|
|
|
|
| Author |
|
|
Too big to fail
|
Tracing an oil leak
Ok, today's excercise of running all over town assembling new oil lines was fun and educational, it didn't do much to cure my oil leak.
Now that I have the oil loop line out of the way (custom replacement) I was able to run the engine and see where the oil is really coming from - or at least where it's coming out. Just forward of #3, the oil is dripping off of the sheet metal. It's a devious little leak, because it's coming down between the head and the shrouding. There isn't a speck of oil on the head, and only the faintest schmear on the front face of the sheet metal. Only by laying under the car with the engine running was I able to see where it was coming from. It produces a drop, then hides again for a few minutes. The forward 1/4 of the valve cover also has oil on it, and there's some oil-dampness along the 'tray' under the top valve covers - the one that collects the nuts when you drop them. Any ideas?
__________________
"You go to the track with the Porsche you have, not the Porsche you wish you had." '03 E46 M3 '57 356A Various VWs |
||
10-11-2002, 09:43 PM
|
|
|
Registered
Join Date: Jul 2000
Location: So. Calif.
Posts: 19,910
|
Thom,
Not sure if I'm picturing the same area you're describing. I'm going to assume this is the sheet metal that covers the forward end of the cylinder head/cam housing on the driver's side. yes? If so, there's an expansion plug on the end of the cam housing that might be leaking. On early cars with MFI, the cam sticks out of the housing in order to drive the MFI pump with an oil seal at that location. 911s without MFI have a plug in the housing. You should be able to remove enough of the sheet metal in this area to take a look w/o dropping the engine. My MFI E cam has nothing to drive (Webers), so the drive end of the cam just sticks out of the housing. However, the seal leaked a short time after the rebuild. Instead of pulling the engine to replace the seal (requires cam removal), I had an aluminum "hat" machined to fit over the end of the cam. There are two threaded holes in the housing around the cam opening to attach the new fabricated cover. A little gasket cement finished off the install. No more leaks (from this area). The MFI sheet metal provides enough space to enclose the MFI drive pulley and thus hides the makeshift cover. On yours, it looks like the sheet metal fits fairly flush against the cyl.head/cam housing. If you repair it the way I did, you may have to perform sheet metal surgery or perhaps find some compatible MFI sheet metal (good luck). But then again, that's my guess. I could be wrong. Sherwood Lee http://members.rennlist.org/911pcars |
||
|
10-11-2002, 11:22 PM
|
|
|
Irrationally exuberant
|
Thom,
Could the rocker arm shaft be leaking? -Chris |
||
|
10-12-2002, 07:17 AM
|
|
|
Registered
Join Date: Jul 2000
Location: So. Calif.
Posts: 19,910
|
Thom,
oops. Forgot. You have a 3.6. You may want to disregard everything I said before. Sherwood |
||
|
10-12-2002, 10:18 AM
|
|
The Blue Pheonix
