Those darn oil leaks? Is it worth $2000 to fix them

[rdane]

More questions........

The original 3.0 has 190K miles on it. Car is in a good state of tune and runs great. Plenty of power and speed for where I am at. Doesn't eat a lot of oil.....most of it I suppose can be attributed to the last few leaks

The down side is the car wasn't well taken car of for at least 30K miles at least previous to me. I have spent a good deal of time and money making it right again over the last 10 months.

Last track day I spouted another oil leak. The first serious one. Thought I had about all plugged up. This one was from the oil cooler which wasn't installed as well as it could be.

The consensus has become pull the engine ($500 in and out) replace $400 worth of seals and bolt it back together again all of which comes to $2K give or take.

I am wondering if that 2K might be better spent on a 3.2 engine swap. Going to rebuild or swap to something else next winter/spring anyway. Low mileage 3.2 is looking better and better price wise for a short term fix and just do it now.

What do ya think? What is a decent 3.2 selling for these days? Conversion costs?

[82SC]

if you are handy with a wrench do it yourself...
until you start opening the internals of the engine it is hare to really mess up your engine.

The oil leak fixes are easy...check the tech section of an article I wrote, or get waynes book which is much better

I bought the car withou ever having done an oil change on a car, now I've doen a clutch job, swapped out cams, and much more

plus you have to take into account 3.2L are not necessarily in better shape then your 3.0L alot of them have rod bolt problems

if you really want to sell...I may be in the market for a tired 3.0

[dd74]

rdane - 82SC is correct. One reason I wouldn't go with a 3.2 is the rod problem they've had. I'd stick with the 3.0, or jump one step beyond and do a 3.6.

[nostatic]

at 190K, has it been rebuilt? If not, maybe now is the time to do it, and you could do a few mods (cams, SSI) to get a bit more oomph out of it.

I think it is better to spend the money rebuilding what you've got rather than buying another unknown quantity, unless you are doing a major HP increase. 3.0 to 3.2 doesn't qualify imho.

[Joeaksa]

Rdane,

I have a good 3.2 that was sold now the gent is having problems coming up with the funds and may be on the market again. 93k and excellent compressions (+/- 3 psi on all cylinders) and no leaks. Two owner car and I have had it for the last 6 years. Am using Mobil 1. Selling it only because of a 3.6 conversion.

The "rod bolts" are not a problem if the motor is kept below 7200 RPM! Most of the motor's Porsche built since the 2.7 has had some sort of issue but many were because of mods made after leaving the factory, poor handling (stock rev limit on a 3.2 is 6400) or abuse.

I work with airplanes for a living and see a motor like yours from time to time. We usually end up pulling it apart and replacing every gasket and "o" ring there is. Most of the time the motor has been hot or not assembled correctly and it costs more time to pull everything off then troubleshoot than to do it right from the beginning.

If you are going to look at overhauling the 3.0 I would compare prices for this versus a 3.2 or 3.6 transplant. The 3.2 transplant can be done for $5-6k if you do the transplant. The 3.6 for $8-15k depending on which motor you use. Most people then sell the old 2.7 or 3.0 and make 60-75% of their money back.

You have to run the harness to the computer (under your seat) and cut a notch in the tranny housing (for the sensors) and do a bit of switching on the 14 pin plug (not hard) and possibly a throttle cable. Do a search on this site and you will come up with a lot of info. 3.2 has a nice flat torque range compared to the earlier motors and the DME injection is easier to work with. You can program the computer chip to do what you want and several guys here have done that.

If you are interested in a good 3.2, pls PM me.

Joe