Oil leak help

Hi need help with identifying where the oil comes from on a Carrera 4 with tiptronic Any ideas? Thx

Hi everyone, I am in need of some help. The other day I came up and realized there was a large pool of oil in my garage. I come to find out it is an active leak and slowly dripping more oil as we speak, as witnessed when taking the picture. The odd thing about it is, I hardly drive the car because I work from home, so just usually to the gym, store and pick and drop off the kids. Definitely driving pretty tame on those drives. Maybe a total of 10 miles a day and usually just 1 mile if I don't have to get the kids. Also, it happened after one of these short drives, like something just broke or blew up after I parked it. I can't get it into the shop until Thursday, so I am just trying to get a handle on what it might be. I did drive the car before noticing it and did not get any warnings of low oil or anything else, well other than the stupid TPMS sensor, hate those things! Any help would be greatly appreciated. The picture is taken from right next to the passenger tire. Thanks!

Looks like AOS to me. Pretty minor overall, but yeah. AOS is my thought. That seal beneath the unit tends to leak at some point.

not much you can tell until you get the pan off and look, might be as simple as the oil drain plug coming loose are you a member of the Mid Ohio region? I'm sure there is someone who could give you a hand (if not you should join, lots of good info and people)

Quotes source post: 4873024

Quote: I am not, but need to look into that. Checked it out again and it is still dripping, and since I got an oil change just a few months ago, maybe they didn’t change the drain plug or washer. That makes a lot of sense because of the amount of oil. I will drop it off Thursday and just let it sit until then. Thanks!

Unfortunately I have lots of experience with oil leaks (much to my chagrin). Can you share your year and model (specifically V8 or V6)?

2010 Panamera Turbo

V8 engine pretty solid. Hopefully just drain plug or filter housing. Sometimes shops try to reuse crush washer (aluminum) so common failure point. I typically replace BOTH drain plug and washer at every oil change. I’ve seen filter housing not fully seated and torqued too. I have V6 TT (‘14 4S) and have had leaks at oil separator and also timing chain cover (know V6 issue across full line-up (Cayenne/Macan/Panamera). Timing or cam covers are engine out repair. Both covered under factory warranty but I strongly suspect still leaking (thank goodness now for aftermarket warranty). Going in next month for a look.

Quotes source post: 4873047

Quote: This is likely something from that previous oil change you mentioned. It could be from the oil filter/cartridge if they had changed that also.

Have you checked the oil level to see how much oil you’ve lost? It would be a good idea to do this before driving it to the dealer.

Is there a way to check without the digital gauge that tells you you need to drive a little to get it to read? The amount that is still dripping seems to me that the shop did something wrong. That is still surprising as they are a high-end race shop that only focuses on German cars. I am just going to get it towed over there tomorrow, not worth driving just to be safe.

It's a shame that there isn't a manual dipstick to check the level on this engine. But it seems to me that it is possible because I saw photos of the same engine block with the gauge maybe a cayenne then ??

Quotes source post: 4873086

Quote: Great idea on the tow. Might call them first and hopefully they offer to tow it, or offer to reimburse you on any tow charges. (Quite frankly if it were me, AND they didn't offer to reimburse towing charges, I'd never go back). Oh, and they better not charge you to replace that large panel. (It wasn't very expensive when I replaced ours)...

Well, no luck on an easy fix. The shop was not really able to determine exactly what made me lose close to a half quart of oil and is still dripping on my garage floor. They just detailed all my potential leaks and recommended I take it to the dealer. I have a buddy who has a specialized shop that I will be taking it to at the end of the month to get everything sorted. Until then, I will just add some oil and not really drive it much. The main thing they thought I should change is the air/oil separator. After researching that, it makes no sense to me as I have never had any white smoke or check engine light. I am at a loss from what could have caused this, but thankfully my buddy will get to the bottom of this, unfortunately, he is just so slammed with everyone wanting to get their high-end exotics out now that the weather is nice. Below are the potential leaks that may need to be addressed that the shop detailed.** OIL PAN AND OIL COOLER APPEAR TO BE LEAKING *** LEAKS AT FRONT AND REAR SWAY BAR HYDRAULIC UNITS ON BARS *** TRANSMISSION PAN IS LEAKING, COULD HAVE OTHER TRANSMISSION LEAKS NEED TO START WITH PAN, CLEAN OFF AND RECHECK. *** DRIVE BELT TENSIONER IS LEAKING OIL *** SUGGEST BOTH MOTOR MOUNTS AND ENGINE MOUNT IN FRONT OF DRIVE SIDE MOUNT *** LF CONTROL ARM HAD HYDRAULIC FLUID LEAK OUT, SUGGEST BOTH SIDES LOWER CONTROL ARMS *** VACUUM PUMPS HAS A SLIGHT LEAK *** RECOMMEND REPLACING THE AIR/OIL SEPARATOR *** DRIVER SIDE TIMING COVER APPEARS TO BE LEAKING *** POSSIBLE TURBO LEAK OR POWER STEERING LEAK, OR BOTH. SAME AS TIMING COVER LEAK. *** TECH RECOMMENDED TAKING TO THE DEALERSHIP FOR REPAIRS SALES TAX

If you have a way to raise the front up (safely), pull the panel off and take a peek at what's going on.

a lot of those are going to be stupid expensive to fix.....

