Chasing a very difficult oil leak
 

I've had oil dripping from the front (pulley side) driver's side of my engine for weeks that I wasn't able to pinpoint. It appeared to start just below the intake (top of the engine was dry).

I finally decided to invest in a smoke machine suggested by chrisfix and was able to pinpoint the location of the oil leak.

Now I just need to identify this part. It appears to be just to the right of what looks like a camshaft sensor. There is a hose attached to this plastic piece.

Need your expert knowledge in identifying this piece.

Thank you.

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads02...1662247247.jpg

That is the PCV, It opens to vent vapor pressure from the crankcase when engine is shut down . The corrugated hose that the PCV is attached to vents vapors from bank 2 to the AOS. The hose is very brittle and will most likely break when you attempt to replace the PCV if not extremely careful. The hose is a POS to change. Good Luck

PS the leak is actually the round opening above your arrow.

Awesome! Thanks a lot for your reply. A little googling and I found another thread on this forum for that part. The part number 996-107-047-51. ECS tuning calls it a crankcase vent valve. Pelican parts calls it a "Porsche Connection Piece with Valve for Oil Separator Vent Line". Thankfully a very cheap part.

While it may seem like the leak should come from the vent hole, the leak was actually exactly where my arrow is. That tiny bit of oil is not engine oil. It is the smoke oil starting to bubble. It took about 10 minutes to build enough manifold pressure to start smoking. And about another 5 minutes before I could pinpoint where the smoke was coming from because the source started to bubble.

That's why this was so difficult to find. I could rev the engine in my garage with the covers off for 40 minutes and it would not leak. But after a good run it would start leaking again. The wiring harness just in front of that location was wet with oil. So it looks like it actually sprayed from that location during hard acceleration. I would not have been able to pinpoint the leak without a smoke machine.

Thanks again for your assistance.