[Tomikaze]

So my car is developing the dreaded oil leaks I have read so much about. Haven't torn anything down yet to see exactly where they are coming from but I have a good idea. I will post more about that in a bit. I've got one leak towards the rear of the motor (try to follow me here) on the passenger side above the suspension. I think that is the rear of a balance shaft? The second leak is coming from the lower right side of the front of the motor. Behind all the belt covers. Getting my wife to allow me to spend money on this car is like passing a law in congress. I don't drive it much and there are some home improvment projects that are taking precedence. I told her I wanted to fix the oil leak before it causes a bigger problem. I don't think $500 is going to get me very far in this fix unless I do it myself. I'll rate myself a 6 on a scale of 1 to 10 for mechanical ability. I've rebuilt calipers on a Boxster, changed plugs on a Boxster (no small feat in itself) and done all sorts of maintenance items on Miatas. Do you guys think I can tackle fixing these oil leaks by myself? Any input would be helpful. Thanks, -Tom

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[Rap]

Don't pass a law. Do what our President does, just make it a new regulation with you being the bureaucrat tasked with this thankless job. Don't mind me. I would have it fixed, course I also don't reach a 6!

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[Cloud9...68]

Oil leaks on these cars can be a nightmare, unfortunately. Do a search for earossi's saga on replacing the seal on the lower balance shaft, which is a common area for these cars to leak. You'll end up with your hands covering your face, reading the text through the gaps between your fingers. Have some organ music from your favorite horror flick playing in the background to get you in the mood... Replacing this seal without removing the engine is a huge job requiring the patience of Job, unfortunately. The lower front right side leak could be the seal on the same balance shaft. This is also a huge job, because it requires removal of the belts, so your best bet would be to wait until you need to have the belts replaced.



Unfortunately, these engines are notorious for leaks, and many of the seals are nearly inaccessible with the engine in the car. I hate to say it, because I know how frustrating leaks can be, but unless you have several thousand dollars just laying around, you may just want to hold off, and live with them for awhile.

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[AJG]

Aha! just had an oil leak fixed(I hope!)in the same area. Oil leaked on the ground about a foot in from the inside tyre edge on the driver's side (right hand drive remember!), Turned out to be the oil pump gasket. Cost £766.00 pounds(about 1225$) which included new oil, filter and gasket plus a couple of sundry items. Also gearbox oil which cost peanuts.



Andy

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[gbarrier]

Probably balance shaft (front and rear). The rear one may be a cheap fix for you. If you can jack it and look up at that area place your finger on the plug in the rear of the housing. You will be able to move it around some because the O ring holding it in place has shrunk. Spray it down with a little brake cleaner and let it dry. Then take some clear Silicone on your finger and work it in around the edges of the plug. Let it sit overnight. Tomorrow when you touch that plug it will not move around. It will not leak any more either. Fix will probably last as long as a new O ring and cost about ten bucks. You do not have to dissamble the whole housing to replace the front one like you do the rear but as has been said, You will need to pull the belts. Parts are fairly inexpensive. If there is some time on the belts just fix the leak and put them back. Be sure to mark the belts so you can put them back on the same direction of travel as you took them off. If the belts are close, buy a couple of belts while you are at it. No need to buy the high dollar kit with rollers, idlers, etc. unless they're bad.



Can probably do it yourself for way less than a hundered bucks. Sit back, have a beer and say "oh what a good boy am I". Then go set the old lady straight about all those home improvement projects. Good Luck.

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[Cloud9...68]

Yes, this could be another source of Tomikaze's front oil leak. Unfortunately, (using that word a lot here...) removing the oil pump is even more work than removing the front bottom balance shaft seal. Both jobs require removal of the belts, so again, it would be best to put fixing this one off until it's time to do the belts. To be honest, I don't remember the oil pump having a gasket, though. I thought it was sealed with Loctite 574, but I could be mistaken.



I'm WAY down the slippery slope with my engine - 115K miles? Hmmm... time for a head refresh, and the mediocre oil pressure indicates the rod bearings a probably pretty tired as well, plus the rear main seal, and the rear lower balance shaft seal, are both leaking. Sigh, if I'm going to do all that, might as well pull the engine, right? So, might as well strip it down to the bare block, and replace every single seal on it.... And since I'm planning to track the car extensively, might as well replace those early rods with stronger ones. If I'm doing all that, might as well springs for rings, too, and, sigh, why not pistons as well? And all the weight this has taken out of my wallet should definitely make the car faster, right?

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[DaveN]

Change the oil and add a can of seal conditioner from Lordco. If your lucky it will get you through to next year after the maintenance projects. Worked on my S2, I just add 1/2 a bottle every oil change. It's for sale <img src="/forum/images/smilies/968/rolleyes.gif" class="smilie" alt="" />

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[Cloud9...68]

Ooh, I don't know. I'm by no means an expert on the topic, but I have to wonder, if this stuff is so good at plugging leaks in seals, what else is it plugging internally ? Nothing worse than a constipated 968

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[AJG]

Sorry gents, eronious info there, it's the filter housing gasket and R/C gasket(?). One thing I've noticed is that after giving it a bit of wellie the car does not smell hot anymore as there is no oil seeping down the engine. "Warp factor eight, make it so!"



