where is the oil coming from on this car...?

[andyt11]

The current owner sent me a picture of the underside of the engine on a car I've been considering. Its an 88 3.2.

Seems like there is a lot of oil leaking from various places, inaddition looks like someone might have tried to wipe some of it up? What do you guys think? I know they all leak, but does this look ordinary?

[kodioneill]

Hard to tell from photos. Take more closeups of the valve covers on the bottom from the underside showing the attachment point of the cover to the housing.

[twistoffat]

With some older models this can be true but on a newer say post SC its not so. My 87 is as dry as a bone and with those that leak we are not necessarily talking about large quantities. IŽd leave the speculation and get a pre purchase inspection carried out. A good porsche mechanic will tell you what the car needs and its money well spent. Rather 200 bucks on a PPI than 20k down the toilet

[steely]

I'm with kodi - there are many correctable locations that it could be leaking from.
The pic doesn't show enough, and if it was wiped, you'd have to track them yourself.
If you search here, you'll find it could be at the top of the eng (e.g.Oil thermostat, oil temp switch, crank case breather), or a seal, or on the side it could be the valve covers, or the rear it could be t he chain covers or the oil feed lines to name a few.
These are fixable, but I can't see if they fall into t his category or something more serious.

Can you get a read from the seller on the oil consumption?
BTW, what types of shocks are those?
hope this helps

[andyt11]

I only have the one photo, the seller isnt too hot on computers. Fortunately its a hi-resolution shot so I can zoom in a little. Not sure if it helps or not though.

Seller has indicated some oil consumption but nothing out of the ordinary. I don't think he is really tracking it.

Its the oil on the back of the engine case and the oil on the left cylinders that had me wondering. I'm also wondering if the whole u/side of the engine was covered in oil prior to this picture.

You are likely right, get a quality PPI and let them report on it.

Here's a slightly closer look.....

[d.a.autry]

It may or may not have been covered in oil.

It's still going to be a toss up game with just that one photo. . . at the back and from the left could be the breath cover, thermo, etc that steely mentioned. Tracking oil leaks to source (and how bad they are) is hard to do unless you're there in person looking at it and you know the normal points that could give leaks. I think in your situation everyone here is right, the best money that you could ever loose would be on a PPI. . .

[ben parrish]

Cam oil line leaks can make a mess like that at the rear corner. It looks like a small leak. Probably a very easy fix.
Ask him for pics of where it is parked daily..as in the garage floor. A leak like that may never manifest itself into a drip but the floor doesn't lie. If the car is close, go look for yourself.

[andyt11]

its four days away - but the rest of the car and the owner sounds reasonable so I think its PPI time. Spend a couple hundred bucks and see what happens.

Thanks all.

[dshepp806]

Check:

thermostat/O-ring
Oil Pressure light switch
Intake breather gasket area
Oil return tubes
Vc's
Cylinder bases
Case seam (weaping)
Tranny
ANY o-ring or gasket related to leaks!!!!!
Cam oil lines
Oil pressure gauge sender
Hoses.......
Oil tank sender

onand on andon.................

Best,

Doyle

MORE IMPORTANTLY: leakdown & compression tests

[86 911 Targa]

Originally Posted by andyt11

its four days away - but the rest of the car and the owner sounds reasonable so I think its PPI time. Spend a couple hundred bucks and see what happens.

Thanks all.

There's a lot of oil on that motor.

On top of the engine,

The "Usual" suspects are:

1. Breather tube.
2. Engine oil cooler/thermostat gasket.
3. Oil temp sender.
4. Oil pressure switch.

On the sides,

Valve cover gaskets.
Oil return tubes.

On top front,

Cam oil lines.

The right way to go about this is to clean up the engine,
and then check for leaks.

A breather tube leak can really put out the oil!!!!

[McLovin]

Impossible to know from that picture.

Could be something very easy, i.e., a 1/2 hour job with a $5 part could cure it all (the oil pressure switch).

Or could be something that would require a complete teardown to fully fix.

Only way to really know is to look at it and person and figure it out.

(Most oil leaks on a later Carrera like that are pretty cheap/easy to fix, though).

[d.a.autry]

Ditto on the oil breather hose (tube) too. . . they can become hard and brittle over time at the point where they clamp onto the crankcase breather cover. On an older engine with more blowby it will compound the problem.