Oil leaks

[DShen]

Hello 986 forum!
Unfortunately, my first post is asking for help identifying oil leaks. I noticed a pool of oil with a diameter of roughly 3 inches so I went under the car to inspect. Car is a 2000 boxster s.

First photo shows some kind of boot leaking? White arrow is pointing at right rear wheel. Black arrow points towards front of the car. Blue arrow pointing at an o2 sensor. That boot looks like its leaking, what is this part called?

Second photo shows same o2 sensor. White arrow points to spark plug coil. Black arrow to headers. I already wiped this area a little bit, it was definitely wet.

Third photo is just another angle of photo 2. I think the leak is spark plug tubes, but when i looked they seem dry. I'll try to get a photo soon.

The oil pan is all greasy too. I wiped it down some, so hoping to spot where the leak is the next time I go under to check.

[78F350]

Welcome to the forum. Look like you have a spark plug tube leak. A great opportunity to replace spark plugs and inspect the coils for cracks. Check out this post:
https://986forum.com/forums/diy-project-guides/52150-spark-plug-tubes.html

And here's a spark plug DIY from the forum sponsor:
https://www.pelicanparts.com/techarticles/Boxster_Tech/07-ENGINE-Plugs_-_Coils/07-ENGINE-Plugs_-_Coils.htm

Here's some bad spark plug tube leaks on a 1997 986 I bought:

[Starter986]

Welcome to the forum. But Jesus Christ dude... moving forward may scale back on the huge ****************ing pics.

[DShen]

Thanks for the welcomes! The Porsche community is very supportive from what I've seen so far, so I'm happy to be here!

I'll try to scale down my photos next time. Bigger the better though, right?

Spark plug tubes, eh? Guess I'll be ordering some new tubes and sparkplugs.

Any idea what the leaky boot is on the first pic?

[78F350]

Is this the boot you are referring to?


Oil has leaked *onto* that, not *from*.
That's a dust boot on the spherical bearing of the rear track arm (trailing arm/control arm/rod thingie).

[DShen]

Yes that boot. I'll have to inspect it again - not sure how oil reached this boot! It's kind of isolated from the spark plug tube leak. Thank you!

[Starter986]

Originally Posted by DShen

Thanks for the welcomes! The Porsche community is very supportive from what I've seen so far, so I'm happy to be here!

I'll try to scale down my photos next time. Bigger the better though, right?

Spark plug tubes, eh? Guess I'll be ordering some new tubes and sparkplugs.

Any idea what the leaky boot is on the first pic?

Plugs and tubes, gravy. Check the coils while you're there. Cracks will be an enemy. good luck.

[elgyqc]

It might be a good idea to take the top engine cover off and see what there is to see there. It is strange that there is oil over there on the suspension dust boot.
My car had a leaking oil filler tube (between the trunk and the engine and there was oil everywhere on the right side. Can only really be inspected from above.

[DShen]

Originally Posted by elgyqc

It might be a good idea to take the top engine cover off and see what there is to see there. It is strange that there is oil over there on the suspension dust boot.
My car had a leaking oil filler tube (between the trunk and the engine and there was oil everywhere on the right side. Can only really be inspected from above.

Definitely will do that when I get the top working, haha. Thank you for the advice!

I went under to take more photos. Look at all the black soot . I dont think this is all as a result of the spark plug tube leaks. I stuck a finger in the opening of where the white arrow is pointing. It was dry. The white arrow also points towards the rear of the car, for reference.

[78F350]

That oil at the rear of the engine could be from the rear main seal, the IMS bearing seal, or just residual oil from the spark plug tubes..

If you are planning to work on it yourself, do the spark plugs/tubes and clean the areas where there's oil. Drive it after it has been cleaned and see how it looks. If it is still leaking somewhere it will be easier to identify.

If you take it to a shop and say, "Fix the oil leak." expect them to say that it needs a new RMS (and IMS while they are in there). ...Clutch, flywheel, mounts coolant tank and AOS. A dealership or respectable Porsche shop could give you a bill of $8,000 to $10,000 once they get finished.
Does it need all that done? Probably not, but it's all maintenance that can easily be added on to an old 986 once you get deep into it.

Again, I'd recommend doing the spark plugs and tubes yourself and the driving it for a while to see if it's acceptable.

[DShen]

Originally Posted by 78F350

That oil at the rear of the engine could be from the rear main seal, the IMS bearing seal, or just residual oil from the spark plug tubes..