Andy

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[AJG]

Thanks for that gentle reply Cloud9..68 re gasket on oil pump. If his Flashness was about just now I'm sure I would be put in my place in no time. Thankfully his hols are keeping him occupied!



Andy

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[tamathumper]

Ooh, I don't know. I'm by no means an expert on the topic, but I have to wonder, if this stuff is so good at plugging leaks in seals, what else is it plugging internally ? Nothing worse than a constipated 968

The same could be said for Radiator Stop Leak - what *else* is it plugging?

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[Cloud9...68]

Yes, the oil filter housing (I think it's called something like an oil/water separator; I have no idea what its purpose is...) is also a very common spot for leaks, and yet another nearly inaccessible seal. Mine was leaking pretty badly, and I didn't even know that (or that the thing even existed) until I took my engine out and apart.

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[DaveN]

The seal conditioner doesn't actually plug anything. It has a minor reaction with the seal rubber compound and "convinces" it to swell ever so slightly. Fairly harmless stuff but not a long term solution (sic) Nice pun if I do say so myself.

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[94SilverCab]

Tom,



Blame the previous owner of the car for deferring maintenance, spend a ton of money on your Porsche Mechanic and call it stimulous. If your wife complains, lower her weekly budget and spend even more on the Porsche. Oh, charge it on your credit card and pay it back out of your children's college fund.



It's the way to do it in 2011.



Jay

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[Cloud9...68]

The answer to Tom's original question is, as always, "It depends." Paying a shop to fix leaks in the rear seal of the lower balance shaft, and the air/oil separator, if this is in fact where they are coming from, will probably run somewhere in the $1000-1500 range. Personally, I'm WAY to cheap to even let the thought of paying someone that much money to fix something as mundane as a leak enter the remotest corner of my mind. I think I'd try naked cactus bungee jumping first .



But then the question becomes, where does it stop? If you decide to tackle this yourself, do you just replace these seals, or do you go after all the others that might start soon springing leaks. Either way, you're looking at having the car undriveable for quite some time. Again, look at earossi's thread about the rear lower balance shaft seal replacement. To me, it borders on the un-doable with the engine in the car. The air/oil separator isn't quite as bad, but it looks like it would be a major pain as well.



Maybe the best solution is to just live with the leaks, unless they're really spewing a lot of oil, until it's time for a full rebuild.

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[Tomikaze]

So the previous owner did lots of maintenance on this car. I have the stack of receipts going back 10 years. The car was heavily tracked and the guy had money (one of 4 Porsches in his garage). Anytime something broke he fixed it. I looked the car over before I bought it and didn't see any leaks. Had it since last October. Wonder if it's leaking from lack of driving? So I got it up on a lift and cleaned off the two leak areas. The rear leak almost looks like it is coming from the two lower bolts. Could it actually be as easy as tightening those? It also looks like the RTV fix has already been performed. Check out the photos and let me know what you guys think...



-Tom

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[Lear35A]

These balance shaft housings are sealed using Loctite 574. I would expect leaks to come from the mating surface to the block, not up the fastener holes because the oil is not under pressure inside the housing. It just drains from there into the pan. The fasters holding the housing are torqued in a very specific pattern, but you could try tightening them. The 6 mm bolts are torqued to 7 ft lbs and the 8 mm bolts to 15 ft lbs.(That's not very much; don't overtorque or you will strip the threads out of the aluminum block, and you'll have an even bigger problem.)



If you can get everything clean, there is another trick you can do. You can buy a tiny bottle of fluorescent dye at any autoparts store that is used to check for leaks in coolant or A/C systems. You can also buy a very inexpensive kit that includes a little black light flashlight and yellow glasses. After getting all the oil off everything, dump the dye into some of the oil you use for the car and pout it down the oil filler. Run the car for a few minutes. Then, in a dark garage use the black light to find any of the now fluorescent oil coming out where it shouldn't be. That won't make it easier to fix the leak(s), but at least you will know the true source.

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[bombfactory]

I believe I have a leak, or more likely leaks plural, in the same areas as shown in the photos above. Can the balance shaft cover and the oil pump housing seals be reached fairly easily if the exhaust manifold comes off first?



Also, can someone add labels, as to what bolts where, to the photo of the engine block above? It would be helpful for us rookies in describing where our leaks are coming from. Thx!

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[Cloud9...68]

Leaks can be very tricky to track down - Lear's suggestions are very helpful in this regard. But to answer Bombfactory's question, unfortunately replacing the balance shaft cover is a beast of a job (again, check out earossi's thread on the subject), even with the exhaust manifold removed, I believe. The problem is that the engine mount is in the way, and to remove the mount, you have to (I'm not making this up ) remove the front sway bar, the A-arms, and (groan!) the cross-member, and support the engine, of course. And when you put it all back together, you need an alignment.



Again, my advice would be to do some serious soul-searching as to how much these leaks are really bothering you. Unless they're spilling copious amounts of oil, it may be best to leave them alone, and fix them all when it eventually comes time to rebuild the engine.

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[bombfactory]

When I first bought my car, I had an oil leak at the balance shaft seal fixed - it was at the front I believe, at the gear. When I was under the car doing my steering rack swap, I noticed an oil leak more towards the middle of the engine. It's not the pan, so it's either the oil pump seal or the balance shaft assembly. And it keeps dripping even when the car hasn't been started for days. Fun! I agree, Cloud, might just have to leave it alone for now, unless it gets too serious.

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