Valve Cover Gasket - supposed leak - Do I need to address??
 

I own a 2001 Base Boxster. 76k miles. Car is running beautifully - knock on wood.

However, during a routine oil change last week, my mechanic informed me that he noticed that my Valve cover gasket is leaking oil. There isn't a drop of oil on my garage where the car is parked most of the time. The estimate to repair was expensive. With no visible leaking on my garage, how worried about this should I be? Thanks.

The best thing to do is view the leak yourself.
Then you will know how worried you should be.

Find a new mechanic cause there is no valve cover gasket on these engines

I just looked in my 986 workshop manual. It shows a cylinder head gasket, but the cylinder head cover (or camshaft housing cover) shows no gasket, just silicone sealant. I've never opened it up myself, so please don't trust my comments as if I'm an expert.

Spark plug tubes are in the same area, and they tend to get leaky and drip oil. They're also easy and cheap to replace.

But Sti-986 brings up a good point: How experienced is your mechanic with the 986?

Agree with both of the above. If anything I would think a spark plug tube, which is a $10 part.

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doubt it's the spark plug tubes. Remember, oil will drip down. OP didn't say which bank has the "leak". Oil could be leaking from above and dripping down which makes it look like the "valve cover"

I'm thinking it's time for a new mechanic, at least one that doesn't appear to talk down to you and knows how to work on a Porsche. There is also no valve cover....it's called the camshaft housing cover. Of course if those are your words then ignore this paragraph. Only Porsche that I can think of that has a gasket is the 924/944/928 and even those are still camshaft covers.

I know...semantics....but still, it's a mechanic right?

Any shop or mechanic that says you have a problem that you can see visually but fails to show it to you is not where you want to take your car.