Well I hope everything checks out fine and you're able to purchase the car. Have you been looking for a while ? Also we need some pictures

 

I only have one picture on my phone. It's next to my DD - M-Sport, RWD, MT 3er wagon. I leased that wagon (Euro Delivery too!) to make time until the new M3 sedan came out, but I rather get this Turbo. Lease ends next September. Nice car. It drives beatifully. Will be sad to see it go.

I was not looking at all, actually. But he knows I like it and he bought it a week after I got my 987S back in '09. He has been debating selling it for over a year and even earlier this year asked me if I wanted it. Not the right time for me, but the deal is too good to pass up. I'm basically being offered dealer trade-in, and likely less.

Anyway, the Turbo is Slate on black and has adaptive seats, Sport Chrono, manual transmission, CF trim at least on shifter and e-brake, Nav, sun roof. I don't know what else. Is there a way to know the factory options from the VIN?

 

I agree with your logic. As I mentioned before, even if it's a cam housing seal (which my money is on), it's not something that should've caused any damage. And, it's not likely a symptom of a bigger problem--even Porsche seals go bad occasionally. Seals go bad faster in cars that are driven less. As Abby said, it could even be caused by a loose torx bolt on the housing. Technically, this falls under the umbrella of a seal leak, so I would require some credit for the diagnosis if a screw is loose.

By the way, if you do end up dropping the engine for any reason, then there are items to be taken care of, such as some glued fittings in the coolant system, which can be replaced with pressed fittings, IIRC. Others here will have other items to recommend.

If you ever plan on replacing your air intake plenum, then do that with the engine out. The four hoses on the back of that thing are a PIA to get off and put on while the engine is in the bay. Ask me how I know. If not for those hoses on the back of the plenum, the plenum and throttle body job would be a snap.

Good luck,
Louis

 

bogger? lol. Yeah, mine was just a loose torx bolt but there was never as much oil as shows in the picture here. I personally would find out before pulling the trigger. Things do go wrong with these bulletproof cars - mine is in the shop with 10grand worth of repairs being done (thank you cpo warranty!)

 

Thanks for the feedback guys.

So, an update: They cleaned the area but could not see any leaks. They asked th ecar be driven a bit and brought back in. He will bring it back on Friday to have it looked at again. We'll see. He said he never had a drop of oil in the garage, though he said back when he bought the car (4 years and 45k miles ago) a loose/bad valve cover bolt caused a small leak that he noticed only because of the smell the burning oil would occasionally cause in his garage and he had it/them replaced.

Separate question (and perhaps thread). I'm working on getting permits to build a detached garage in the back of my property next Spring where I can install an asymmetric Bendpak 2-post lift. I am a mech design engineer but just haven't had the chance to get my hands too dirty with cars. With enough time, good tools, and good aptitude (but light on experience), how reasonable is it to expect to work on this car on my own (in particular, the engine)? Not an issue of affordability, just fun.

Thanks!

 

What went wrong with your car's engine?

The high mileage on the one I'm considering makes me think that if it was virtually trouble-free all that time, maybe it's a "good one."

Then again, it does have 85k miles. But some of you guys have trouble with low miles, so low mileage is no sure-fire protection against a failure. It does make one wonder about the "awesomeness" of these engines. If the typical car only sees a few tens of thousands of miles, does it mean the engine is great?

I see 4-Runners with 200K miles all over the place. And I seldom hear of IMS's issues (bolts coming loose) or engines going bust on any car. I've heard of BMW VANOS units going bad ocassionally.

Is it that most people here drive the car hard including DE/track? Or is it that they are modded (or both)? Or are failures simply over-represented?

 

The owner never noticed anything on his garage floor huh???
He's lying, plain and simple.
I didn't look at the pics until I read the entire thread, the mechanic said not to worry! Pass on it!!

 

Don`t worry too much. The engine is not leaking. As far as I can see, it is the oil supply of the turbocharger where the leak is. That should not be a big deal. This happens with dry sump, since the sump is so small.
You may try to fix it on your own, by cleaning and - righty tighty - the screws and nuts. I had the same and fixed it. If your unlucky there is a seal broken and you must replace it.
However, do not touch the engine.

 

Here is why I don't think it's the oil return hose from the turbocharger. If I cut a hole in the rubber part of that hose, then I would expect oil to leak, even when the car was not running. That is, I would expect some amount of oil to be retained in that hose, at least for a while after shutting the engine down.

On the other hand, the cam housing is not full of oil and won't tend to drip if the bad part of the seal is not on the bottom. Only when the engine is running, does the oil get sloshed around under pressure inside that housing. This would explain why the leak doesn't occur when the engine is shut down.

Admittedly, the same could be true for the hose if the hole in the hose is small enough and on top, but I tend to think a bad seal/loose cover bolt is more likely.

I also disagree with the idea that the owner must be lying about the lack of oil on his garage floor. If the seal is the cause, then the leak is probably intermittent while the car is running, and perhaps only at higher rpms. The oil comes out so slowly that it gets baked onto the hot parts surrounding the cam housing before it can drip. The excess that might drip gets blown off.

By the way, when a Porsche dealer fixes a cam housing seal, they don't just take the cover off and replace the seal. They replace every seal/ring/gasket anywhere in the vicinity of the leak, and they will replace all of the seals/rings/gaskets that are exposed when dropping the engine and taking the cam cover off. The list of parts is a whole page long--nearly all seals of some type.

Louis

 

it would take a serious leak to drop on the floor.

 

Buy that looks like its been leaking for awhile? Should be on the floor?

 

If the leak is slow enough, then the oil just ends up coating the surrounding surface. The air currents under there can move it around on the surface and even blow off any excess if it does accumulate. Then the oil ends up attracting road grime and looking like a black mess. It could have been leaking for a long time, and if you didn't look under there, you'd never know it.

 

Like I said, for what it's worth, the car was looked at by the dealer shortly after the owner drove it in from home, which is a 1.5 hour drive in the hwy. It was then parked at work for several hours. I walked by and took those pictures at the end of the day and there was not a single drop on the floor. Dealer will check again for the leak tomorrow.

 

A few "known" issues that are independent of mileage and driving style:

1. bank 2 camshaft replaced - roughly 6-8gs
2. clutch accumulator - ? 1-2gs
3. spoiler hydraulics - ? 2gs or so

Not exactly cheap!

 

Hey Bogger,
How did your camshaft story end? Did Porsche replace? Did you have them pinned?

Sorry to threadjack, OP.

LP