First Porsche, first repair job - leaking oil line

[aldente295]

Hello Pelicaners...

Well, about three weeks ago I pulled the trigger and bought my first 911... purchased sight unseen (with a few pics and a PPI) from Cincinnati, I bought a one-way ticket from LA, picked it up and drove it the 2400 miles back home with no problems (aside from $5 per gallon premium!!)

The first thing that needed repair was a leaking oil line (tank to t-stat) and after much research on this board I went with the aircraft oil hose from Aircraft Spruce and Specialty Co.

I REALLY want to thank the previous posters who put up instructions, pics and part numbers. It made doing this so much easier and in the end it all went very smoothly (I love my Dremel!!).

For those interested in doing the same, here are the parts I used:

Replacement hose: 7/8x1-1/4 oil hose, $6.60 per foot; http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/appages/mil6000.php

T-bolt hose clamps: from MSC Industrial Supply Co (1-1/8-1-7/32" SS/SS T-bolt Hose clamp, $4 each; http://www1.mscdirect.com/CGI/GSDRVSM?PACACHE=000000059082566)

and a couple of pics:

jacked and ready to go:


the old leaky hose - let's get dremelling!


well, that was easy! here's the cleaned up t-stat end:


and the hose in place.


the t-bolt clamp. a little blurry, sorry...


the dremel'ed old bits


my baby, ready to go with fresh oil - more of which stays in the car and off the pavement now!



Next on the list is adding a front oil cooler and trying to unsquash one of the lines where someone did a dumblift. (Who are these people who crush oil lines?? Seems like every 911 I come across has had this happen to it!)

So... if anyone can suggest a reasonably inexpensive front cooler solution, I'm all ears -- I was ready to go with the 'Kit B plus' Mocal option from B.A.T. (below) - but when I called they said it was on 'indefinite back order' and that I shouldn't even bother ordering it




Anyway, really happy to be on the board, looking forward to lots more repairs :-D



Al
---
1980 911SC - 'Brian'

[autovon]

Check out this thread for your oil line woes:

Fixed my Crushed Oil line for $5 and a beer.

[ramonesfreak]

Congrats!
nice post. any plans to do this one?


im in need of replacing this one in the near future as its dripping pretty bad from the top crimp

oil hose leak?

my hose like the one you replaced seems ok but im gonna replace it per your info above when i do the other one

[old man neri]

Looking at the way the dirt is sticking to your oil tank it looks like there is a slight leak somewhere. Perhaps look into it, if it were me I would care but that's just me.

Good fix on your oil line though,

Cheers!
-matt

[efhughes3]

Go to has several cooler options, and new oil lines to boot.

[aldente295]

thanks matt - i cleaned up the tank a fair amount, and I'm 'hoping' that the dirt is sticking to all the oil that was blowing out of the leaking line that I replaced, rather than out of the tank. I'm going to let 'er run for a week or two as is and see if it still has leaking issues (I suspect I'll end up replacing the other soft line as well). I have to revisit the front oil cooler in the next little while, so I'll look at it then. There's only so long my condo neighbours will accept me doing repairs in the public car park!!

[efhughes3]

I wouldn't assume there's a leak in the tank. It's years of other oil finding its way on to the outside of the tank, and then all of the crud kicked up by the rear wheel glueing itself on to the nice sticky oil coating. Just think, all of that "insulation" may be good for 2 or 3 degrees lower temps!

[aldente295]

thanks ed - was hoping for the $400 cooler solution rather than $900 - but i may have to bite the bullet if BAT doesn't come up with anything in amonth or so.

[crustychief]

good job covering your brakes! it is real easy to get a oily hand on there and make a price mark!

[plymouthcolt]

You should replace your S-hose from the tank to the oil cooler. If it's original is probably hard and if it goes...bye bye engine.

[slw911SC]

The accumulation of dirt and grime on the side of the right rear fender oil tank is typically, but may not always be, caused by an old and/or leaking cork gasket that is behind the plate that secures the oil sending unit mechanism into the oil tank itself.

