I started the new engine last weekend and began the 20 minute breakin. Noticed a tiny puddle of oil on the floor after ten minutes. A few minutes later, it was dripping so fast that it was almost a steady stream. The oil leaks onto the passenger side heat exchanger. As I was pondering the situation, the fuel tank ran dry.

I looked it over today but didn't find the source of the leak so I fired it up again and resumed the breakin. I was checking the timing and taking a look underneath every now and then. It was dry at first but was leaking again before long. I looked under for the last time about five minutes after I started the engine and it was on fire. The oil was vaporizing on the exhaust pipe and burning. I quickly shut the engine off and gave the fire a quick shot from the fire bottle. I hate my 914.

I took a good look after it cooled off. Burning oil was apparently dripping on the speedo cable because the sheath is blistered and melted. I didn't find any other damage. It was a small fire.

The oil is dripping off of the head onto the exhaust. I cleaned the mess up with carb cleaner and ran it again just enough to get the leak and then crawled under and began baking as I looked for the leak. I don't see that it is coming from anywhere but the valve cover. I'll go back under tomorrow to pull the valve cover and have another look around.

i think my HE's are filled with oil...before we fixed the leak, it must have leaked for the past 30 years!! now, that nice burnt oil smell catches up to you at every stop light .... always good to have a fire extinguisher -JON

Dry chemical fire extengusher will rapidly corrode your engine parts (aluminum) and supper rapidly corrode your magnesium transmission.

If you used dry powder, you must wash it all off ASAP, and keep rinsing well past the point of you think you got it all.

If you used halon, or CO2 no worries, most dry powder as I rememder is a chlorine (Cl) compound, and Cl is very good at eating up aluminum, and mag metal.

Hopefully the engine was off when you sprayed the powder (else it got in the aircleaner and got into your cooling fan, which means it was well scattered under teh engine coolin g"tin" and is a worse mess.

If any powder got up in the tins, (could happen even with engine off, that powder drifts everyplace.) you have a lot of rinsing to do, thru the fan, thru teh spark plug access holes, and any other way you can spray mass amount sof water in. If the engine has lots of grease stuck on the metal fins and such, it would be wise to start with a use a degreser to help desolve away powder contaiminated oil/grease done after an initial waer rinse to remove the bulk of the powder, degreaser to follow to remove grease/oil, followed by a second water rinse to get it all.

i perfomed this on an engine fire car (VW kit car) with good results, but it took all day to get everlast bit of powder out, yes engien was off when it happened, yet I still endedup cleaning carb. (just powder on outside of carb. was bad enough to cuse corrosion if left untreated.

at anyrate do not start it until cleeaned.


if you did not use dry powder, then never mind.

good luck

Sounds like the cork gaskets for your valve covers are dried out or cracked or just crapped out. I know when I fired up my teener (after sitting for 12+ years) and out just poured out and filled up the "trough" in the Heat exchanger.

On my 2L breakin I had a leak as well, I couldn't find it at first but while getting my oil changed at a speed lube place(lazy morning) I got under it on the rack finally tracking it down to a pushrod tube seal that had gotten pinched. Easy fix, new O-ring and then leak free. Something to be aware of, esp. on new engines.

A friend just had a leak issue with a freshly rebuilt motor using the new after market heads. He looked at everything, changed gaskets, tried different valve covers and finally found that the head casting was a little longer than the factory where the valve covers connect. A little grinding on the head, valve covers fit snug and no more leaks.

That was the last thing he expected to find. So check everything, even the things you "know" are not a problem.

Man sat for a month and it leaked a bit at the VC gasket on the R. Seemed to get better after I cleaned it up and drove it some, maybe the cork soaked up some oil and swelled tight. Hope not too much peripheral damage