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oil system better be constantly under pressure .. or you have real trouble
haha, I meant “sitting” as in turned off not running, resting in my garage ie no pressure in the system. I checked all on top of the engine without major disassembly and it is dry, for example photo from firewall down, you can just about make out the air/oil separator or whatever it is down there.
the other sensor on top of the engine looks dry:
I disconnected the fanbelt and recorded it turning. It does make a noise, a regular kind of ticking, see the video and let me know if this is normal or it should be completely quiet. It charges and produces requires voltage fine, so any noise is either fan blades touching shroud, a “leaf” or bearing noise.
So it hasn't leaked a drop in 24hrs. I have a theory to run by you guys.
What I did yesterday was reposition the car on the lift, it was a little bit sideways. Ran it for maybe 3 minutes or so. I then raised it up (it dripped once or twice) and then cleaned off the bottom of the case with brake clean and taped up some "curtains" so I could see where it might be dripping from. Since then, bone dry...
My theory is that it is actually not between the case halves that it is leaking, the main leak that drips from the seam, is actually running from the leak around the camchain box and that there is like a ledge in there somewhere. So as the oil runs back slowly from the tank into the engine case, and it slowly levels out, a ledge in the camchain box is overrun and then it will start leaking. Because I ran it so short, it drained the case fully (dry sump) and the oil is fairly cold (room temp) so it takes time for it to level out from the tank into the engine case. There may be some oil in the case (very likely), but if the seem is not leaking, I won't see any leakage until later when the chain box is filled up and it then starts to leak.
Took some photos yeseterday. The camera is pretty aggressive in the contrast so it looks really bad here but in reality maybe a little less alarming...
A photo of the camchain box, clearly a relatively significant leak here (this is near #1 cyl).
Also a photo of the leak near nr6 cylinder and where it is leaking just a little bit). This is very little, this drop has taken a month to develop since I cleaned it off last time.
Last edited by Black_on_black; 02-23-2023 at 05:03 AM.
1. seal between chain box and cam tower, this was leaking on mine causing the oil to run down the chain box... only did it at higher RPM and stopped when i stopped driving
2. rocker shafts , this is uber common and can be easily spotted by removing the valve covers...
either end of the rocker shfts should be dry , if they are oil soaked you have found your issue.
Thanks, good tip. Due to weather and some vacation time, it will be sitting unused for a few weeks, so I’ll keep an eye. Most important is hopefully not needing to separate the halves.
If you bought the car with the intention of keeping it longterm, I'd suggest biting the bullet and having an experienced air-cooled tech pull the motor, fix the leaks, replace the fuel lines, adjust the valves, clean the injectors, and check the head studs. This will give you an opportunity to detail the engine bay and engine as well. You'll feel a lot more confident owning and driving the car once you establish a baseline condition and know exactly what you have. These are old cars and they're always going to have things that pop up here and there, but you can stay ahead of a lot of it by getting this part of it out of the way at the beginning of your ownership.
There are a number of thread with pics on how to fix the issue with the high-beam staying on. It's simply a matter of bending a contact and I was able to do it on my without disassembling anything and just using a thin flatblade screwdriver. A headlight relay kit is a popular upgrade and keeps the headlight voltage from routing through the headlight switch and turn signal stalk, which will eventually burn them out. It's around $50 and an easy DIY mod that takes 30 minutes at the most.
His general advice was quite "extensive", but check the fuel lines.
The rubber hoses are connected to steel pipes and the rubber harden and the hose might look fine, but it's loose.
Try carefully to rotate the rubber hose in the steel pipe, if it can be rotated, recommend that you fix them.
These can be repaired, hydraulic shops have to tools to crimp the ends, original hoses can be very expensive.
These can be removed with engine in car.
Thanks for all the great advice, apologies for going silent a few weeks (holiday, back herniated disc...).
So I think I have at least one less issue - I do not see a leak between the case halves. It takes awhile...but I can see two "streams" of oil that eventually pool at the bottom of the case and then drip. One comes from the oil return tubes from the head to the case and the other comes from the cam chain box at cyl1. These at least do not require a case splitting exercise, which is good news. I will have a chat with an air-cooled mechanic here post winter to see if it is an engine out thing or can be done in situ.
The sticking high beam issue - I removed the covers and just want to confirm it is the marked (third from the left) metal plate that needs a mm of tweaking to the right in the below pic. What we are seeing is a close up of the left indicator/light stalk taken from the left of the car. Please confirm, if you know :-)
Worked up the courage and bent the third plate from the front of the car and voila the high beam works as designed
Regarding the oil leaks, it is clear two sources, one is this more recently swapped oil return tube and the cam chain box. I tried taking some photos below with reflection in the oil. I think we can close this line of inquiry now, it's a matter of sorting it out, but the analysis phase can be concluded.
Thanks for all the great advice, apologies for going silent a few weeks (holiday, back herniated disc...).
So I think I have at least one less issue - I do not see a leak between the case halves. It takes awhile...but I can see two "streams" of oil that eventually pool at the bottom of the case and then drip. One comes from the oil return tubes from the head to the case and the other comes from the cam chain box at cyl1. These at least do not require a case splitting exercise, which is good news. I will have a chat with an air-cooled mechanic here post winter to see if it is an engine out thing or can be done in situ.
The sticking high beam issue - I removed the covers and just want to confirm it is the marked (third from the left) metal plate that needs a mm of tweaking to the right in the below pic. What we are seeing is a close up of the left indicator/light stalk taken from the left of the car. Please confirm, if you know :-)
Oil return tubes known issue on 3.2. Originals are one piece; Porsche make two piece 'telescopic' replacements that mean they can be replaced with the engine in situ. Had them done on my 3.2 Clubsport a few years ago after a couple of the originals started leaking. Probably worth replacing all of them.
Oil return tubes known issue on 3.2. Originals are one piece; Porsche make two piece 'telescopic' replacements that mean they can be replaced with the engine in situ. Had them done on my 3.2 Clubsport a few years ago after a couple of the originals started leaking. Probably worth replacing all of them.
looks like his are the two piece collapsable already so may get away with just replacing the orings.
02-21-2023, 02:04 PM
… Thanks for pointing in the right direction 
