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Quick Oil Leak Question

Outrun944

Outrun944

New member
I'm trying to source an oil leak, but don't have the equipment to safely raise the car up to look from underneath.
I appear to have lost 1 litre of oil after 250 miles.

Before I noticed oil spots under the car I topped up the oil - but slightly overfilled it by misjudgement. It was slightly over the MAX mark, but thought it would be ok seeing as I'd just been driving and the engile/oil was hot.

The quick question is thus - if you overfill will the engine just burn this off or is there a valve that would release this excess oil thus could be the oil spots I'm finding under the car?

Reason I ask is since I topped up again, I've made a few long-ish journeys over the weekend (200miles) but the oil level on the dipstick hasn't dropped!
So... before I rush to the garage and pay for them to have a good look around could it just be the excess oil that it's spurted out? Or is it not how it works on the 944?
 
OK I see there's an oil pressure release valve from Clarks Garage docs. Would this release excess oil?

It may be totally different, but I'm sure my old Mazda's released oil if overfilled through some kind of valve.
 
Slight overfilling should not be a problem,, loosing 1 litre of oil in 250 miles is! I would take it somewhere to get it up on a ramp to see where you are loosing it? Any clouds of blue smoke when decelerating?
Alasdair
 
The oil pressure relief valve will usually bypass the filter if it is blocked. Be careful about overfilling it can cause as much damage as not filling at all!! Although like Al said a little should be ok. Check your filler cap, dipstick sitting in prpoerly and everything obvious as well. Is your car a turbo?
 
Cheers - no smoke when driving. Although I started her up and left the engine running the other night (was showing it off to my sister!) when lots of smoke suddenly came out the pipe! It was quite bad and embarrassing(!!) and lasted until I drove off a few mins later but I don't think it was blue in colour (although hard to tell as it was at night).

The strange thing is that the leak appears to have stopped, and after topping up and driving at least another 200 miiles it hasn't gone down.

Oh the sweet mystery of cars! [:D]
 
Sorry Rob, its a normal 944 LUX 2.5 (I've now added a signature with this for the future)

There was a lot of yellow custard-y stuff in the oil filler pipe, but I think this is just normal and condensation. My first thought was to check coolant levels and if that fluids turned 'milkshakey' but that's fine.

Cap seems fine, as does dipstick.
 
ORIGINAL: Outrun944

There was a lot of yellow custard-y stuff in the oil filler pipe, but I think this is just normal and condensation. My first thought was to check coolant levels and if that fluids turned 'milkshakey' but that's fine.

Cap seems fine, as does dipstick.
Click to expand...

Emulsified oil in the filler tube is quite common for these cars caused by condensation. It has been a source of worry for many a people including myself when I first bought it. I normally just give it a good wipe out with blue roll each time I top up, which can be quite often on a turbo [:D] . There seems to be no hard and fast rule for oil consumption with these cars. Some are better than others!!! Porsche do quote up to 1.5 litres per 1000 km though in the manual, which is considered normal for the engine. I would suggest careful monitoring for now after every journey. This may give you a definite idea of consumption.
 
My S2 consumes that much and I'm pretty sure the piston rings have gone - it was supposed to be booked into EMC today but my lift home is stuck in Denmark [:mad:]

With mine you can see blue smoke in the rear mirror when you push beyond 3500/4000rpm and theres black deposits all over the back of the car after pretty much any journey.

As someone said if it smokes when you lift off then its likely valve guides. What sort of RPM are you lifting off from? If its low you might not notice the smoke.

A litre of oil you would notice if it was leaking out - unless it was leaking onto the exhaust, theres a seal on the back of the engine IIRC that does this, but a litre is a lot, you'd smell it cooking I'd have thought.

Either that or its playing funny buggers with you [:D] You didn't ignore the car for a while, mine can get temperamental if you leave "her" alone for a while [:D]
 
A small leak from the cam-cover onto the exhaust makes a huge plume of smoke from under the bonnet (ask me how I know!) but even with my 3-4 other minor leaks mine will only use half a litre every 2 weeks.(200 miles)
The weight of oil makes a huge difference on mine as well, using a heavier weight oil (20W50) halved my consumption/loss to the current level
 
Thanks for the replies guys!

I would have thought it'd have used a fair bit of oil when I bought her, but 1.5L per 1000km sounds a bit much to me! 1000km = 600miles-ish, and I do that once a month! My old Mazda 323F was heavily talked about for using oil (one of the main gripes you hear people talk about who own them), but I never had to top up once a month yikes! Oh well, no probs :)

Anyway...

Sods law, but I can't find any oil spots on my garage floor and the oil still hasn't suddenly dipped over the last 2-3 days. And today is the day when I've got it booked in the garage to be looked at!
I suppose it's worth taking anyway at least for a good look over.

I'm still wondering if its related to the overfill, but I'll give it a good rev above 4000RPM and see if I get any smoke! I try and drive it nicely normally though.

 
Well garage said to come back Friday and they'll be able to take a good look over the car, sods law again I drive into my garage park up and find those bloody oil spots underneath again! Aren't cars fun? :)
Gave it a good rev above 4000RPM but no smoke btw.

Anyway, as I went to my car before in my works car park (doing night shifts) I found this metal chunk on the floor near where I normally park the car ... it caught my eye as its circular and possibly 'wheel' related if so .... it could be from any of the cars that use this car park but only very few that would go near where my space is ... any idea what this is???

metal1.jpg


metal2.jpg


Looks like something that's sheared off two bolts ... could be nothing related to my car and drove it home ok...!
 
That's what I thought!

Although aren't the 944's a different shape? eg - http://www.eurocarparts.com/ecp/c/Porsche_944_2.5_1984/p/Car-Parts/Brakes/Brake-Friction/Brake-Pads/?101330035&1&74fbdab14df689087f0618f558bafbdea5e24d87&BKPA

(I'll jack it up later if it might be, unfortunately I'm stuck inside working and waiting on important phone calls this morn)
 
Looks like a brake pad backing plate to me. I think you would have noticed if it was yours. Perhaps someone else was having an even worse day than you!!!
 
That's definately a worn out brake pad and it's definately not off your car, you must stop picking up other peoples rubbish. [;)]
 
Hahaaa! Cheers Fossil et al- nice one. I just picked it up quick, legged it home and now chained to the desk. Thought you'd guys would be able to answer me quick - now I've googled pics of it definitely not a brake pad off mine :)


I'll update you all about the oil leak after I've been to the garage Friday morning. If anyone has any other suggestions or things to look out for and try that would be appreciated [:)]
 
Oil leak sourced - air filters clogged up, it was leaking out where the hose clips onto that section where the circular disc part is (forget the name ... im all in a tizz right now... see my new topic...), need a replacement part I'll let you guys know if I'm stuck sourcing this.

But DISASTER occurred when up on the ramp .... in fact I'll start a new topic now.
 
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