924Board.org

[cgalyon]

I'm guessing it's probably just a combination of age and recent weather change, but my car's begun a steady leak. I regularly keep my eye on the oil level now and it doesn't drop dramatically. However, it made a mess in my garage when it sat for about a week.

The engine's pretty old and the weather went from really hot to really cold and back to really hot, so maybe the metal flexed and the engine isn't sealed as well?

Anyway, I wanted to see if anyone has some thoughts on how to possibly help seal up some of those leaks without rebuilding. I know it's a vague question, but as the problem hasn't been bad I'm mostly just contemplating and brainstorming. I don't run synth oil as I've heard it can clean a bit too well for old engines.

Thanks for the input!
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1988 924S Navy Blue - Phone Dials

[John_AZ]

Since you were not specific where the oil pooled under the car----\\_//

Rear of engine dripping down the oil pan--Rear Main Seal RMS
Rear of engine dripping down the rear cam housing cover---Rear cork cam housing gasket. Cheap easy fix.
Rear of engine from underneath the cam housing--cam housing gasket

Rear of engine further down from the cam housing gasket----passenger side rear balance shaft housing seal. Just clean and pack some hi temp silicone sealer around the nuts and the rear "O" ring area. Some time take a couple of days off and do it right.

Front of engine below the crank by the belt guards dripping on the oil pan to the floor-----Front crank seal, "O" ring and usually a bad oil pump sleeve. FIX this now or the oil sprays on the belts. Change the belts.

Oil pan gasket----Do the rod bearings at the same time and check for cracks in the oil pickup tube.

Of course the usual Front engine seals.

Am I close? I only included engine oil leaks.

You could just get one of the huge galvanized garage floor pans and never plan to park on you neighbors concrete drive.

GL
John_AZ
1988 924S 61K + 1987 924S 116K DD

[cgalyon]

Doh, you're right, sorry about that! It's been very hard to pin down the exact location of the leak as it appears to drip in several places. The leaks are intermittent, which makes it difficult to just peer under the car and observe the drip. The placement on the floor is varied, but appears mostly clustered around the middle of the engine, though with about a foot between the most distant spots.

It's about due for an oil change too, so maybe they can help pin down a specific area as well. Though the last guys I took it to said, "I don't know, there's just oil everywhere", which wasn't very helpful! Think I'll take it over to a mechanic and ask him to take a look, particularly at the front of the engine since I'm more worried about it leaking on the belts.
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1988 924S Navy Blue - Phone Dials

[bcblase]

Another one is the air-oil separator (AOS) - that's where mine seems to be coming from.

The o-rings on the AOS at the base of the oil filler tube go bad. O-rings are cheap, but getting the entire AOS out to change the o-rings is a bit of a job. I bought a used AOS just in case the plastic is cracked.

Brad
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1987 Porsche 924S - track toy
1986 Mercedes 190E 2.3-16v - autocross
2007 F-150 5.4L Lariat Supercrew - tow beast
1994 Volvo 850 Race Wagon - 24 Hours of Lemons Car
2001 BMW 325xi - daily driver

[TJC]

One of the things you may consider is to clean the engine so you may determine where the oil is coming from.

You can either have this "professionally" done or buy yourself some "Gunk" or similar product and do it yourself, or take to the "quarter" car wash and do it. Be advised that when washing the engine down you must take certain precautions so you won't damage any of the electrics or fuel system etc.

A clean engine will go a long way with your diagnosis, plus if it's really gunked up, it'll run cooler when it's clean.
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'95 BMW 318i/5 ..."Pearl"
'87 Porsche 944 NA... "Liebchen"
'02 Porsche Boxster..."Sunbeam"
'04 BMW X3..."Xander"
Still on the Prowl!

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