darryldds

suddenly got a constant oil leak. I trust my mechanic, recommended through my local porsche regions magazine, but are there any tests ,ways to definitively say where the oil is coming from? I am not mechanically inclined. a buddy said there is an additive you put in the oil that lights up under a special light that would show where its leaking! Any help would be appreciated.

boulderbobo

How about you take this opportunity to get to know your car a little? Why don't you crawl under your car and take a look? There are a couple of locations that are notorious for leaking oil.

1) Lower valve covers and
2) Timing chain covers.

This is not rocket science.

tjangi

Bring it to the local shop and put it up ont he lift, much more comfortable. IMHO

3) If turbo car, the turbo's may be leaking.

element

How dirty is the engine? I need to find what is leaking on mine as well, but is dirty. So im going to spend a weekend cleaning it up with degreaser and then seeing exactly where it is coming from. There are some threads about leaks coming from the seals on the bolts.

phil.

deadhead1960

OP states it's a MY98; pretty much rules out a turbo

NC TRACKRAT

Perhaps you or your mechanic changed or topped off the oil recently and overfilled it?

ca993twin

If your car still has the engine under tray installed (let's not get THAT issue restarted), you will need to unbolt it to get a look at the actual engine to clean/find leaks. Easy peasy.

Leon993

Are you a Mobil 1 user? A 993 friend of mine was. Switched to Redline and no more leaks.

JPP

Also, some MY '97/98 motors developed leaks from faulty head gaskets. Porsche fixed cars still under warranty through a set of TSB's .. you might contact a dealer and see if there's any record of your car having any problems like that on the books.

ca993twin

Oh gads. Can you think of ANY plausible reason why this might be true, and not just coincidental with refilling with the CORRECT amount of any oil? Just sayin'...

AOW162435

I switched to expeller-pressed sunflower oil and noticed increased mpg's, and a drastic reduction in leaks. The exhaust smells better too.


Andreas

P-daddy

Yeah, but what brand Andreas?

Mike J

Did you change the blinker fluids too? That often helps!

Leon993

Mobil 1 is watery, its thin. Makes a difference in leaks.

AOW162435

Spectrum Naturals. I have a wholesale account with them, so I'm able to purchase the oil in 5-gal containers.

I did for the first few years of 993 ownership. Then I read a tech article on the Internetz that suggested using the blinkers dry, as the blinker fluid just adds weight and makes sloshing sounds when you check the car's shocks.



Andreas