Disappearing oil leak?

[CDNIcecube]

Hi all,

So I bought my 1999 boxster base manual in 2015 and my mechanic at the time did the RMS and IMS bearing retrofit. All good. Fast forward to early June 2017 and I noticed a 3 or 4 dime size oil drops on the garage floor. Note that it was in storage since December 2016 until March 2017 and been driving sporadically until June. So Jack up the car and noticed a little oil on the underneath of the car, right in the middle. And it seems to come from where the transmission mets the engine. So RMS right?


I clean it all...

The issue is that I have been driving it hard for the last 2 weeks and....no drips. Nothing. Is it possible that somehow the seal has been reconditioned or something?

[JFP in PA]

Leaks do not heal themselves, and bellhousing leaks are not necessarily the RMS. You. Many times someone brings in a bell housing leak for us to look at, the leak is actually from somewhere else and just migrated to that area.

Check the engine from above, and check both cam covers from above and below.

[BRAN]

Sounds weird, but had that happening EVER since the day I drove the Boxster home from Zuffenhausen.

If it stands (longer)...it leaks a little...
If it is driven regularly...no leaks at all...
Just FYI....it has been serviced by two Porsche dealerships from day 1 on

[Gilles]

if your car is no longer leaking it's because ran out of oil..

.

[CDNIcecube]

I'll look from the top again. Thanks.

[thstone]

I couldn't agree with JFP more. Here is my oil leak story...

Small drip from under the engine.

Take car to Shop #1. They say, RMS ($$$$). I say I'll live with it.

Car is at Shop #2 for other work. I ask them to diagnose (as long as its there). They say cam covers ($$$$). I say I'll live with it.

Eventually, I decide to track it down myself. I clean all of the oil off the engine and drive it for a week. Then re-inspect and find the oil coming from around two of the spark plugs. I replace all of the spark plug tubes and o-rings ($) myself and never saw a drip of oil again.

Take the time to find the actual source.

[patssle]

Originally Posted by JFP in PA

Leaks do not heal themselves

My 2000 S left a quarter size drop on the garage floor about a year ago. It hadn't left a single drop in the 16 years prior or in the year since. And I wasn't doing any work or anything to the car at the time. Explain that!

[lucoche]

If it can help you guys, today i was replacing my rear LCA’s with balljoints and when i raised the car to install the jack stands, after a few minutes i see oil dripping under the car near very close to the tranny/engine junction point... with a flashlight i could clearly understand that this oil was not engine oil but tranny oil (slightly pinkish) and it was coming out of one of the 2 drive axle shafts.

My conclusion for now is that this car doesn’t enjoy extreme jacking lift on one side, i maybe held the car for a few minutes in a position that the axles shafts didn’t like and gave opportunity to transmission fluid to come out by this seal....

After realizing that, i noticed that the pan under it was filled with oil from this dripping so i cleaned up everything, put the car back on its wheels and i haven’t seen any other drips of any kinds (clean the pan properly to avoid thinking that your car still have a leaking issue)

I am driving it to a minimum because i estimate a loss of around 3 cups of tranny fluid, so i need to get an alignment since the LCA have been replaced, so i will have the tranny refilled at the same time.

Was my strange boxster dripping experience, hopefully it can help in your investigations!