Alright! Oil in the airbox!

[Jim Sims]

After spending two and half frustrating hours helping a friend take apart two Pantera half-shafts (Lobros are downright elegant compared to those "tractor axles") I went out to face my own problem. A small puddle of engine oil under the rear main seal of my '76. When I discovered it yesterday evening I was pretty down. I'd put in a new main seal less than 1500 miles ago and it had been tight and leak free until yesterday. What did I do wrong? What could I do differently? I lubed the outside with Curil-T and put engine oil on the inside. I had even used the official Porsche seal installer tool! The I remembered the turn. Coming home from dinner Thursday evening after the commuting traffic had cleared away I let it rip much faster than usual on one of my favorite curves: a falling, tight radius right hand with a slight rise at the end opening onto a nice straight away. As usual the 911 went around like it was on rails. My oil has been a little high as I over did it while filling my new oil cooler lines. It was just slightly below the full mark so I decided to let it burn off; the only problem is the car isn't using much oil. Most of my previous consumption must have been leakage which I've apparently addressed. Maybe on the turn I slopped some oil into the air box and its gone down the condensation drain. Hope! Hope! Off comes the air filter cover and air filter and low and behold a wonderful light coating of engine oil on the bottom of the airbox and then looking underneath a trail of oil back to the drain "duckbill" valve. The specter of an another engine drop fades as I merrily wipe the oil out of the air box with paper towels, wet ones and more paper towels. Time to take out half of quart of oil! Cheers, Jim

[Doug E]

I love it when a story has a happy ending.

Your line of "... the spector of another engine drops fades.." must have been precipitated by a long sigh of relief when the words first ran through your mind.