Oil on top of Engine - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

Hi fellow Porsche Owners During the winter my Boxster has left a small amount of oil on the garage floor. A drop is hanging from the bottom of the engine where the safety strap is attached. I have changed my RMS and the IMS flange with the new model with the wide seal ring. Before dropping the gearbox again I decided to take a look for other leaks. It looks like I have a larger leak somewhere on the top of the engine. On the foto you can see the oil on the top of the engine below the right intake manifold, there is also a little on the under the left manifold. Any Idea on where this oil can come from. I also wonder if this oil somehow can find its way to the bottom of the car. I changed the AOS last year and it went without issues. BR Barthol

Check around the oil cooler, should be easy to tell if that's the culprit and also run your hand down the flexible oil fill tube. Those are bad to leak where it connects to the engine and will cause puddling where you are talking about. I had that issue and replaced mine during the coolant tank replacement. Just be careful not to wiggle it around too much. The hard 90 that attaches to the engine under the intake can get brittle as well and the ears break off easily. That one is not easy to get to without removing quite a bit of items. A new oil fill tube is ~$25 and fairly easy to replace. Another point for common leaks is the spark plug tubes. Another easily replaced item to check.

its the overflow from the power steering pump. everyone has it. common question.

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+1. It makes ZERO sense to me, but Porsche decided (while they were expecting excellence, apparently) to simply dump the overflow onto the top of the motor. Particularly with the frequency of that system getting hot and overflowing, this was a terrible idea. I've run a length of hose from the overflow to the back of the car. Not a perfect solution either, but certainly better than Porsche's. Sent from my SM-G970U using Tapatalk

Hi Tremonte, the Plastic pipe going from the flex filler tube is fixed nicely to the engine , no broken bolts / plastic. ( By the way one of the bolts holding the pipe is impossible to access as it sits under the Generator:-( Radium king, it is quite a lot of oil( looks like engine oil, If it is steering fluid I guess it should be missing in the system ? Where is the overflow located. BR Kim

Here's an image of the reservoir. You can see the short hose. This is the overflow. Figuring out where it's coming from is significantly easier if we know what it is. Check it. Dip your finger in it, wipe it on a paper towel. Decide what color it is, what are the properties? Smell? Etc. Sent from my SM-G970U using Tapatalk

Hi Tremonte, the Plastic pipe going from the flex filler tube is fixed nicely to the engine , no broken bolts / plastic. ( By the way one of the bolts holding the pipe is impossible to access as it sits under the Generator:-( Radium king, it is quite a lot of oil( looks like engine oil, If it is steering fluid I guess it should be missing in the system ? Where is the overflow located. BR Kim

Top of engine Forward left > power steering fluid over flow Top of engine Right rear > engine oil filler tube leak. You can address this by cleaning up oil removing the tube and reconnect with plumbers tape. There is a connection in the tube that is prone to leaks

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Maytag, you forgot 'taste it..' :-)

Hi Jaykay It is definitely motor oil on the right side. My tube looks fine on the flange where it connects into the engine , Both bolts are tight. Is the leaking pipe normally where it connects to the engine or where it connects to the flex hose going to the filler in the trunk? Any Ideas on how to get to the front Bolt , it is situated under the Generator ( no room for a socket:_() BR Kim

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The oil fill is a two piece hose. The flex part from the trunk has a joint in the middle above the engine, before it becomes a solid piece that connects to the engine. That splice in the middle is where it leaks. You have to gently twist and pull while supporting the engine side hose so you dont crack the ears mounted to the engine. You can either rewrap the joint with plumbers tape, lightly apply grey RTV to the outside of the solid tube where the flex hose overlaps, or replace it all together with new components. If you use RTV, do not operate the engine for at least 24 hours to ensure a good seal and so nothing gets sucked into the engine.

SOMEWHERE I saw a guy who had found a one-piece radiator-hose that turned and twisted the same way as the fill-tube. I jotted-down the part number... but now I can't seem to find it. I sure like that solution to the leaking two-piece tube, better than any others I've seen. Anybody else seen what I'm talking about?

Quotes source post: 610279

It's the in between pipe and flex hose connection likely...it's been so long since I repaired that I don't recall removing the bolt under the alternator.

hi guys, There was no obvious leaks one the hose. I cleaned everything up , changed the oil . I will closely monitor the Filler pipe to identify if and where it is leaking. Thanks for your help:-) BR'Bartthol

There's a lot of air blowing around the engine when you are driving. It can push oil from leaks into areas far from the leaks. Cleaning the engine and then carefully looking for new oil can help before it spreads all over the place. A last resort is to add a UV dye to the oil and use a black light to trace it.