Oil separator leak

[PrimeMvr]

The hose at the bottom of my oil separator (87 930) is leaking. After a drive there is oil sitting on top of the hose where it meets the separator. I've loosened the clamp and inspected the hose (while attached) and retightened, but no improvement.

I'm thinking there is a crack in the separator fitting or inside the hose.

Does oil stay in this line after shutdown? I want to remove the hose for a good inspection so I know whether to buy a hose or the separator, but I don't know if oil will come pouring out.

BTW, what is the purpose of the separator?

Thanks,
Steve

[JFairman]

Go to a generic auto parts store like advance, autozone, or napa with the leaky oil hose and look through the heater hose collection for water cooled cars. That section of the store is usually in back and not out on the floor.
Water cooled car heater hoses are usually the same diameter in and out and made of better & fresher rubber.

You will eventually find one that has a section that can be cut out that will match up and fit perfectly for around $8.

That is what I did when that same hose was cracked and leaking at the first bend below the oil seperator tank on my '87 930.
It fit, looks, and works perfect and pelican didn't stock the origonal hose and would have had to order it from Germany for alot of $$ and wait time if it was even available anymore.

[PrimeMvr]

Great tip, thank you. Do you remember if the separator was full of oil? I just changed my oil and would rather not have to drain it out. If the oil doesn't drain out of the separator to the case at shutdown, I'm going to have to undo the hose this leads to under the car, and I assume lose a bunch of oil in the process.

Don't want to pop it off and dump half a quart in my relatively clean engine bay.

[JFairman]

That hose is the drain hose from the oil seperator going to the oil tank.
Gravity drains it and unless your car is immune to gravity or so fast it's in planetary orbit. . . it will drain.

[PrimeMvr]

Thanks, it probably sounded like a stupid question (I'm full of them), but it's on a horizontal plane with the oil tank so I thought it might be affected by hydraulic equalization.

[JFairman]

not sure what you mean by hydraulic equaliztion. i can relate to that term in AC systems - after you shut them off the high and low pressures gradually equalizes but there is no pressure in the oil tank or that oil line.

also you don't remove it from the oil tank because it never passes through the engine tin.

the bottom or other end of the oil vent line we have been talking about is visable in your picture in the lower left corner just above a red spark plug wire. it attaches to a short little plastic connector with a hose clamp (you can see it in your pic) to another oil line that does continue downward and passes through the engine tin and then fastens to the side of the oil tank.

hopefully you didn't over fill the oil tank. check it at idle with the dipstick when the motor is fully warmed up to operating temperature.

[PrimeMvr]

I don't know if that's the correct term, but the idea is, if you fill one pop bottle with water, connect it to another with a hose and turn both upside down, they will eventually have the same amount of water in them. Need some venting too, but let's not nit pick

I set my oil level right around the half way mark. We'll see what happens. Big towel at the ready!

[PrimeMvr]

The leak was actually up top, it was just accumulating at the bottom hose. Someone had taken the top off the separator at some point and when they put it back together they snapped one of the clips and it lodged in the o-ring. You can see the deformity if you look closely at the pic below. Thanks for your inputs! P.S. The separator was complete empty, as you suggested it would be.