If you are planning to work on it yourself, do the spark plugs/tubes and clean the areas where there's oil. Drive it after it has been cleaned and see how it looks. If it is still leaking somewhere it will be easier to identify.

If you take it to a shop and say, "Fix the oil leak." expect them to say that it needs a new RMS (and IMS while they are in there). ...Clutch, flywheel, mounts coolant tank and AOS. A dealership or respectable Porsche shop could give you a bill of $8,000 to $10,000 once they get finished.
Does it need all that done? Probably not, but it's all maintenance that can easily be added on to an old 986 once you get deep into it.

Again, I'd recommend doing the spark plugs and tubes yourself and the driving it for a while to see if it's acceptable.

Those are some scary repair numbers! Yup, I am planning on doing some cleaning and then changing out the tubes. Then drive around and see if there are more leaks. Exactly as you said.

The previous owner did get the ims, rms, clutch all done together 40K miles/9 years ago. Clutch is fine, but time to refresh the two seals?

[Gilles]

78F350 provided very sound advise indeed..

What I would do in this case, is to buy two cans of (heavy duty) engine degreaser, apply it all over the engine and then "gently rinse" with "Very Low Pressure water" and thereafter use Simply green to remove the oily residue left by the engine degreaser, then again rinse with Low Pressure water..

Sorry to repeat but the Low Pressure water is the key to rinse your engine without getting water into any of the electric connectors, I have don this procedure for many years on all my cars and never had an issue..

After you drive the car it will be very obvious where the oil leaks come from, good luck!
.

[DShen]

Okay so I started the car for about 2 mins to warm up the oil. Got under and saw the leak in the photo attached. I then changed the spark plug tubes (they were definitely also leaking) and plugs, and did an oil change. Very very tiny bits of metal on the magnetic drain plug. I checked the oil filter and it was super clean, just oil. So that rules out IMS leak?

My guess is RMS leak. As stated the last time the rms/ims/clutch was changed was 40k miles/9 years ago.

I'll inspect the engine from the top to see if there are leaks from up there. What do you guys think? RMS for sure?

[Gilles]

Dshen, unfortunately, the only way to determine your oil leak source will be after you thoroughly clean you engine (top and bottom), as many of the leaks start on the upper side of the engine..

[tommy583]

I found my car to be leaking from the bottom of the oil filler tube. It made a mess and at first I thought it was the RMS because it got all over the bottom of the transmission.

[78F350]

This one leaked almost everywhere except for the IMS/RMS. http://986forum.com/forums/show-tell-gallery/76941-my-red-97-a.html

Definitely check the oil filler tube and oil cooler. Keep in mind that residual oil that already leaked may take a while to run to the bottom of the engine.

[DShen]

Ya'll might be on the ball here. Looking at the engine from the top. Found a small puddle of engine oil (white arrow pointing right) deep below the hoses. She was very wet down there. Normally, that'd be a good thing, but not in this case.
Is that the oil filler tube (white arrow pointing downwards)? It looked like the leak might be coming from this tube.

[Starter986]

Originally Posted by DShen

Ya'll might be on the ball here. Looking at the engine from the top. Found a small puddle of engine oil (white arrow pointing right) deep below the hoses. She was very wet down there. Normally, that'd be a good thing, but not in this case.
Is that the oil filler tube (white arrow pointing downwards)? It looked like the leak might be coming from this tube.

Gonna need bigger arrows.

[78F350]

Yes, the oil filter tube.

[DShen]

Alright so cleaned up the small leakage. We're talking about ~1 drop of oil when I used my hand to wipe under the clamp on the oil filler tube.

With it dry, I wanted to confirm the leak is from the clamp area. I went for a 10 minute drive. Came back, put my hand on the underside of the oil filler tube clamp....all dry. Next few days, still all dry.

Then today, I went for a longer drive, revving up to redline a few times. Afterwards I did the same test (felt the underside of the clamp). However, this time it was...damp. Not enough oil to form a drop. Maybe only 1/4 of a drop. No CELs. Some mechanics told me I would get a CEL if there was a leak on that tube because of the loss of pressure. I'll talk to my local indy mechanic eventually.

On another topic. I noticed two hoses was fusing into each other. See pics below, pics are taken after I separated the two hoses from touching. What are these hoses? Check out that indention on the bigger hose. Anyone experience this before? Is this a real concern?