Pesky Oil Leak - 87 924S

rwsams · 07-26-2005, 11:23 AM

Folks,
I've been struggling with this problem for awhile. I hope I can get some help.
Here's the problem.

I have a slow oil leak (about 1/2 qt every 3000 miles) that appears to drip off the hex end of the oil bypass valve housing, onto the power steering pump housing, and then onto the sway bar bushing, steering rack boot, etc.

Here are a couple of related facts.

I've done a full reseal of the front of the engine, including new sleeves for the balance shafts and cam seal. The inside of the timing belt cover is dry. I got the oil return o ring in the right place when I replaced the front cam cover. I may have messed up one of the whispy plastic seals that go behind the sleeve for the cam seal.

I've replaced the oil pressure sender, torgued the oil cooler bolts, replaced the crush washers under the oil bypass valve and the hex bolt that goes to the oil cooler on a 951.

I've replaced the cam tower gasket and the rear cam tower housing gasket.

What I haven't done is to replace and reseal the oil cooler housing gasket.

Does anyone have a "most likely" culprit here? I'm almost ready to take the entire front of the engine apart including a reseal/gasket job for the cooler. Any common mistakes I might have made that would cause this leak?

Thanks in advance for any help.

924sBob (the other one)

yellowline · 07-26-2005, 11:55 AM

I had a similar leak and redid the oil cooler seals when they went in January. Now it runs Mobil 1 and hasn't leaked a bi from there.

I'd start with redoing the oil cooler seals. Best to do them before they go and require a cooling system cleanup.

Slam · 07-26-2005, 12:41 PM

I'd agree with yellowline.

rwsams · 07-26-2005, 09:10 PM

Thanks folks. I'll get the oil cooler reseal and gasket first and see what happens.

924sBob (the other one)

yellowline · 07-26-2005, 09:17 PM

One other tip: use Hy-lo-mar sealant when installing the new gaskets. I attribute that to the car not leaking from there. Really good stuff.

rwsams · 09-13-2005, 08:32 PM

Well thanks to yellowline and Slam, I've got this one fixed. I replaced the oil cooler seals and O-rings, but then I found that my front main seal had gone - for the second time in about 20,000 miles.
I did a complete front reseal including balance shafts, cam, and front main. Dry as bone for the first time ever. The big leak was the front main. The little, slow, mess up the sway bar bushing dad burn blankety )(**&^% leak was the oil cooler gasket just under the oil pressure relief valve. Hard to see.
Anyway, thanks to all.
924SBob (the other one)

rb101 · 09-14-2005, 03:22 AM

Did you replace the drive sleeve (944-107-161-02) for the oil pump? The seal wears a groove into it and will quickly ruin new front main seals, that might explain your 20K leak

rwsams · 09-14-2005, 10:02 AM

rb101,

I did replace the drive sleeve the last time I did the front seal. This time, it had a shiny ring at the seal contact point, but I couldn't feel any groove or roughness with my finger or a probe.

If the front main goes out again, I'll put a new sleeve in it. The front main seal is a pretty fast job compared to the oil cooler and the cam/balance project.

Thanks for the tip. I'll keep a close eye on the front main.

924SBob (the other one)

Slam · 09-14-2005, 11:17 AM

"Well thanks to yellowline and Slam, I've got this one fixed."

Glad it worked for you!

Cheers!