Oil Leak Location

porschenewbe · 06-02-2007, 03:33 PM

Hey guys! I have not posted in a while because I have been too busy at the JOB to have time for the 944. I have an oil leak that I cannot seem to find. I searched the forum and have checked the places most often suggested. I did have the rear cam tower gasket leaking pretty bad and I though that was all my problems. But, I have replaced the gasket and no more leak there but still oil is driping off the pan and cross member. The leak appears to be coming from the water pump shaft housing (similar to the balance shaft?). I inspected the oil sending unit and oil cooler this morning and they appear to be dry. Is the water pump shaft housing prone to leaking? I did not see any past posts that referenced this area as a potential problem.

Thanks for the help!

Rusty

earlr85944 · 06-02-2007, 03:39 PM

remove the timing belt rear cover and you should be able to tell where its coming from

Icey1174 · 06-02-2007, 03:48 PM

Does the leak look like it is coming from the front of the engine or the side? Oil can find many different paths to the bottom of the engine.

If it looks like the front:
There are seals under the timing and balance covers that that do leak, sometimes. I just replaced all mine in the front end. Take the timing belt and balance belt covers off to look and see. You will not hurt anything taking the covers off to get a look. Just make sure you put them back on correctly.

The balance shafts also have seals in the front. If there is too much oil try cleaning it good, put it back together, drive the car for a while, take them back off and see where they are coming from. I did the belts at the same time so I don't know if it is requirded to remvoe the belts for sure or not. The balance shaf seals will need the balance belt to come off.

From the side:
Do you get any smoke from the exhaust pipes from the oil? Check the cam housing gasket. I just replaced mine. It was slowly seeping oil out. It caused minor smoke from burning off the exhaust and it did find it's way down the side of the engine.

porschenewbe · 06-03-2007, 08:18 AM

The leak looks like it is coming from the passenger side under the exhaust manifold. I have already replaced the cam tower gasket and the little gasket on the rear of the cam tower. I inspected the oil sending unit, oil cooler and the oil filter and it does not look like the oil is coming from there. There was a drop coming from the timing cover so I suspect there is a leak under there somewhere. I replaced the timing and balance belts abot 1000 miles go so when I go into it to re-tension the timing belt I will pull the covers off and replace the seals under there. It would be nice to know what I need if I wanted to replace all the seals . . . any suggestions? I did not look into this area when I replaced the cam tower because I knew I had a really bad leak on the little gasket at the back and thought that would fix my problem.

Thanks for the help!

Icey1174 · 06-03-2007, 12:07 PM

I think there is a kit somewhere on here for all the front seals, o-rings, and junk like that. Try some degreaser by the exhaust. When it leaks again you should have a better line of sight as to where it is coming from. Is it the front end or the back end of the engine on the passenger side? I am guessing the front. About how far back?

porschenewbe · 06-03-2007, 04:09 PM

The leak looks to be mostly front to center of the pasenger side. There is a small housing in the area and I am not sure of it's function. I think it is for one of the balance belt pulleys but most of the reference I see to "balance Shaft" are on the drivers side of the engine. This is where it looks like the oil is coming from. The housing extends from the front of the engine, under the oil cooler and stops around the middle going back. There is a pretty good picture of it in my old worn out Haynes manual on pg 78 ((fig 14.4, 14.5 and 14.6B). I havve other small leaks on the drivers side but the one on the passenger side is pretty bad.

On another note, my car was missing pretty badly at about 4K rpm, the exhaust smell was really rich and gas milage sucked. I searched on the forum the other day to find out if there was a cheaper O2 sensor and found a couple of threads that gave the Bosch part number. When changing out the sensor, the wire just fell off where it connected to the old sensor so I know it was not giving a signal. Man what a difference! The rich gas smell from the exhaust is gone, the missing at 4K rpm is gone and the milage is up to around 28mpg. Actually, I have to be careful now because this little baby will be a 6K rpm before I know it!

This forum is a fantastic place for those of us who are a little mechanically inclined but ignorant of German engineering!

Thanks for the help!

Icey1174 · 06-04-2007, 05:23 AM

There is a balance shaft housing on the lower passenger side. Right around the area you are talking about. The pics you are talking about are for the oil pump housing. It's possible that those seals may need to be replaced.

I love this fourm too. Everyone here is very helpful. I would have never have done any work like this on my car without the help and support from the people on here. Good to hear about the O2 sensor. I am finding that this car is VERY easy to work on. The only exception is the little light blub that goes into the clock.

Just give yourself plenty of time and follow all direction to have and you'll be ok.

My oil leaks are finally gone and now I am spending a lot of time cleaning the engine compartment. So far so good.