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‘Intermittent oil leak’

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paul.hardman

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My 1988 911 3.2 Carrera Convertible runs well and has one or two snags that I’m planning to sort in the coming winter break. One annoying snag that I’m hoping someone can give me some advice on is an oil leak that only makes itself known when the car has been stood for more than a week. I’ve tried to locate it but never been able to pinpoint it. It seems to settle on the floor roughly in the middle of the engine. There’s no obvious leak looking from the bottom of the engine but hoping someone has an idea?

Cheers
 
Your best bet is to get the underside of the engine scrupulously clean and then see where the leaks emerge from when the car sits. If you drive it the airflow will blow the oil all over making tracing the source of the leak(s) difficult to impossible.

If the car sits for long enough does it smoke on startup?
 
IndischRot said:
Your best bet is to get the underside of the engine scrupulously clean and then see where the leaks emerge from when the car sits. If you drive it the airflow will blow the oil all over making tracing the source of the leak(s) difficult to impossible.

If the car sits for long enough does it smoke on startup?
Click to expand...
It does smoke on startup if Not used for about 2-3 weeks. The smoke also comes in through the air vents for a couple of minutes and then clears
 
One issue the air cooled engines have as they wear is that oil flows out the bottom of the tank, through the oil pump and into the sump. Over a period of weeks this oil is enough to get past tired seals and it presents itself as a leak. Or it seeps past the piston rings and gets burned at the next engine start.

If the oil return tube seals are leaking that’s a relatively easy fix. They get progressively more difficult to resolve.

One solution to stop the unwanted flow is to install something like the Rothsport check valve https://rothsport.com/collections/o.../products/oil-inlet-check-valve-72-89-911-930

No connection etc etc.

My original advice stands - try to find the source of the leaks and then decide how much time and money you want to spend resolving them. You may choose to just live with it.
 
IndischRot said:
One issue the air cooled engines have as they wear is that oil flows out the bottom of the tank, through the oil pump and into the sump. Over a period of weeks this oil is enough to get past tired seals and it presents itself as a leak. Or it seeps past the piston rings and gets burned at the next engine start.

If the oil return tube seals are leaking that’s a relatively easy fix. They get progressively more difficult to resolve.

One solution to stop the unwanted flow is to install something like the Rothsport check valve https://rothsport.com/collections/o.../products/oil-inlet-check-valve-72-89-911-930

No connection etc etc.

My original advice stands - try to find the source of the leaks and then decide how much time and money you want to spend resolving them. You may choose to just live with it.
Click to expand...
That’s really appreciated. Great advice thanks. I’ll have a look and as I say. It’s only an issue when she’s parked up for a few weeks. I guess I’ll just have to drive it all of the time 🙂. Cheers
 
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