Engine drop to fix this?

[LeakProof]

Nasty oil leak on timing chain housing to crank case. Has A gasket. I got A feeling I need to drop engine, remove cams, and re-time. To replace this gasket? Hope I am wrong.

[Scott Douglas]

Leakproof
From my limited experience doing a tensioner upgrade on a friends car recently, if it's the 'red' gasket on the left in this picture, I'd say yes to dropping the engine.

[slodave]

There should be three gaskets and one o-ring. One gasket is fixable with the engine in car, the other 2 and o-ring are not. If the leak is coming from between the cam tower and chain box, then you will need a gasket and o-ring.

[lucittm]

I have often wondered if one could remove the cam chain case without pulling the cam. I would think the engineers at Porsche could have foreseen the need to do this and allow "just" enough room to pull the casing away from the engine.

If true, you could do it by just lowering the engine a few inches. I think the hard part would be removing the nuts on the front and top of the chain case. I think there are 5 altogether? Then you would have to remove the cam nut (special wrench and cam holding bar required), pin, sprocket, flange, shims, seal cover, and seal. I think the cam chain guides will also have to come out before the case would clear.

Yes, you would have to re-time the cam, but it is not that bad if you have the dial indicator and z-block. I would try and get a reading before you take it apart and then try and replicate that reading.

Of course, have the replacement gasket handy. Or, you could attempt to clean the gasket surface with some acetone and then smear some threebond on both surfaces of the gasket. You might be able to do this by pulling the chain case just far away enough from the engine to get your fingers in there. Torque the nuts to 17 ft-lb (23 Nm). Did you try that first?

Good luck,
Mark

[slodave]

You don't need to pull the cam, but you do need to remove the cam gear.

If you need to pull the chain boxes, the chain guides will have to come off and more than likely, they will break upon removal.

I was lucky enough to do this last year. It is a pain. It was far easier to remove the engine.

[john walker's workshop]

you can remove the housing over the cam snout. the two alignment sleeves between housing and case on the case studs need to remain in the case to do so. if they come out on the housing, gently twist them out. this allows the housing to angle more and clear the cam. early exchangers or SSIs need to be dropped for the housing to clear. usually you don't have a "nasty" leak between case and housing. just minor seepage. it's probably something else like loose tensioner pin or the thrust plate gasket.

[LeakProof]

Scott, nice pic, thanks. And that does look like the culprit.

Mark, I kind of had the same thought myself. Maybe I'll try that and luck out.

Slodave, I could not agree more about those darn ramps breaking while removing. I just changed all five. Starting to seem like a planned engine drop is in my future.

John, "nasty" may or may not be overstating. A constant drip when 10W40 is hot then when cool, it stops. Maybe 20W50 Summer blend will stop or slow this and other annoying leaks. Ever since I added the thinner oil I swear I have more leaks/seepage problems then I did. I think my crank case seam is also seeping. Boy I would hate to split the case just for that.

Thanks guys for all your knowledge and input.

Mike