It just wears out and seeps over time and causes this mess. It's an easy, but tricky fix because the working space is restricted, and the unit itself has to be carefully removed from the tank. Sort of a square peg in a round hole scenario. It's fiddly.

This is how I just did mine on the 83 SC Coupe:

1. Jack up the car and remove the rear wheel.

2. Clean the tank area with a solvent or grease removing product. Be careful not to loosen or break the sending unit wires. You do not have to empty the oil tank because the oil level when the car is cold, and still, does not reach the top level of the hole that houses the sending unit.

3. Loosen off the nuts and lock washers and let the plate "sit" on the wires. You'll see.

4. Be VERY, VERY carefully to wiggle, angle, and/ or manoeuver (man-oo-ver) the sending unit out of the hole and place it on a clean, soft surface. Clean up oil grime on the unit if necessary.

5. Remove the old gasket from the rim around the hole, or the back of the sending unit. If it's old and worn, it will probably fall apart.

6. Clean, clean, clean!

7. Use the old cork gasket as a template to cut a new cork gasket. Or, just buy a new gasket.

8. Re assemble making sure all the nuts are SNUG on the lock washers. NOTE: Before tightening everything up, put the wheel back on, remove the jack, warm up the car and take it for a short run checking the dashboard oil level guage to see if the sending unit is functioning properly. It should be if you've been careful.

9. If it is, tighten everything up.

BE PATIENT with this one! No hangovers, no distractions, and not too much coffee!

Cheers,
Steve in Calgary, CANADA

83 SC Euro Coupe

[aldente295]

Nice one Steve! That sounds likely and I'm glad to have it confirmed that it can be worked on without draining the oil.

[Porsche_monkey]

What do you have for a front oil cooler now? Just the trombone?

[aldente295]

yep, just the trombone, and with one of the lines under the car semi-crushed as well. That being said, I've never seen (nor had the PO experienced) any cooling issues - it's never gone more than a couple of notches over the white box, and never, ever higher than 'straight across'. I'm quite keen to replace the numberless gauge with one that shows the actual degrees, but have struggled to find a supplier of one (despite lots of searching on these forums and the web)!! Anyone have a part number of one? Should I be using a pre-77 gauge? Do i need to replace the engine sending unit as well?

[Porsche_monkey]

I wouldn't touch the oil system until it shows itself to be an issue. My guess is it never will.

Do you ahve Wayne's Project book?

A last suggestion: If you have the rubber hose pushed on far enough I would use a second clamp. Hot oil softens the rubber lines, at a dollar each, a second clamp is cheap insurance.

Typically the tube should have a swaged out section at the end in this application, which prevents the hose from sliding off. I don't think you have this 'safety feature'.

[aldente295]

Hi Porsche_monkey -

yep, I have Wayne's book which is fantastic.

I don't think a second clamp will fit on to the hose in this case -- I'm using t-bolts which are quite wide; when I was putting them on it appeared that a second clamp would not fit onto the flange.

How would you achieve a 'swaged out' section of hose - or does the hose come like this?

The main reason I'm considering upgrading the cooling is that I will be taking the car with me to Australia at the end of 2008, and I expect to see higher temps there than what I'm experiencing in SoCal.

cheers
Al

[Porsche_monkey]

The tube needs to be swaged out at the factory, you can't do it now. I think if you look on your car you will see that almost every tube is swelled at the end if a hose that pushes on to it.

I was just suggesting you push the hose on antoher inch and ad the second clamp in that area.

Australia - yes, do it before you go.

[Porsche_monkey]

The tube needs to be swaged out at the factory, you can't do it now. I think if you look on your car you will see that almost every tube is swelled at the end if an oil hose pushes on to it.

I was just suggesting you push the hose on another inch and add the second clamp in that area.

Australia - yes, do it before you go.

[JFairman]

That looks kinda familiar... I did the same thing a year or so ago. I've pressure cleaned all the old dirt out of the fender well and off the oil tank since this pic.