Oil Leak - RMS?

[DucatiRob]

Dreaded oil leak :sad:

Not used my car since a 2500 mile trip to Italy back in September, mainly due to building a garage for it. Never had any sign of any oil leaks previously and have started it occasionally whilst it's been laid up without any issues. I'd left the car outside the garage for a few weeks while I've been fitting the garage door and started the engine yesterday to move it back into the garage, left it to idle for about 15 mins before moving it then discovered a puddle of oil under the rear where it had been sat, maybe about half a cup of oil. I can see the that there is oil around the rear of the engine, rear as in gearbox end, need to get under it to see exactly where it's coming from but suspecting it is RMS!

No further oil leaking today, so guessing only when running, is this consistent with RMS leak? I have read that the RMS only weeps oil and it's unusual for it to leak significantly, so anyone had similar experience would be helpful.

Engine was rebuilt 4 years ago, so expect RMS would have been replaced with the latest version of of the seal at that time.

 

[deMort]

Need some pictures really Rob but it seems strange to be RMS or IMS due to replacement and they don't normally drop that much oil ..

Tensioner seal is possible but again normally a slow leak from these ..

Best guess is the core plug in the head or one of the small rear ones has corroded through .. as per image below which you might recognise .. which is actually your car !!

 

[DucatiRob]

Thanks iain :thumb: will have a good look over the weekend and get some pics. If it is a core plug, are they easy to replace or is there some sort of special tool? Also guessing the the core plugs are the same on both banks?

 

[deMort]

A little fiddly as you don't want to push them inside the head .. various methods to remove including drilling a hole .. a self tapper screw and levering or a slide hammer to remove .

Have a look first as to where the leak is coming from and we can go from there .

Same plug on both heads from memory but there are small ones behind on a 996 and i'm pretty sure on yours as well ... these are a little difficult to remove due to access .

 

[DucatiRob]

Here's hoping it's as simple as the bung!

If it is the RMS, not the end of the world as expecting to need to do the clutch in the near future, passed 90k miles and there is no record of the clutch ever being changed, so it could still be the original!

 

[DucatiRob]

So definitely a tensioner seal leak!

Leaking from the right hand bank, about a table spoon of oil when the engine is running for about 10/15 mins.

Also a weep from the left hand side too but not enough to drip.

Looks like an easy enough job to replace except I will have to buy the camshaft locking tool. Don't understand why the the camshaft needs to be locked?

O ring's and washers are cheap enough but the plastic caps that need to be pried off to access the end of the camshaft are £12 each :x

 

[deMort]

You can change the tensioner seal with just the crankshaft locked .. i do anyways ..

Can i tell you how to do it ? of course not .. how i do things and how i can advise people to do exactly what i do are different .. all i can say is i don't lock the cams .. but i have to repair my mistakes if i make them ..

How you do it is up to you :thumb:

 

[DucatiRob]

You can change the tensioner seal with just the crankshaft locked .. i do anyways ..

Can i tell you how to do it ? of course not .. how i do things and how i can advise people to do exactly what i do are different .. all i can say is i don't lock the cams .. but i have to repair my mistakes if i make them ..

How you do it is up to you :thumb:

Hmmm... will google that :thumb:

Will probably end up buying the tool anyway, £79 off eBay! Not too bad!

Ebay Camshaft Tool

 

[deMort]

I mean to say can i tell you to do it this way .. nope .. i use shortcuts which i can't advise people to do basically .


My bad .. didn't read what i had written on that post

Ebay kit is good value .. you can rebuild your engine with that !

 

[DucatiRob]

Understand :thumb: will buy the kit, I'm sure it will come in handy at some point, even if I use the shortcut

At least I now have a garage (unfinished, but dry) to work in now

Think I will change the tensioners at the same time, it seems like a load of work to do to just replace the a couple of seals and washers, cheapest place for these is Design911 for a change, about £150 for both!

LH Chain Tensioner

RH Chain Tensioner

 

[deMort]

The tensioners you are replacing are the IMS chain and B1 tensioners .. B2 is under the a/c compressor .

One of them i make part number 99610518056 .. whilst yours is 58 .. im guessing its been superseded as the images for both look the same .

You don't need to replace these to be honest .

For me .. remove air box , pin crank at TDC .. drain oil and remove tensioners and replace the washers .. obviously i can't tell you to do it that way as the instructions are to lock the cams .. i'm responsible for what i do at work so if i mess up i have to fix it !! hence my comments .

 

[DucatiRob]

This turned up today, £80 from Amazon! Price ranges up to £400 from some sellers

Really impressed withe quality for the money and a substantial piece of kit, comes in a nice robust case too.

 

[martin t]

I did my L/H side by just locking the crank at TDC.

Incidentally the green caps are £about 7.99 from woolies workshop (9-apart) but you can re use the ones you take out.

The cap is essentially a metal core plug with a moulded plastic outer. They deform slightly when you stick a corkscrew in the centre to remove.

The method is the to use a 16mm socket and a hammer to flatten the base and reshape any kinks in the side. The hole in the centre can be filled with epoxy resin and you are good to go.

Most important is to clean the hole where the cap fits and use a sealer around the edge such as wellseal. It is a quick job and saves £16, although one would hardly notice £16 when repairing a Porsche :lol:

 

[Alex]

I bought 3 seals from design911. Think it was around a tenner for 3. Locked the crank with an 8mm diameter bar and swapped it over without draining the oil :bonk:
Luckily I placed a clean container underneath to catch any drips. Ended up with around 4 litres of drips :floor:
Quickly swapped the seal and back in. Refilled the oil and put everything back together. Took me 40 minutes.

Old seal:

 

[martin t]

I have just bought 2 spare ones from Pelican parts for $1.50 each.

But the little rubber O ring is still just as rip off expensive as over here!