It's a very sad day for me and my Porsche.. something is very, very wrong.

The engine is running poorly, it's smoking, and it's making a strange flapping noise.. I talked about this a few weeks ago. We've since determined that there's a 'leak' between the cylinder and the cylinder head that's spitting oil and compressed air. The fact that there's compression leads me to believe that the connecting rod is still good.

I'm stumped and I'm frustrated, so I need some help: What could be the problem? What can I do to help pinpoint what's happening?

The fact that there's compression leads me to believe that the connecting rod is okay. Is the cylinder head warped? The cylinder?

Grr.. I just put money into engine work and a week later this happens.. the pessimist side of me wants to say that the two are connected, but it's probably just the standard mechanical failure that happens to 30 year old cars.

So what do I do next? What are my options? The car's in SD and I'm in the Bay Area working fulltime and doing summer school.. which means I'll have plenty of time to research things but little time to actually work on the car.

All for now, thanks in advance for the help, I'll keep posting as I discover new things. Feel free to ask questions of clarification and such.

Edit: Forgot to mention, it's the #1 cylinder.

-Tyler

Hi Tyler,

You just put money into engine work? What did you have done?

Loss of compression? Dropped valve seat, blown head gasket, broken rings?

Is the car smoking at all?

You didn't mention what year car you had, or what type of engine is in it.

I bet we can help (collectively, there is hundreds of years of 914 experience here), but a bit more information would make it easier.

-Rusty

Yes, I did forget many details.. was very tired last night.

So the car is a '72 1.7 with fuel injection.

I believe that a dropped valve seat, blown head gasket, or broken ring are all within the realm of possibility. I have not done a compression test on the engine yet, but the #1 cylinder is ejecting compressed air which I believe is a good sign.

As for engine work, I don't have the complete list on hand but it consisted of replacing many oil seals (not all of them, but many.. I have the list at home), a new oil cooler, clutch assembly replacement, MPS replacement, new FI hose, and other minor things.

Yes, the car does smoke and is leaking a ton of oil.

Well, if oil seals and cooler were replaced, it could be that one of them is loose and that's where you're leaking oil -
which could lead to:
improper cooling
which could lead to:
warped head, loose stud, etc. just about every truly catastrophic thing that could cause a cylinder leak.

Or, the MPS could be running the car too lean, which could lead to improper cooling. . .

(ie. make sure the car isn't running hot - but I guess it's too late for that now).

So, compression was "good" in all 4 cylinders? If one was leaking, then compression could still be good in the other three. . .

I have no idea when the engine was last rebuilt (if it ever was) so the likelihood of a mechanical failure is greater than that of a freshly rebuilt car.

I realize that the problem may be one of a plethora of issues, I guess I'm trying to discover what the next step should be. Compression test? Do I drop the engine and just start taking it apart until I find the problem? Is this a good time to do a rebuild?

I would check compression in all 4 cylinders first. If you can identify one (or more) bad one, that's bad news.

If all 4 are good, I'd do some more thorough checking before dropping the engine, but I suppose the leak could be at the cylinder/block junction.

Definately narrow down exactly where the oil is leaking from.

It's most likely that this is related to work you just had done - that's not a certainty, but it's just the most likely culprit - start by eliminating those components.

What color is the smoke?

Blue is oil smoke
Blackish is too rich
White is water, no wait thats for other kinds of cars.
Test the compression, hook up a vacuum gauge and run it to see what it doing.
As long as it runs, you can figure out what is wrong, unless its making loud thunking noises like a rod, or a piston is broken.


Geoff