CarreraAG

Howdy All,

let me start by saying this is my second time posting this, the first time it seems to have gotten lost in the ether. If it pops up 2x I apologize.

So anyway... I have an oil leak coming from cylinder 3. I have ruled out valve cover gaskets, they were done recently and the upper and lower are dry. The leak seems to be disseminating from the crankcase direction and flowing toward header and down the heating shroud. If I stop the car with it idling for a few minutes it will drip on the ground, so its substantial.

Photos attached, any ideas?

Thanks, Andy

theiceman

as you know could be many things
first thing i would check is rocker shafts. they should be bone dry on each end, a leaking rocker shaft will leak down the back side and down the crankcase .

I would also take a mirror and check the triangle of death, as the switch , breather cover or oil pressure valve could leak also running down the crankcase.

also i would get right under and check to see if the oil cooler is leaking and running down.

CarreraAG

Thanks!

Can you tell me, are these things that can be fixed with engine in the car?

theiceman

yup ...

i did all my rocker shafts with engine still in car . on a carrera triangle of death is pretty easy. Oil cooler im not sure of , but i think it can be done.

some of it is ticky , but can be done without dropping engine.

500

Always hard to tell, but my vote would be on "triangle of death" as it seems from the traces on the sides of the header flange that the oil is running from above. Oil cooler leaks are not likely to show up only on cylinder 3 and not cylinder 4. Rocker shaft, as Iceman stated, is a possibility, but that would appear to be moving from the cylinder head area inwards, which seems to be opposite.

The picture below shows the "back" of the Carrera engine (i.e., the side furthest forward in the car). The oil cooler is the light green "box" on the left of the picture (passenger side). The triangle of death is the vent cover and sensors in the middle (behind the intake and throttle body. Getting to this area will be much easier with the fan, alternator and intake out. It is not a huge job at all, but will take some time simply because it is a lot of stuff. But access to remove these items is not bad.

You may want to try and thoroughly clean everything first and then see if it is easier to see the leak "emerge".

theiceman

good points about cylinder numbers, i confess to not reading that lol

CarreraAG

So, I dug into the triangle tonight. Looks dry. From the underside, the best I can tell is that it not the drain tube either, while it is oil covered, it's being leaked on my the fins of the jug.

Can a leak arise from where the jug meets the crankcase? Head studs?

Thanks. Andy

theiceman

100% it can ... there are " base gaskets" between the cylinder and the case half for sure , and yo are correct the studs keep them in place.. I would nit touch these until you check a couple other things. ( well beyond making sure they were all intact, ) but i assume you would have done this while you had your valve covers off..

if i were you with what you are susecting i would
1. remove valve covers and inspect every rocker shaft for leaking and repair as necessary
2. while valve covers are off check studs for torque very carefully, they are relatively low if i remember correctly. If you have broken loose studs it can definitely cause what you are seeing.

rstarga

Wash down the whole underside of the engine and splash talk, corn starch or Wurth leak detector. Then run the engine for a shot while. You'll soon see where it starts to seep.