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YOUR RESEARCHOil Smell - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners
Leading reported evidence
Replace recently
Suggestion or failed attempt
No successful repair reported for this finding.
0
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0
Unsuccessful attempts
1
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Explicit resolution reports before identified causes, performed actions and suggestions. Within each level, matching component labels precede direct query mentions and inherited thread context; successful versus unsuccessful discussion counts, owner confirmations and independent discussion support determine order. This is not a probability of success.
Discussions that contain suggestions
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0 discussions have direct query context; 0 report a fix in that context. Other evidence may inherit the discussion’s subject.
Oil Smell - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners
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Leading evidence: 'Replace recently' (no explicit attributable resolution; this is a reported action or suggestion). Across 1 matching discussions, The most frequently discussed action is 'Replace recently' (1 discussions). For that action, 0 discussions report a resolution and 0 report an unsuccessful attempt. No action has an explicit, attributable resolution report under the current rules. These are forum reports and suggestions, not a confirmed diagnosis.
Source reports, not a diagnosis or a success probability. Counts refer to discussions and can overlap.
Explicit resolution reports before identified causes, performed actions and suggestions. Within each level, matching component labels precede direct query mentions and inherited thread context; successful versus unsuccessful discussion counts, owner confirmations and independent discussion support determine order. This is not a probability of success.
Discussions that contain suggestions
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0 original-poster resolution reports. Counts can overlap; they are not unique people or a success rate.
0 discussions have direct query context; 0 report a fix in that context. Other evidence may inherit the discussion’s subject.
Suggestion · Original poster
We have a 1998 Boxster which has started to smell of oil but not all the time, sometimes it drops oil onto the drive next there is nothing usually when it is at running temperature
Oil Smell - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners
Run temperature, the oil is drops
Suggestion or failed attempt
No successful repair reported for this finding.
0
Reported fixes
0
Unsuccessful attempts
1
Discussions
Read evidence and context
Explicit resolution reports before identified causes, performed actions and suggestions. Within each level, matching component labels precede direct query mentions and inherited thread context; successful versus unsuccessful discussion counts, owner confirmations and independent discussion support determine order. This is not a probability of success.
Discussions that contain suggestions
1
0 original-poster resolution reports. Counts can overlap; they are not unique people or a success rate.
0 discussions have direct query context; 0 report a fix in that context. Other evidence may inherit the discussion’s subject.
Suggestion · Original poster
The smell of oil is when travelling along and at running temperature, the oil is drops on the drive not puddles but for both symptoms it is not there all the time
Oil Smell - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners
Run temperature
No successful repair reported for this finding.
0
Reported fixes
0
Unsuccessful attempts
1
Discussions
Read evidence and context
Discussions that contain suggestions
1
0 original-poster resolution reports. Counts can overlap; they are not unique people or a success rate.
0 discussions have direct query context; 0 report a fix in that context. Other evidence may inherit the discussion’s subject.
Suggestion · Original poster
We have a 1998 Boxster which has started to smell of oil but not all the time, sometimes it drops oil onto the drive next there is nothing usually when it is at running temperature
Oil Smell - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners
Run temperature, the oil is drops
No successful repair reported for this finding.
0
Reported fixes
0
Unsuccessful attempts
1
Discussions
Read evidence and context
Discussions that contain suggestions
1
0 original-poster resolution reports. Counts can overlap; they are not unique people or a success rate.
0 discussions have direct query context; 0 report a fix in that context. Other evidence may inherit the discussion’s subject.
Suggestion · Original poster
The smell of oil is when travelling along and at running temperature, the oil is drops on the drive not puddles but for both symptoms it is not there all the time
Oil Smell - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners
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Counts describe captured discussions, not unique people or a diagnosis. Author identities are not reliably stored. Exact duplicate evidence is counted once across matching discussions; one discussion counts at most once per action/state. Multiple repairs reported together remain a combination. Suggestions and failed attempts do not establish a fix. Matches cover whole discussions and can include related faults, model variants and incomplete threads.
8 eligible posts · 0 unverified posts · 1 discussions match the subject in their title or opening post.
986Forum: 1 discussions
0 evidence records excluded for query context · 0 excluded by outcome qualification · 0 adjusted by outcome qualification.
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Generation: 20261026T072535Z · outcome-qualification-6. Deterministic extraction; no AI model inference. How we use sources
We have a 1998 Boxster which has started to smell of oil but not all the time, sometimes it drops oil onto the drive next there is nothing usually when it is at running temperature
looking from the rear of the car it is on the left hand side of the engine
OK. Smell of oil. Is it a burning smell... or general smells like oil smell?
Have you gotten under the car... you know... poked around to see from where the oil might be coming?
Drops oil? OK. Are there just 'drops' or is a puddle evident?
Do you have a question?
Details, man. Details.
The smell of oil is when travelling along and at running temperature, the oil is drops on the drive not puddles but for both symptoms it is not there all the time
It is not possible for someone on a forum to tell you where the oil is coming from.
Any answer would be a guess. Other then saying it is transmission oil or engine oil.
That is as close as one can get without a visual inspection.
You should either jack it up and do a visual.
or take it to a shop that has a hoist and have it inspected.
Quick things to consider when you look....
1. Spark plug tubes and tube O-rings. Oil will leak from the tubes and may cause your smell.
Easy DYI.
2. Take a look at axle boots. If axles are torn, you will through grease around, including onto the exhaust manifold. My experience with this is that I really didn't smell it until I would stop, not so much when driving.
I don't think it would be much to the left side, but a common oil drip is from a reused or non-existent crush washer on the oil plug. Have you had the oil changed recently?
Hi,
if your car oil is a leak be careful.
An oil leak is dangerous for two reasons. First, if it hits the exhaust, a fire could result. Also, a low oil level could damage the engine. ... An oil leak from a bad gasket or seal can cause problems, such as oil dripping on the timing belt or the crankshaft seal.