What's your thoughts on a sudden oil leak?

[WI wide body]

I have an unrestored 1984 911 Carrera Targa that looks good and is in very average condition body wise but it ran great. 102K miles on it but the engine looked like it had never been touched. Even the underside of the engine was remarkably dry with only a tiny drip at the big oil return hose on the passenger side that I intended to fix.

When our frozen tundra weather began to arrive I put it away. Actaully didn't do anything except put some wood under the tires and disconnect the battery.

Then I happen to glance at it earlier this week and there is a small oil river about 3 feet long under it! It's on the driver side and appears to be about even with the back of the rear tire.

Too damn cold for me to crawl under it right now but what would be the most likely thing that caused this?

[MRM]

Oil return tubes. On both sides, next to the heat exchangers. Very common, happened the first winter I had my 84 Cab. Easy to fix. About $350 at the shop, an afternoon and $75 in parts if you buy the expandable replacement tubes from our host.

Best way to store it is to drive it, wash it, dry it, put it away with a half tank of gas and don't touch it until spring. Less is more. No real need to bother with Stabil for four months. Next spring fill it with clean gas and give it a gentle start up, several miles of warm up, and then drive it until it gets up to normal temps and drive it a good while. With the top off, preferably.

[Danny_Ocean]

JAWAG...Water inside the oil tank freezes/expands and forces oil out?

[WI wide body]

Originally Posted by MRM

Oil return tubes. On both sides, next to the heat exchangers. Very common, happened the first winter I had my 84 Cab. Easy to fix. About $350 at the shop, an afternoon and $75 in parts if you buy the expandable replacement tubes from our host.

Best way to store it is to drive it, wash it, dry it, put it away with a half tank of gas and don't touch it until spring. Less is more. No real need to bother with Stabil for four months. Next spring fill it with clean gas and give it a gentle start up, several miles of warm up, and then drive it until it gets up to normal temps and drive it a good while. With the top off, preferably.

Well, living up there you should know about the "frozen" procedures!

One of my kids lived in Eden Prairie and I think that I saw a Roseville sign during visits up there. I lived around Greensboro, NC then and it was like a culture shock going there in the winter. Very nice area though.

Yeah, I was hoping that it's just one of those tubes. Like I mentioned, the passenger side did have a small leak so I might attack both of them at the same time.

Actually, now that I think about it I did replace the Cyl. Head Temperature cable just before winter and had to remove the rear driver wheel to get into that area. Maybe I disturbed or pushed on that oil hose while doing that little project.

Anyhow, thanks for your thoughts.

Ed C

[WI wide body]

Originally Posted by Danny_Ocean

JAWAG...Water inside the oil tank freezes/expands and forces oil out?

D-O,

Sure hope that's not what happened. Do you think condensation could cause that much water to build up inside the oil tank? Seems like it would take quite a bit of water for the expansion to cause the hose to rupture.

I did not notice any unusual or excessive traces of water when I changed the oil in October.

Ed C

[midlife]

I have a similar issue with my 3.2. When it was driven daily, it would leak maybe one or two drops on the floor. When I stopped driving for a month while doing a body conversion, it is leaking like a sieve. It did something similar when I rebuilt the transmission last year, and it eventially stopped once I started driving.
Right now I am debating whether to replace the oil return tubes before putting it back on the road, or just driving it and hope it stops.

[WI wide body]

Originally Posted by midlife

I have a similar issue with my 3.2. When it was driven daily, it would leak maybe one or two drops on the floor. When I stopped driving for a month while doing a body conversion, it is leaking like a sieve. It did something similar when I rebuilt the transmission last year, and it eventially stopped once I started driving.
Right now I am debating whether to replace the oil return tubes before putting it back on the road, or just driving it and hope it stops.

Sounds pretty close to my deal.

Okay, so which one of us is going to go first? It won't warm up around here until about late March or April.