Since purchasing my 944 I'd always been aware of a slight fluid leak, but since none of the fluids (engine oil, power steering, water, brake fluid) seemed to be disappearing at any great rate and there were other more pressing issues I decided to put investigating it on the back burner.
Having now decided to tackle the problem I firstly discovered I actually had two fluid leaks, one from a power steering hose going from the reservoir to the pump which I dealt with right away by replacing the hose. The second however seemed to be coming from the engine but it was difficult to tell where from due to the oily grime all over the bottom of the engine and aluminium floor tray. So now the rest of the story follows how I went about identifying the cause of the oil leak and how the OPRV (Oil Pressure Relief Valve) fits into the story.
THE TASK
You'll need the following:
Karcher or other brand Water Pressure Washer
Gunk Spray Engine Degreaser
10mm socket
17mm socket (if you have the old style OPRV)
24mm socket (if you have the new style OPRV)
Ratchet socket wrench
Long socket wrench extension bar
2 x Axle Stands
Trolley Jack
Torque Wrench
Plenty of tissue or old rag
THE HOW TO
(Amateur mechanic job time: approx. 30mins - 1 hour)
Start by jacking up the front of the car and support on the first or ideally second stage of the axle stands.
Remove the seven 10mm bolts that secure the aluminium under-tray to the bottom of the car and remove the under-tray.
The picture above was taken after I'd degreased the underside of the car. I tried various methods of scrubbing, wiping and pressure steam cleaning but by far the best was pressure washing.
The best method I found was to let the engine run for 10 mins to warm it up, then spray Gunk Engine Degreaser over all the oily blackness you may have (Do not spray it near the belts or any bearings). Let the degreaser have 5-10 mins to take effect and then simply blast off with the water pressure washer (There's hardly any electrics on the bottom of the car but avoid them at all costs). Spraying the washer in quick bursts is the best method. Repeat as necessary and wipe down anything that looks oily, not forgetting to also clean all the oil of the under-tray too.
Now you have a clean canvas to identify your leak. Unless the leak is bad you probably won't be able to see it straight away, so this is where some patience comes in. Either leave it jacked up over night and see if you can identify a drip in the morning or re-attach the under-tray and do a few miles to put the engine under load which usually force the oil out of the place it is escaping. When you jack the car up again, you'll be able to see the area where the oil is dropping on the under-tray and then just trace it back up into the engine well.
The oil on mine was falling onto the left hand-side of the under-tray so I started to investigate in this area as shown my the orange arrow below.
This is where I found a drip coming off the end of the OPRV (Oil Pressure Relief Valve) nut.
Here's a couple of photos to show you what to look for (The nut has been removed but you can see the port it screws into)
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THE OPRV - here's where it gets complicated:
83-86 models will have a 17mm or 24mm nut
87 models onwards will and should always be 24mm.
Picture shows the difference between the 24mm on the left, 17mm on the right.
The 17mm nut may also look like this one below as well (photo taken from another Porsche source)
From the 87 model onwards a new OPRV was produced along with a retro-fit upgrade for people with the old style valve.
Here's the NEW retro-fit valve (944 107 035 11) for 83-86 models
And here's the one (944 107 035 02) for 87 models onwards
The photo below shows what one of the newer OPRV's looks like when you take it apart. Note the aluminium sealing ring far left, damaged black internal O-ring in the middle and what should be a thicker green O-ring at the end (also damaged). If you need to replace the entire valve they aren't cheap either, £250 from Porsche.
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OPRV removal
Take a 17mm or 24 mm and socket extension bar that should be long enough to enable you to ratchet it from inside the wheel arch.
Once I had it removed I ended up with this
Notice the small nut that was inside the piston that some previous enterprising owner/mechanic had used as a space packer. I also found the spring to be 3-4 coils shorter than it should be, so who even knows what vehicle it was from. So not only did I have a leak from ORPV, I now had to replace the OPRV and at £250 that's quite a hit.
So here we are the OLD alongside the NEW
Installing the new OPRV is the reverse of removal, making sure you use a new aluminium sealing ring and lightly oil the o-ring and length of the valve to aid it's insertion. You should then use a Torque wrench to tighten to 45Nm.
Finally re-install the under-tray, run the car making sure the oil pressure gauge doesn't exhibit any strange behaviour and you're done...........well almost.
After doing all this I still found I had more oil leak coming from the same area, it now looks likely it's the gaskets for the Oil Cooler that the OPRV screws into. This looks a bit of an ugly job and not having the time to do it I'm going to get a mechanic to sort it out. For anyone that wants a go here's the procedure and here's another.
Finally here's the Porsche bulletin that goes into a few pages of detail on the OPRV. (Click the pictures for larger versions)
