Oil Leak - IMS? RMS? Please help diagnose

[sasha055]

Hi,

Past couple of days my car developed an oil leak. Just a couple of drops a night, centered under the engine.

Today I put it on ramps, cleaned the durty area with paper towels, then revved it to 6K and kept it there for about 2 min,
It started showing oil on the engine, just to the front and right of rear jacking point.
Is it IMS or RMS? should I be worried?

Car is 2000 Boxster 2.7L with 76k miles, I change oil every 6 month (~3k miles) with Castrol Syntec 10W40

Image attached.

Thanks
Sasha

[Wayne 962]

That's a mounting seam for the heads to the case if I can see that correctly. Might also be the scavenge pump above - I think it's on that side, but I'm all turned around by the picture.

-Wayne

[sasha055]

Sorry Wayne, car was on ramps and I coudn't take a better one.

I found an image on renntech, of underside.. this is not my image. I circled the part that I took the pic of.

Thanks
Sasha

[Wayne 962]

I think you need to get in there and clean it all off. Then run it while on jack stands, and see if you can see where the oil is coming from. It could be from a few different spots, including ones from above. Sorry for such a non-specific answer.

-Wayne

[harryrcb]

At least that is not from you IMS or RMS so track it down like Wayne mentioned and let us know, it could be the scavenge pump or most likely something from the AOS which sits on top of the engine on that side pluse the return line dumps back into the block just above that.

[fm1082]

I have essentially the same leak on my 2003 and have pretty much narrowed it down to the AOS area above. The car has 39,xxx and runs perfect. The oil consumption is low (1/2 quart per 1000 miles) so I have not made it a priority but tracked it down when I changed the plugs last week.

On mine, that O2 sensor harness seems to be picking up the oil and wicking it down.

[Schumi]

That is the mounting surface between the head and block. That thin metal bit sandwiched in the flange is your headgasket.

A lot of cars leak oil around here. The headers get those areas hot and thermal expansion does it's magic over time. There are a few bolts and such in that area that, if loose, will leak oil.

A bad RMS/IMS will leak oil right out the bottom, center part of the bellhousing where the clutch is. This is not that area.