Leak, did I overfill

[Guest]

Hi There,
I am a newbie here. Just picked up my 1977 Carrera 3 at the weekend.

I ran her down the motorway for 30 miles and noticed oil level gauge was near red. I pulled over at service and filled approx 2.5 litres. Checked the dip stick and little below max. Continued the remaining 250 motorway miles with no problems.

When driven hard the next day around country lanes could see oil dripping from black box and smoking as it hits engine (drivers side under) when stationary. I thought it maybe overspill from when I filled it at the service station but its not.

Any ideas please
Dave

 

[nick3814]

Hi Dave, if its anything like my 83 sc the oil level gauge is useless unless stationary and at temperature. If its at temperature when you check with the dipstick thats the most accurate reading you will get, did you spill some when you topped it up,maybe as that is running down it has found its way onto the exhaust.
The black box you mention will be the oil tank (911's don't have a sump) give that a good clean and see if it shows where the leak is coming from.


Hope this helps

 

[bones]

The oil should be checked with the dipstick as Nick says but with the engine at operating temperature and running on level ground. If all is well make a note of what the oil level gauge is reading and use that as a rough guide only. When driving the level gauge will move towards the red/empty section of the gauge, this is totally normal as the engine takes oil from the tank and circulates it around the engine, then when next at a standstill the gauge registers high again as oil returns to the tank. Check your oil as described above and if you now find the level is too high , don't drive again until you remove enough to get it back to the correct level.