[BeBe]

After driving my car yesterday in hot weather with the A/C on, I noticed an odd smell when I got out of the car in my garage.  I can't really describe it, but it did not smell like burnt oil or anything like that.  There was nothing dripping from the underside of the engine. 

 

Later, after the engine cooled down, I went out to look some more.  There was a thin film of oil around the bolts holding the head to the block.  Nothing that dripped down, but enough to make a paper towel dirty.  No oil I could see on the underside of the engine.

 

The oil level looks good and the anti-freeze does not appear discolored.  I did not notice anything off on the gauges when driving, other than the temperature gauge being a little bit higher than normal.  It was about halfway up the range.  Normal for my car is about 1/3, but it was a particularly hot day and I had the A/C on so I didn't really think anything of it at the time.

 

I'm afraid to drive the car now, in case it is something like a head gasket problem.  Recommendations on whether oil in those areas is gloom and doom or no big deal and what I should do next?

 

Not a high mileage car (67k miles).

 

 

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[banditsc]

Most likely just the seals on the cam cover bolts, it's probably time refresh the cam cover gasket and seals. It's a very easy job to.

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[BeBe]

I like the sound of that better than most of the nightmare scenarios in my head.  Easy is a relative term.  I'm not entirely un-mechanical, but I have found on other "easy" projects on this car that it will probably be harder than it sounds.  Replacing the knock sensors as an example.  Only one bolt.  How hard could it be?

 

Are the cam cover seal/gasket procedures in the workshop manual?

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[banditsc]

It should be, basically it's just removing the cam cover replacing the gasket, the seals on the spark plug holes and the seals on the bolts.

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[Ryan]

I think the fuel lines have to be partially removed to get the cover off. Anybody?

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[Waylander]

Yes they do,


They are normally very tight and the nuts are welded to the fuel rail, and must be held still with a big spanner while the nuts on the rubber pipes are turned, snap a nut off the fuel rail and you will be in big trouble, the fuel rail is now NLA

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[BeBe]

I'm not seeing any oil around the gasket between the valve cover and the block. Can I just replace whatever seals are on the bolts?

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[BeBe]

These are the bolts I'm referring to.

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[ds968]

You may want to buy at least two extra bolts - one in each size ( the cam cover bolts have two sizes , one longer than the other ) because I keep reading and hearing those can break easily if over-torqued , either during removal and / or reinstall . Theyre not expensive at all , IIRC.


Fuel rail line NLA ?! Yikes, one more thing to worry about !

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[banditsc]

You probably could just replace the bolt seals, but your spark plug seals are also probably leaking or will be, so you need to remove the cover anyways, especially if one of those bolts were to break.

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[BeBe]

Are the cam cover gasket the same as the head gasket, or are they different things?

 

If I go to a mechanic to get the valve cover and bolt seals replaced, are there other "while you're in there" projects that would be prudent?

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[unknown4u]

Two different things..

The valve cover gasket and labour around 170 $ i suppose. And the headgasket 10 times.. without an refurbishment of the head itselves.

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[BeBe]

Do anything with the cam chains or pads, or is that a whole different order of magnitude on cost?

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[MLB]

Even though your car is low-er mileage, by 60k - 90k miles the cam chain and pads job is almost certainly due.

Cam pads and chain is an inexpensive DIY, but requires a number of special tools, careful reading and re-reading of the workshop manual to understand the procedure (unless youve done this sort of thing many times before).

Caveat: I bought the porsche cam saddles tool (designed for 944), and had to modify it for the 968 (machined some holes bigger) to save a few $100. Might be able to talk me into lending the special tools. Maybe.

 

CAUTIONARY NOTE: VERY CAREFULLY INSPECT CAMSPROCKETS FOR MISSING OR CRACKED/FAILING TEETH.

IF SO, WISEST WAY FORWARD IMHO IS TO HAVE SPROCKETS REPAIRED ($$) BUT YOU CAN STILL BUY NEW CAMS ($$$$ approx 1600 from Porsche)

(I had a missing tooth and couple ready to go; RSBarn repaired mine several years ago for less than half the cost of new cams)

 

Definitely folks here ready to walk you through the process, though, and if youre willing to put in the work it will save you a briefcase full of $$$.

 

Later, when youve built some confidence by doing your own engine maintenance, and your car is nearing or past 100k miles, head gasket is worth considering... also DIY-able, I did mine last year  (slippery slope though) :0)

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[ds968]

Another note on the pads : even if the top pad has only shallow track traces on it, no cracks no pitting , and SEEMS ok, the bottom pad often wears at double the rate of the top one ( don't ask me why , it's completely illogical to me , but it's a known fact ..) so it may have deep groves and other wear & tear issues. Unfortunately you cannot see and inspect the bottom pad until you remove the whole assembly . With the variocam asseomly in place you can see only an edge , and maybe 1 mm more here and there if you have a telescopic mini-mirror you can stick in there, but the small visible segment is still not nearly enough to assess the true shape of that pad .

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[BeBe]

I'm going to drive it tomorrow and see how much oil I see, then I'll probably call my mechanic. I have a couple other small things I need done.

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[BeBe]

Not much oil coming out, but oil is supposed to be inside the engine, so I took it in to have the seals replaced.  The "other small things" I decided to have done turned into quite a list.  You'll see that on another post...

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