Oil leak - anyone name that part?
Discussion
My car (997 GT2) hasn't been used for a few months and so has been sat in a nice warm garage not doing much. I gave it a quick look over this morning to make sure nothing's nesting inside it and noticed a small pool of oil under the engine on the driver's side. The pool is pretty small (about 4cm) and mostly dried up, the offending part in the photo is still a bit wet with oil but it doesn't look like a serious leak to me.
Can anyone help with a) what the part is and b) how easy it is to sort out?
Cheers
Timing chain tensioner cap. It holds the timing chain tensioner against the guide rail and also provides an oil feed to the tensioner tip on the mezger engines.
The round channel you can see running diagonally across the cap is the oil feed.
That side is very easy to change from a physical perspective since access isn't restricted. There's a small gasket that sits between the cap and the timing chain case so if the leak is coming from there then it's likely this.
As for the job itself. You will lose oil out of the cap oil feed when you remove it, and afaik the official procedure on the street engines is to fit the tensioner and then the upper timing chain guide. To stick with this procedure will require the entire cam cover to be removed to access the 3 screws holding it on. That makes it fairly labour intensive.
You can easily do it by just dropping the cap and tensioner (2 screws) and refitting with a new gasket. Just be careful to support the cap as there will still be force acting on the cap from the tensioner spring as the retaining screws reach the end of their length when the upper chain guide is still in place. Make sure you get the correct tensioner orientation when refitting (oil hole towards the cap) and you will need a third hand to physically compress the tensioner with the cap to allow you to get the screws back in.
If you weren't planning on a DIY fix, it may be variable finding a shop to just swap the cap.
Is it definitely coming from the cap and not just running down and collecting there?
The round channel you can see running diagonally across the cap is the oil feed.
That side is very easy to change from a physical perspective since access isn't restricted. There's a small gasket that sits between the cap and the timing chain case so if the leak is coming from there then it's likely this.
As for the job itself. You will lose oil out of the cap oil feed when you remove it, and afaik the official procedure on the street engines is to fit the tensioner and then the upper timing chain guide. To stick with this procedure will require the entire cam cover to be removed to access the 3 screws holding it on. That makes it fairly labour intensive.
You can easily do it by just dropping the cap and tensioner (2 screws) and refitting with a new gasket. Just be careful to support the cap as there will still be force acting on the cap from the tensioner spring as the retaining screws reach the end of their length when the upper chain guide is still in place. Make sure you get the correct tensioner orientation when refitting (oil hole towards the cap) and you will need a third hand to physically compress the tensioner with the cap to allow you to get the screws back in.
If you weren't planning on a DIY fix, it may be variable finding a shop to just swap the cap.
Is it definitely coming from the cap and not just running down and collecting there?
fioran0 said:
Timing chain tensioner cap. It holds the timing chain tensioner against the guide rail and also provides an oil feed to the tensioner tip on the mezger engines.
The round channel you can see running diagonally across the cap is the oil feed.
That side is very easy to change from a physical perspective since access isn't restricted. There's a small gasket that sits between the cap and the timing chain case so if the leak is coming from there then it's likely this.
As for the job itself. You will lose oil out of the cap oil feed when you remove it, and afaik the official procedure on the street engines is to fit the tensioner and then the upper timing chain guide. To stick with this procedure will require the entire cam cover to be removed to access the 3 screws holding it on. That makes it fairly labour intensive.
You can easily do it by just dropping the cap and tensioner (2 screws) and refitting with a new gasket. Just be careful to support the cap as there will still be force acting on the cap from the tensioner spring as the retaining screws reach the end of their length when the upper chain guide is still in place. Make sure you get the correct tensioner orientation when refitting (oil hole towards the cap) and you will need a third hand to physically compress the tensioner with the cap to allow you to get the screws back in.
If you weren't planning on a DIY fix, it may be variable finding a shop to just swap the cap.
Is it definitely coming from the cap and not just running down and collecting there?
Thanks a lot for taking the time to answer that, appreciated.The round channel you can see running diagonally across the cap is the oil feed.
That side is very easy to change from a physical perspective since access isn't restricted. There's a small gasket that sits between the cap and the timing chain case so if the leak is coming from there then it's likely this.
