Looking for source of oil leak - 81 SC

[wreckah]

hi guys,

1981 SC targa with SSI's and bitzracing EFI,

looking for advice on where this oil leak would come from. This shot is taken looking up to cylinder nr. 6, next to the oil cooler. After ca. 10 minutes of idling, a drip comes down on the case from somewhere near nr. 6. You can see the drip coming down to the left of the pciture. (when i drive, half of the SSI is covered in oil)

Engine fully rebuilt 2 yrs ago, all seals, all cylinder bolts, all pipes, etc.., runs great, triangle of death looks dry from above.

Could it be oil cooler seals? Please please don't tell me cylinder bolts nr. 6...

thanks for your suggestions. cheers, Jan

[75 911s]

edit sorry didn't fully read your description. :-)

[wreckah]

yapp i know it's a bit hard to look in there properly, but it looks dry so far i can tell...took lots of pics and none show wetness...maybe i should take off the leftovers of the CIS and have a proper look.

i'm just hoping that oil cooler seal leak can leak via nr. 6...anybody knows if this is possible?

[wreckah]

at least it's not the main seal on the front of the crankcase...that's something i guess.

[75 911s]

Can you post a pic of the top with the bitz setup? Seems like that would give you much greater visibility to spot something on the top side. How did you manage the oil breather tube.

[wreckah]

i chose bitz stock look, in other words, i keep the CIS intake and oil breather setup, so no change from stock CIS there.
breather hose goes to tank neck, and the other hose goes from tank neck to airbox IIRC. New hoses.

the whole decel valve shebang, AAR, fuel accumulator, fuel distributor etc...is all gone.

[Flojo]

Originally Posted by wreckah

Could it be oil cooler seals? Please please don't tell me cylinder bolts nr. 6...

thanks for your suggestions. cheers, Jan

check from above, tiangle of death, do a search, you'll find it.

[proporsche]

wreckah..have you done 1 500km check up after the engine was done.....??

looks a like lot of oil in front of the cylinders and on the base to,somebody washed the engine i assume?

Possibly, you might have loose heads too plus looser breather hose , on top on top of the engine as Flojo has mentioned the triangle.O.D. could be a culprit .....

Ivan

[wreckah]

hi Ivan,

yes i washed some parts to look for the oil leak. The cylinders were pretty much covered in oil (splashed around while driving) and i had to find a way to see where it's leaking from.

no, i did not do a checkup, is there a guide somewhere of what i have to do? I did do a valve job after a couple 1000 kms. I'm now at maybe 10.000kms after the rebuild (odo not working so i have to calculate fuel usage).

So i guess i need to retorque the cylinder bolts to make sure?

Tomorrow i'm taking off the intake to check the triangle of death properly.

thanks for the suggestions!
Jan

[wreckah]

you know, i'm fairly certain that the triangle of death is dry, and the breathertube is half a year old, and tightened properly and dry as well. (i know because before it wasn't )
and oil cooler seals are new since the rebuild, would be very disappointing if they would leak already.

so tomorrow = valve check and head bolt torque check. Great suggestion Ivan. thanks,

[Jeff Higgins]

Could be as simple as the hose clamp on the hose attached to the bottom of the oil cooler. Or maybe the mounting bolts for the oil cooler are a bit loose. Both are really easy to check, and quite common. I always like to start easy and cheap before working my way to hard and expensive. We often fear the worst and it turns out to be simple things like these.

[wreckah]

hi jeff, yepp, checked that hose properly , it's ok.

i'll take the oil cooler mounting bolts into my checklist tomorrow. thanks!

[pmax]

If it's a steady drip on idle after warming up, I would suspect the oil cooler.

[wreckah]

first actions this morning, more or less every head bolt is loose.

[proporsche]

hi wreckah..that is what i thought;-) Usually if the mechanics do not do 1000 mile or 1500 km check up after they did the engine or a valve job -this will happen.........easy fix and back on the road if you can ..winter is here already;-(
Here in Czech is raining ice my other car is a ice cupe, i cannot even open the doors;-)

Ivan

[Flojo]

Hey Ivan, not in France anymore?

[wreckah]

ok, finished with valve job and head bolts. On the passengerside (where the leak is), they were more more or less all a bit loose...quarter turn, half turn, sometimes maybe even full turn to get it to 33Nm.
Driverside all tight.
Closing everything up now, gonna tighten the fanbelt too, put some more oil in, and then testrun.

Winter is coming yes, but that has never stopped me! I'm driving this car more or less year round, and very regularly...getting cement bags for rebuilding the house amongst other errands Rain, hail, snow, salt, i don't really care, i'll be dead before the car has rusted away...

Once i was in east turkey with my 1969 T, and we had to start it at -20°C...worked just fine. And these cars are made for snow driving!
Whatever you do, don't lick the locks!

[proporsche]

good for you wreckah...;-)

Flojo ..done with France, now I`m where i left from in 1982;-) opening little Porsche Classic shop next year;-)

ivan

[wreckah]

on a positive note: the oil leak seems fixed. I need to redo the valves though, because even though the car ran perfect when i started it up, while it was warming, it stopped running on nr. 2 and nr. 6...so something for tomorrow.

[High Life]

I have an 81 SC also.

It leaks a little here and there, I may get a one or two drops sitting for weeks. - I guess I haven't been too worried about the wetness..

Maybe that's not the right attitude - but I just figured that's what I get for buying an old Porsche..