BIG !! oil leak

dave_monster · Apr 5, 2009

help... can anyone give me some advice my 84 944, it has started knocking like a bag of spanners and oil is coming out the front near the distributor, around the cam carry seal / gasket. are they easy to change ? if this is the problem!!

barks944 · Apr 5, 2009

I sorted my oil leak from the camshaft the other week, http://www.clarks-garage.com/shop-manual/cam-03.htm there is a decent guide. Is it leaking from the shaft or from the back of the distributor housing?

Edit: Not really the distributor housing, its the camshaft pully housing really I guess.

dave_monster · Apr 5, 2009

it looks like its coming from the join between the head and the cam cover right at the front..

Thanks for your help.
Dave

barks944 · Apr 6, 2009

You will probably end up buying a engine front seal kit then, which means you may as well do all the seals while you have the front of the engine appart.

Guest · Apr 6, 2009

And dont forget the belts as well as they will probably be contaminated with oil..!

The knocking would be worrying.... ! Try and find out what is causing it ASAP..!

barks944 · Apr 6, 2009

You might get away with the belts, mine was leaking from the shaft seal and it didnt get any on the belts luckily. The plastic cover does a good job of protecting the belts. Although if they havent been changed recently its definately a good idea to do them while you are doing all the work anyway.

Hilux · Apr 6, 2009

Before you go fixing oil leaks..................what type of knocking noise?

dave_monster · Apr 7, 2009

it's a tappety noise bad on startup dies down after about 3 seconds but still very" rattly " sounding. Could this be oil starvation? I have just bought a new cam cover gasket and will replace the belts anyway as a matter of course anything else i may need?

Thanks you for eveyones help!!

barks944 · Apr 7, 2009

Mine makes a similar noise when cold has done for ages and Ive had the head off and inspected valves/tappets etc before and they have been ok. The tappets are hydraulic, im not sure but this may have some influence on the noise they are making. Maybe they have to re-adjust each time the engine starts up from cold or somthing?!?

Hilux · Apr 8, 2009

Mine does it after being left not being used or running for a while.

Dont quote me but I understand that there is a one way valve that prevents top end drain down and it can fail. Its an engine apart job to rectify I am told.

If it does it every time you start the car then its a drain down issue I suggest and the noise is the tappets `pumping up` so when primed they go quiet. It doesnt mean the bottom end is starved of oil though.

I may be wrong so wait for further comment from others.

dave_monster · Apr 9, 2009

Thanks very much everyone, I am going to take it apart and see whats going on today..
I do have a comprehensive workshop manual covering all models of 944 if anyone wants a copy, its on cd rom just let me know.

Hilux · Apr 9, 2009

Look out for the one way or drain down prevention valve/thingy in the manual and let us know if there is such a thing please, thanks.

hotblack944 · Apr 9, 2009

You mean this? See page 17 - 16.

Hilux · Apr 9, 2009

There ya go, I thought I was right [

]

I assume this is in the head and is a one way valve in the oilway that supplies the head/cam or is in a return from the head? The sketch seems to show the top of the head so if the ball bearing is at the bottom it must be in the supply??

I would imagine it sticks open thereby allowing the oil to drain back down so the head/cam loses its prime and hence has to `pump up` ?? Its probably not a big deal but wear will occur quicker to the valve train I suppose and as the prime is lost it probably takes slightly longer for the whole system to achieve pressure when cold (I`m talking seconds here)

Anyone familiar with it? Care to comment? Can it be changed with the head in situ? Also there are two references to extraction, M6 and M10 ????? Whats all that about or is the M10 the later one to install??