A large pool of oil dumped....

[EType1961]

Went for a short drive in my 1994 993 C2 with 63k miles recently and afterwards found a large pool of oil deposited on the ground in front of the o/s rear wheel. Spoke to a few people supposedly in the know about 993's, one suggested failed oil pipes or union, the other cam cover seals, both of which sounded complicated and presumably expensive to resolve. So, rather than hand it over to a specialist which would result in a 300 mile round trip on a trailer I decided to remove the rear wheel, the inner shroud and take a look.
Nothing obvious, but noticed a rather large oil filter is located here. Also noticed the said filter was old in appearance and rusty in places and wondered why.....having owned the car for just over two years and only covered around 1000 dry summer miles since purchase, plus it's always stored in a heated garage throughout the autumn and winter and never used during this time.
So, onwards with location of the leak. I spoke to a VW engineer friend and he suggested the oil filter may be porous, an odd occurrence I thought and one that I've never experienced with any car I've owned.
And sure enough, upon starting the engine the oil started to erupt out of a rusty patch on the oil filter, albeit slowly as obviously the oil was cold and thick.
I thought I would post this as I believe it's a very odd problem to experience, but then again perhaps not in 993 land? Has anyone had any similar experiences or have any suggestions as to why this filter has corroded and failed. I should add that it's an original Porsche filter, albeit made in USA stamped on the end of it, which I was surprised to see. Furthermore, I purchased the car from a well known Porsche specialist who fully serviced the car prior to delivery to me.

 

[nickgardner]

I don't profess to be an expert on this, as I let people who know what they are doing fettle mine, but my understanding is there are two oil filters on the 993 engine and only one of them is a regular service replacement each oil change, the other being changed at longer intervals (not sure exactly when but infrequently. That's the one you're looking at which can corrode and leak through. After it happened to me many moons ago (I've had mine for 18 years now) -as you say oil leak in front of OS rear wheel is symptom - I've made a point of getting it changed at least every other annual service

 

[franklin910]

Hi, I've had this happen to my 993 but on the other filter under centre engine. I found out the last person to service it had tighten it to much & crimped the side of the filter which made this rust. The same thing happen to me all of sudden big patch of oil.

 

[EType1961]

Thanks Nick, that's very interesting and good information for the future. It would also support the reason why this filter looks so old and neglected. Your reply is very much appreciated.

 

[Hacki]

Yes, I´ve heard of that problem. Maybe some mechanics don´t know that the 993 in fact has two oil filters. So the neglected one gets porous and oil is leaking out.
I´have both the filters changed every oil change.

 

[pse_SC]

If the people who service your 993 don’t know that it has 2 filters, then you shouldn’t be using them.
I would suggest that whoever services your car has not changed that filter at all. Combined with your very low use of the car, this has led to the problem you have now... []... it is best to get both changed with the oil service every year.

 

[gpm993]

If the people who service your 993 don’t know that it has 2 filters, then you shouldn’t be using them.
I would suggest that whoever services your car has not changed that filter at all. Combined with your very low use of the car, this has led to the problem you have now... []... it is best to get both changed with the oil service every year.

+1 and yes oil and filters every year as a minimum

 

[John Maddox]

Absolutely agree with the last two posters. Iirc the small filter that the op is talking about acts as an extra filter for the hydraulic tappets/camshaft oil feeds and the big one below the oil tank filters the rest.

As above I used to change oil and both filters each year and it is unbelievable a garage has failed to do this properly.

 

[vic cohen]

don't be too hard guys ,especially if it looks old .......not that many years ago there was a faulty batch of filters ..........a lot of them !
never seated right whatever u did

 

[IndischRot]

Cue the Tom Jones music...

It's not unusual for the large filter to not be changed but it's a pretty shabby service if it isn't. At a cost of circa £15 it seems a poor trade-off.

The large filter is there to filter the hot oil that's come out of the engine before it goes into the tank (either directly or via the oil cooler if the thermostat is open). The small one filters the oil coming out of the tank before it goes into the engine. A bit OTT perhaps but Porsche must have had a good reason to go with 2 filters on the 993.

Still, good to hear your leak has a cheap and simple fix!

 

[EType1961]

Thank you for all your replies. I agree completely, oil and filters (irrespective how many) should be changed every year as a matter of course. I was dumfounded to find that this large filter hadn't been for what looked like some considerable time. This despite my buying of the car from a large and very well known Porsche Specialist. When we buy a car and are told it has been fully serviced, together with the book stamped, you assume (assumption being the mother of all f-ups, as I well know) that such service items such as filters are changed. However, thinking back, I bought the car blind entirely entrusting the company to supply the car as they described it, which largely it was. However they had three goes at delivering it to me before it was 'as described'. Paint issues the first time, it was off the delivery lorry for all of 15 minutes before it was loaded back on the truck. The next time it was delivered back to me and having actually got to drive it I found poor performance and severe missing at anything over 4k revs, and as every schoolboy knows with pre-variorum cars that when the fun begins. Cause, the HT leads were arcing so much in the engine bay it looked like a mini firework display when viewed in the dark. Result, collected again by the dealer and a new wiring loom and HT set fitted.This was before I'd even covered a few miles in the car.
So on reflection, why am I surprised the filter wasn't changed.....more fool me!
To draw a line under this I have now changed the filter and the car is once again bringing a smile to my face, just as they did for me back in the 90's.
Thanks to all for your comments.