drwhosc

So I had a bad day. Was driving the 88S4 and while on the road, smoke in the rear view mirror. I pulled over, and had a massive oil leak at the m=bottom left of the engine. Low oil pressure flashed about 3 times before I was able to shut off the engine. I have not gone under the car yet to see what's up, I did have a fire with all the oil that came out, so it was a blow out.

Just wondering what people think it could be. What seats are there, and I know there is an oil cooling line in that area as well., Hopefully the engine is OK an don't toast, but I am sure loosing oil did not do me any favors.

karl ruiter

Oil filter, hoses, and regulators are all there. Guess would be hose, but would be surprised by sudden burst with no history of leaking. Maybe filter came lose? Could you have run over anything?

Adamant1971

An oil cooler line would be my guess since you lost so much in a short time. Have you checked the dipstick to check the level? The oil sender has two leads one for pressure warning and one for the gauge. Is your power steering ok? A high-pressure steering line failure would ignite and could kill the sender wires in short order, but that would have likely been a major fire. And the filter as mentioned above if it was loose enough that it fell off.

GregBBRD

Loose oil filters pump oil out, very quickly.

drwhosc

Yea its all kind of scary. As much as I hate to say it, I did see some oil under the car, but drove it anyway. Pressed for time. Unfortunately this was my daily driver for about 8 months. Was fun. I get under the car early next week. Had some buddies who really helped me out. It is good to be kind to people. Will let you all know. I am hoping for a cooler line, Will also check the filter. I was due for an oil change, but my 996 has been taking up the lift.

thanks for the guesses. would not have thought the filter could get loose, but I guess if it can happen it will.

Mrmerlin

an important line of info
" I did have a fire with all that oil. "
could you please expand on this ?

What was the last thing you fixed?
how many miles are on the car?
Do you do your own servicing?

drwhosc

Mr Merlin. Great to see you again.

Yes I do my own servicing. I have not done much to the car except drive it. So the moral of this story is you need to do periodic maintenance. I have not worked on the car in several year. It was parked for a couple of years, and got out a few weekends. I started to daily drive back in march. Took my 996 off the road to fix it up, but got busy with a fixing up a house, so neglected the 996, and hence drive the 928 for far too long.

So I have not done much in recent years, but over the years, have done the front of the engine, cooling system. air intake, lower engine, a arms, torque tube and some interior.

The fire was interesting. Basically the oil pooled on the air dam, and did catch fire. when I pulled over, the smoke was coming out of the engine bay. popped the hood, and sure enough, there was a fire at the bottom of the engine. SO I go and get my fire extinguisher, pull the pin, and it fails. No pressure to pus the compound out. Lesson learned. change those out periodically.

I tried to snuff it out with a rag, bit could not reach it from underneath, and i get my first look at the amount of oil, Soaked everything. I had a drink in a bottle, pour it down the side of the engine.. Fire sizzles, get smaller, but still lit. Luckily where i pulled out, there was business, and I was able to get some water back in the bottle. Took a total of three bottles to put things out. I did notice my harness to the starter is down there,. Awesome.

Lots of lessons learn, and hopefully I did not do too much harm. as I said bad day, but neglect will do that.

hp18racer

I had my pressure sensor fail and leak profusely once. I hope your leak turns out to have an easy fix.

Mrmerlin

Posting pictures would help glad the fire is out my guess is one of the engine harnesses shorted and melted the oil cooler line
there is not any ignition sources on the bottom of the engine

Cymadesign

I vote for Mr Merlin's suggestion

Long ago I had something similar happen on a Volvo 760 Turbo. Power cable to starter rubbed on the oil filter. Once the insulation was rubbed off the cable arced a hole in the oil filter and the engine was toast in less than a minute.

Kevin in Atlanta

Could the starter wiring be a possible source of ignition? Oil being blown back could short out between wires with missing insulation and the oil pan.

Alan

Oil is not a good conductor so that is not likely a cause - its more probable to me that the ignition source was in some way the cause of the oil leak. By the sound of it it was a massive leak, I'd also be wondering about a missing undertray and a debris strike?

Alan

drwhosc

So got the undertrey off. Here are some pics. Sorry no lift. On 4 jack stands. Also need to remove alternator

drwhosc

Well I am now thinking my rear main seal failed. Will drop the housing by the torque tube and take a peak. Does that mean engine has to come out? Guess will do some reading.

Go Go Joe

I am not sure if it would be a RMS. I've never had one blow out like that. They are pretty thick and tough. They usually only start dripping. My guess would be an oil cooler hose which in one picture looks to be still dripping. It looks like it blew out straight down onto the belly pan rather than up onto the engine as evidenced by fact that the oil filter, wiring, alternator are not all burned up. Good thing you pulled over immediately and shut it down. Mostly looks like new oil cooler hoses and miscellaneous items are in order. Also, WYAIT, you need a new dust boot for the steering rack. Lucky, lucky, lucky you!!!