Finding the source of a bad oil leak is not, or should not be, a challenging gig for a shop. Pull the belly pan, clean the existing oil off thoroughly, let it dry, start the car and let it warm up while on the lift. Then look for the oil. The timing cover leak is an engine-out procedure, but it can also be left alone if the leak is not super active. Most are not gushers because usually it's one or two of the bolts that snap. It seems like the area right around the tensioner on the driver's side is the most common failure point. The vacuum pump can easily be repaired with a $15 seal kit, versus the $1k Porsche will charge you to replace the entire unit.

Yes, I am not all that concerned about small drip leaks. I will watch those and address them when they change. What I want to clear up is the thing that caused it to gush out oil. Once I get it all cleaned up and figure out what is really going on I will get a course of action for all of those things.

I had a similar looking leak that was caused by me reusing a stretched aluminum oil plug during my first oil change (new to me), The prior oil change was done before I purchased the car at dealership. I assume they did not replace the plug. It made a MESS under the car from driving 900+ miles on interstate. I lost about 3/4 quart over the trip -- found out when I left a big oil spill on in-laws driveway. (not the best way to introduce a new car to family). It looked like everything was leaking -- but it was only the plug. After replacing the plug -- the aluminum washer and plug sealed oil tight - never any more issues. It was not apparent that the plug was stretched until compared to a new plug -- easy to see then. I torqued the oil plug both times to spec -- but the stretched plug started leaking at some point after putting the belly pan back on. Same torque on new plug sealed fine. 40K miles and 8 changes later and never any more issues - but I do replace the Al plug at changes. (which may be overkill) Porsche recommends changing the plug with each change.

I replaced the plug and gasket the first time I did the oil change, which was within two months of buying the car. When I pulled the original plug I realized someone prior had used the wrong adapter to get it off, damaging the hole in the plug so much it looked like a torx bit was the proper tool. My bit got stuck in the bolt in the process. When I got a replacement I realized how damaged it was. 2nd oil changed I reused the bolt, but replaced the gasket/aluminum washer. That's all you really need to change per instructions. Anyone else have an inclining of suspicion that this list of issues all of a sudden pop up? I literally drove off the lot with an issue with the driver side rear view mirror, then one by one had issues pop up with the car, but not all at once. I did not know there's hydraulic fluid in the control arm? Also the tensioner?

Update for everyone. I finally got it all taken care of, the main source of the leak was the oil pan as it has a small hole and the bolts were really loose. Wonder how that happened..... Anyway, new pan and gasket and all is well. Happy to be driving it again and no oil on the floor!

Quotes source post: 4876409

Quote: Glad to read it's all fixed. These cars take a lot of oil so it's a real mess if it leaks out!

Oil leaking is a fairly common problem on all cars. It happens..... To "fix" a leak it must first be isolated. The motor and all oil areas must be cleaned - you cannot determine a leak source on a dirty/oily motor except by sheer luck An old "trick" is to spray the clean motor with "jock itch powder" -oil lead source will immediately reveal itself I use an indy for oil changes; and he acted dumb in installing my drain plug - used an electric wrench and over torqued the drain plug causing a big leak. He fixed it gratis, and now hand torques the drain plug. No more leaking.

Quotes source post: 4876614

Quote: I wonder how many of these oil leaks are from someone reusing the Al gasket. When I first changed the oil I went to my usual local auto parts websites and ended up finding gaskets either at Carquest/Advance or NAPA. When I went to pick them up they were the wrong size, way too small. So I eventually took another car, since I was then in the middle of the job, to get the plug, (damaged prior to ownership, otherwise reusable), and gasket at the local Porsche dealer. Since BOTH plug and gasket are Aluminum, it is imperative to replace the gasket to get a good seal. If the bolt were a harder metal than Al then you may have a chance to reuse the old one, but definitely not with Al on Al. Once "forged" there's no way the Al plug will be able to flatten the old Al gasket to the proper shape to seal. For a long time I kept the original gasket with the beveled surface because the plug compressed the area it made contact with clearly visible and felt, the center of ring was compressed while the outer circumference was not...

My car did that. The oil leaks you show, look pretty minor, as there isn't much wetness around the engine.

Quotes source post: 4876409

Quote: in case when during oil change is found that gasket for oil sump, part no. 94810727521 is leaking it can be fixed with liquid gasket and won't be needed to wait for OEM gasket and drain oil again ......