Oil leak - no valve cover gasket on 3.8?
04-10-2018, 01:23 PM
#1
Advanced
Thread Starter
Oil leak - no valve cover gasket on 3.8?
I have garage floor evidence of a very small oil leak after car's been driven for an hour or so. I can see that the drip is coming off the forward lower screw on the right side valve cover (but of course the actual source may be upstream somewhere). Checking the Porsche parts catalog I see no evidence of any gasket between the head and valve cover. I thought step one would be to check the tightness of the valve cover screws to make sure the gasket could do its job - BUT can it be that there's no gasket there?? What am I missing here? (2005 997 S).
04-10-2018, 02:03 PM
#3
Rennlist Member
Yes, DC911S is correct, there is no valve cover gasket for the valve cover. It is a thin bead of sealant due to the valve cover being the other half to the cam bearings. Resealing is not as simple as an american V-8 OHV engine.
04-10-2018, 02:15 PM
#4
Three Wheelin'
Yes that's correct, there is no gasket but a bead of sealant for the cam cover. My 997 also had a weap around the cam cover due to failure of the sealant but I never had oil on the garage floor or any noticeable oil usage. The repair involves dropping the engine and resealing the cam cover with a new bead of sealant. Cost for me was ~$2k, covered by Fidelity warranty.