now the car's back and it leaks still. The dealer is/was absolutely useless and suggested that it could be the rocker covers.
Anyway, as my offices are above a car garage I put it up on the ramp and removed the undertrays to have a look. I noticed that the oil seems to be coming from the (looking at it from the back) the LEFT HAND turbo. Having read all about them I suspected that the oil level is too high, so I've got level down to about half way on the dip stick (just reading on the gauge) and hope that this will do the trick.

The question is, why is the oil level so critical on these cars? How does the oil manage to get out onto the outside of the unit and pipe etc? Why only on the left side?

Apart from that it's an amazing car!

Jeff 993TT

Yes, the oil level is extremely sensitive in these cars. Are you sure that ther is not an oil drip from the right side turbo ( when looking at the rear of the car )???? That could one of the signs of the smoking turbo problem. Does your car smoke?

ACEparts_com

Nope, definitely the Left Side, although the RH Side also was a little covered, the LHS was 'WET'! Oil went all the way up the OUTSIDE of the air outlet (boost side) pipe!
Does'nt smoke, certainly no blue smoke that i'd expect with oil, just lots of condensation and water.
I've been driving it for the last half an hour and there's no sign at the moment of any oil dripping so maybe it was simply too high? I've got it so that it's just out of the red with the engine hot etc. At that level it's apx half way up the dip stick which makes me wonder how (in)accurate the guage is.
Good to know that the OPC just filled it right up above the max on the dip stick! I will definitlely not be taking it back to an OPC again. When i took it to have a full geometry set up they forgot to straighten the steering wheel! I only had it serviced at an OPC because they were doing the warranty work and figured it's got to be easier to do it all in one?

I'll be using PARR GARAGE in the future!

ACEparts_com

Now that I've done a hundred miles or so, the drips have almost stopped. The only ones left come from the flywheel end. I'm guessing that the crankshaft seal is about to leave home.
Could this have anything to do with (1) getting it really hot on the track (2) putting 0-40 oil in as opposed to 15-50?
I don't really fancy pulling the engine out just yet - well, not without having to do a clutch or something as well!

Thanks in advance.
Alan

Swissman

0w40 oil is too "light" anyway to function properly with 2 turbos and more again for track use, this kind of oil has too much additive inside witch are very sensitive to the heavy temperatures and charges variations. You should always use 15w50, like Motul V300 or equivalent, type of perfect oil with praticaly no additive . Best way like i do, is to put some "Mecacyl" into the oil

ACEparts_com

Thanks for your tips. Did I say the leaking has almost stopped? I was very wrong. It drips (slowly) from flywheel end of crankshaft i believe and is still making the LHS (looking from the rear) very wet, although the pipe nearest the back of the car (oil return?) from the turbo looks like the threads are twisted up where it's been removed during a hydraulic lifter problem repair.

I've also noticed it has started smoking (BLUE) from one exhaust, although the Jury is still out on which side! I say LHS, others have said it's the RHS!

Could it really be the 0-40 causing me all this grief? My (unknowledgable) porsche main delaer said that 0-40 is fine for the car and it even lists it in the service books as being OK?

Arghhhh

Thanks for your input everyone!

Jeff 993TT

Empirically, I've noticed more smoking problems when using 0w-40 over 15w-50.