Porsche Enthusiasts Club Forum

Hello,

Will it always be the head gasket if oil gunk up water system or can it be something else?

Ive a 944 2.5 86 auto.

Thanks.

Could be head gasket or oil cooler. Oil cooler is fiddly to reseal (access is a PITA) but cheaper & quicker than doing a HG.

Thanks for the reply.
Is it the same on an auto as on a manual

yes

Ok. Looking at the cooler housing it seems its been off before as there is gasket sealant around it. If the car runs fine and theres no water in oil would it not indicate the oil seals instead of head gasket.

Also, white exhaust smoke can indicate water in the oil via the head gasket.

I had a day of help from another forum member to do the oil cooler seals. It's completely fixed the problem. The oil pressure keeps the water out of the oil, but coolant doesn't work efficiently with oil in it!

It is a really awkward job, more so if you have power steering, but doable. Make sure the new seals are the green ones and that the water is fully drained from the block before you undo the cooler, or you will get water draining into the sump....

Hi, I have power steering, it doesn't seem a bad job just awkward to get to with out a ramp, might just drop in to a garage and pay for a few hours of labour.

I have an old engine in the garage and its dead easy on that Access is the problem, each screw needs a different set of knuckles and extensions.

Well I bit the bullet drove a 100 mile round trip in wifes Citroen to pick up the oil cooler gasket set from Porsche shop in Halesowen. Half way through the job as of now, got p/s pump off, both exhaust manifolds off, well one is off the other is off but cant get out of engine bay so pushed out of way. Got all the bolts of oil cooler housing, but I need to get a spanner to fit the oil pressure gauge as I cant get it off and cant pull the oil cooler out from engine bay with out it coming off 1st but its so tight on. I can see that the seals have been done before on the cooler but with gasket sealant. Just another bodge job by previous owner, everytime I fix something ive found its been bodged before.

I found that the steering column prevented completely removing the exhaust manifold for cylinders 1 + 4. Another possible option was suggested to me, was to undo the engine mount on that side and jack it up out of the way of the suspension.

You need a 24mm spanner to take the oil pressure sender off, but as I'm sure you've found, access is a pig! So a particularly short 24mm spanner would suit, but I've yet to find one.

I bought a brand new 23mm spanner from a show somewhere for several pence and ground 1mm off it and chopped it in half, works well.

Well after 2 days ive finished it. The main problem I found was putting the exhaust manifold back on. I had it on off area times because the studs came out with the nuts you have to put them back in a particular order otherwise you get to the last one and it wont lineup with hole. Next time I will get new studs and nuts. The only problem i now seem to have is no heat coming from heater even though I have flushed the system and bled it correctly. The temp sensor seems to have also packed up as the radiator fan kicks in and goes off after a while so I know its not overheating. I might get a new temp sensor and flush the system with cleaner again.

Your heater valve might have stuck closed.

Before I bled it, I filled it up through the heater hose, and with a funnel through the bleed screw hole.

Yeah I ended up taking the pipe connection off where the bleed screw is and filling the engine 1st then the pipe to the radiator. Tomorrow I will drop of the pipes to the heater and see. They are warm so it may be heater matrix filled with gunk still.