The Great Debate

I always am a little leery of posting about these models as I don’t want anyone to get the idea that I actually know a little bit about working on these things.

The Porsche 928. Insert my favorite Porsche joke here of course: You know, 95% of all 928’s ever produced are still on the road today. The other 5% actually made it home. Har har. Another interesting tidbit. While working on/test driving Porsches over the years and the shop, the 928 is the only model that has left me on the side of the road needing a tow truck. While towing that car to the shop on the flatbed, I got the thumbs up from a 944 owner who passed by us on the interstate. I’d like to think he was saying “nice car,” but also being a 944 owner I know he meant….”SUCKA!”

This car was in about 6 months ago for some other work, and we found a oil pan gasket leaking and a cooling hose also leaking. We buttoned it up and sent it on it’s way, but somehow it found it’s way back and needed to actually be fixed, lol. I had ordered a silicone oil pan gasket for the car along with the correct cooling hose, so it was time to put it all on.

First thing to do was of course drain the oil, then remove the alternator, starter, and move the AC compressor out of thew way slightly.

Our leak was coming from the front passenger side of the oil pan.

And everything out of the way. At this point, the engine needs to be raised up, so the motor mount bolts need to be removed.

With the motor jacked up, there is enough room for small hands to pull the old cork gasket out. This gasket isn’t that old, maybe 5-6 years, but was hard as a rock and brittle.

Supporting the motor from underneath.

Pulling the gasket out in pieces.

The new gasket from Roger @ 928srus. It will allow us to install the gasket without having to drop the oil pan completely, which is a major undertaking. The gasket is flexible, so you can slide it up over the pan from the bottom and into place. Some small zipties will help hold each corner in place while you get everything squared up. First time trying one of these gaskets, so I hope it works!

And the new gasket slipped into place.

And a lot of torque sequencing to get the bolts all to spec.

Since it was here, the owner was also complaining about a noise on right turns, so it was time to look at the front wheel bearings.

Both front outer bearings were very dry, and once they start making noise, packing them won’t help, they are shot. New inner and outer bearings and seals on both sides and we were back in business 🙂