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Registered
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: W.Sacramento
Posts: 305
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drip . . . drip . . . splatter of oil
I need to narrow down possible oil leak culprits. I have a pretty good oil leak dripping right onto the middle exhaust pipe that connects the two sides and I am hoping to solicit some opinions before I decide what course to take.
I swapped my 2.7 for a 3.0 in my '76. I replaced the main rear seal and cherry picked my crankcase breather hose from the '76 to put on the '81 3.0 engine since I noticed a crack and prior owner said that the engine leaked a little. I inspected the flywheel and clutch (which checked out okay) and put it all back together. After completing the conversion things were great. Actually, better than great. The car had been off the road for 8+ years (maybe more!) and I was zipping around turns and FINALLY realizing the fruits of all the money and effort. The shifting left a little to be desired, but I was finally having FUN. Then I took it on the freeway for about an hour drive to meet my Dad for breakfast. I kinda drove a little fast. Can you blame me? When I parked oil was coming out at an embarrassing rate. I thought . . . hmmm. I drove it home and when I got home, the same thing. I tried another couple of drives . . . and the smell of the oil dripping and everything was just too much. I suspected the crankcase breather hose after researching. I partial dropped the engine and there's quite a lot of oil in that area. I tried to replace the crankcase breather hose with the original one, even though there's a little crack where it joins with the crankcase (seeing a replacement hose is $300!!!). WTF? The 3.0 original hose is longer than the 2.7 . . . so I thought, aha!, this could be the source of my problem. It was a ROYAL PITA getting the cherry-picked 2.7 hose off, with a partial engine drop. I got the original hose on . . . but I cannot for the life of me get the hose clamp back on. My arms are just too short and there just isn't enough space. Okay, so here's my problem. I know I'm going to have to drop my engine. Fine. Although that big piece of metal has gone up and down so many times I can't count . . . I figure, gotta do it right. But my limited budget is making it hard to decide what to do. (1) Drop engine, put in 3.0 breather hose, put engine back in and test. (2) Drop the engine/tranny, replace breather hose . . . check rear main seal? (Is there a way to tell if this is really the problem?) (3) Drop the engine/tranny and do all the oil leak spots -- crankcase breather gasket, breather hose, rear main seal (again) . . . and . . . ? What are the possible oil leak culprits that I should fix? Keep in mind, I'm young and am counting the dollars. Thanks (as always) to you guys who know -- or may have already been through this. |
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you might have a crack in your engine oil cooler...I believe porsche had a bulletin out on using an epoxy to fix it....if this is the case you don't have to drop the engine completely just lower it about 4 inches or so
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Registered
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: Manhattan Beach, California. Factory Delivery-Original owner-Retired engineer
Posts: 5,238
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Ricks911,
I don't know about your potential "other" oil leaks, but replacing the breather hose does not require dropping the engine on our '86 3.2. I just did this last wekend. 2HRS. The breather hose connection at the engine has a tendency to harden/crack due to engine temperatures and can produce the type of leak you describe. Having just replaced ours, here is what you may consider. For our 3.2 DME. 1. Remove the air filter housing. 2. Remove the air meter. 3. Remove the throtle assy. Place some type of cover over the intake manifold. These steps will afford you enough room to loosen/tighten the hose clamp with a 1/4" swivel drive . If you have several vaccum lines on the back of the throtle assy, note how they are connected. Perhaps, I don't understand your price on the replacement hose, but a Porsche part for our 3.2 cost me $38.00. Good luck, Gerry Last edited by 86 911 Targa; 07-20-2009 at 04:20 PM.. |
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Registered
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: W.Sacramento
Posts: 305
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Thanks guys.
86 911 Targa -- The 3.0 engine, I think, is much more difficult to get at. WVU 911 -- I hope its not the oil cooler. |
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Hopefully it isn't the cooler...mine had a crack in it last year and luckily I didn't have to replace it with a new one!
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Registered
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: Brandon, FL
Posts: 253
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I had a similar leak on my 82 3 liter and it turned out to be the thermostat o-ring on the back of the engine. This leak can be mistaken for rear main seal.
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82 911SC 74 MGB 97 Land Rover Discovery |
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