As for the job itself. You will lose oil out of the cap oil feed when you remove it, and afaik the official procedure on the street engines is to fit the tensioner and then the upper timing chain guide. To stick with this procedure will require the entire cam cover to be removed to access the 3 screws holding it on. That makes it fairly labour intensive.
You can easily do it by just dropping the cap and tensioner (2 screws) and refitting with a new gasket. Just be careful to support the cap as there will still be force acting on the cap from the tensioner spring as the retaining screws reach the end of their length when the upper chain guide is still in place. Make sure you get the correct tensioner orientation when refitting (oil hole towards the cap) and you will need a third hand to physically compress the tensioner with the cap to allow you to get the screws back in.
If you weren't planning on a DIY fix, it may be variable finding a shop to just swap the cap.
Is it definitely coming from the cap and not just running down and collecting there?
I'm pretty sure the oil originates there, couldn't see anything further up but I'll double check it. Another job to add to the list for when it goes in in the New Year for a freshen up.
Just to add to FioranO's post; make sure the engine is timed up before removing the cap; if the valves are on cam when it's removed the timing chain can jump.
A fairly simple job with no need to remove the cover/tensioner blade to replace it - the timing chain tension is set using a manual tensioner at build for accuracy and the hydraulic tensioner is swapped / fitted afterwards.
The biggest issue is the timing - officially, locking the engine is the only way (takes away the possibility of the timing unknowingly and therefore catastrophically jumping before restart).
In my experience; as long as the crank pulley is at tdc when the tensioner is removed I haven't had any issues.
It is worth noting the engine has a separation between the chain housings and the block/heads where oil from above can run down giving the impression of a tensioner gasket leak; clean off and monitor; if you need to go any deeper than the tensioner, budget for a fair whack more money-wise
A fairly simple job with no need to remove the cover/tensioner blade to replace it - the timing chain tension is set using a manual tensioner at build for accuracy and the hydraulic tensioner is swapped / fitted afterwards.
The biggest issue is the timing - officially, locking the engine is the only way (takes away the possibility of the timing unknowingly and therefore catastrophically jumping before restart).
In my experience; as long as the crank pulley is at tdc when the tensioner is removed I haven't had any issues.
It is worth noting the engine has a separation between the chain housings and the block/heads where oil from above can run down giving the impression of a tensioner gasket leak; clean off and monitor; if you need to go any deeper than the tensioner, budget for a fair whack more money-wise
Pope said:
Just to add to FioranO's post; make sure the engine is timed up before removing the cap; if the valves are on cam when it's removed the timing chain can jump.
A fairly simple job with no need to remove the cover/tensioner blade to replace it - the timing chain tension is set using a manual tensioner at build for accuracy and the hydraulic tensioner is swapped / fitted afterwards.
The biggest issue is the timing - officially, locking the engine is the only way (takes away the possibility of the timing unknowingly and therefore catastrophically jumping before restart).
In my experience; as long as the crank pulley is at tdc when the tensioner is removed I haven't had any issues.
It is worth noting the engine has a separation between the chain housings and the block/heads where oil from above can run down giving the impression of a tensioner gasket leak; clean off and monitor; if you need to go any deeper than the tensioner, budget for a fair whack more money-wise
Thanks for that.A fairly simple job with no need to remove the cover/tensioner blade to replace it - the timing chain tension is set using a manual tensioner at build for accuracy and the hydraulic tensioner is swapped / fitted afterwards.
The biggest issue is the timing - officially, locking the engine is the only way (takes away the possibility of the timing unknowingly and therefore catastrophically jumping before restart).
In my experience; as long as the crank pulley is at tdc when the tensioner is removed I haven't had any issues.
It is worth noting the engine has a separation between the chain housings and the block/heads where oil from above can run down giving the impression of a tensioner gasket leak; clean off and monitor; if you need to go any deeper than the tensioner, budget for a fair whack more money-wise
I checked it again earlier, I can't feel any evidence of oil above that area, the oil seems to be seeping from the section next to the screw, which I guess would point at the gasket?
I've cleaned it off now and will monitor it, the car isn't moving anywhere at the moment so won't be started for a bit. So I'm either looking at a quick job that can be done alongside the clutch/pads etc or... a massive engine out job? Happy New Year to me!
Gassing Station | Porsche General | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff