Oil Leaks

[Gavin English]

Need some advice......

I bought my first Porsche a 1971 911E. (love the car) I knew that it had some oil leaks and am will to pay some $$$ to get them fixed. (without rebuilding the engine) I did some research and brought it to a very well respected Porsche shop. They went over the car and listed a few obvious places were it is leaking from. (Oil return tubes, valve covers, main seal, etc!) But the good news is they have assured me the engine and car are in nice shape.

They are going to drop the engine a start fixing the leaks.

My questions is.......

Since they are dropping the engine to fix the leaks, I want the shop to fix areas that will potentially leak in future. I understand that some of these parts or seals are inexpensive. (They are just a pain unless you drop the engine) For example - The oil pressure switch is a $10 part that has a tendancy to fail. My feeling is that the shop will take care of these things, but I want to make sure.

Can you fellow Porsche owners make some suggestions on parts or seals that will have a tendency to leak in the future that I should replace now?

Thanks!
Gavin

[NeunElf]

My questions is.......

Since they are dropping the engine to fix the leaks, I want the shop to fix areas that will potentially leak in future. I understand that some of these parts or seals are inexpensive. (They are just a pain unless you drop the engine) For example - The oil pressure switch is a $10 part that has a tendancy to fail. My feeling is that the shop will take care of these things, but I want to make sure.

Just because some parts have a high failure rate doesn't mean replacing them will improve your chances. If your oil pressure switch has made it nearly 35 years, maybe you have a very good oil pressure switch.

I used to have a 1974 Land Rover (you think 911s leak oil?). It got more reliable over time. I replaced so many parts, eventually a few good ones crept in.

My recommendations:

-- unless a part is subject to actual wear (and gone a decent portion of its expected life), don't replace it as a precaution.

-- your car carries close to three gallons of oil-it takes some pretty serious leaking to make a difference.