Hello Drivers,
Searches aren't providing an answer so I will ask the group for help. I had seen some oil on top of the intake of my 2008 Cayman 2.7l. It had been a small amount and right under the power steering pump so I wasn't sure if it was just a little overflow. Occasionally, it needed a little top up but no issues with steering or noises. After my last track weekend there was a lot more oil and some drops on the bottom of the engine. No smoke, no oil loss, PS is not low and no obvious leak jumps out.
On what I hope is an unrelated issue, after replacing the water pump, thermostat and coolant last year my OBD reader shows some temp swings usually in traffic going up to 194 F when the fans come on. Yesterday on some slow back roads it went up to about 198 but quickly went down to normal levels, 183-186, once back on the highway.
Further investigation shows coolant is full but some splatter around the expansion tank cap so I will replace that. Hopefully that will improve the temperature situation.
Found some overflow from the PS reservoir but still not low. I may have over filled it last time and these are prone to overheating when tracking. Is over flow common or does the reservoir fail? The fluid does have a rather rancid smell to it.
Looking further back on the engine there is what looks like oil near the cooler and off has no real smell.
Depending on how much you will be tracking this car, what tires you are running and what run group you are in - I would make sure you check the PS fluid after each DE. The sticker the tires, the harder you drive it, the worst the PS problems will become. From your photo it does look like it was too full. Smell might be burnt. Redline fluid is a bit better for track use.
Just wanted to make sure you knew that the PS dipstick markings are Hot and Cold, not Max and Min. I hope you aren't overfilling it.
It's probably overfilled but by only a small amount. Still surprised by the amount spilled there but I guess a little over fill before each DE has added up. Sent the picture to my shop and they weren't too worried but want to check the pump to make sure it isn't failing. May be a cooler in my future.
The discharge hose for the power steering tends to dump fluid onto the top of the engine like that. I installed a longer hose that discharges under the car.
There are a bunch things on the internet as to what you can do to control the power steering fluid problems when you track a car:
better fluid
cooler
catch can
convert to electric
steel braid lines
But after years of heavy track use, big sticky tires and very hard driving you can save all the effort and money by just checking and correcting the fluid level after every track day.
Most of the problem is people don't open the engine cover and check it. And Porsche dealers that I've been to don't check either. People just track the car, go faster, drive harder, add sticky and bigger tires until the pump runs low, melts the lines and wipes out the rack, pump and lines.
As long as you aren't building an all out race car, just checking the fluid all the time will work just fine. If you ae building a race car then you need to do all of the above.
