Advice On Oil Leak And Suspension Noise Please

[Stonehaven]

Hi from a newbie, I bought a very tidy year 2000 Boxster S a couple of weeks ago and it is going well, although I do have a couple of things to sort and I am looking for some advice...

Car is 2000 Boxster 3.2S, 6 speed manual, with 58,000 miles on the clock, UK spec RHD.

The previous owner, a retired teacher who cherished the car, told me he had experienced a couple of problems in the past, a minor oil leak and creaking from front ARB. He only did 3000 miles a year, I've done 500 in the last two weeks and the creaking ARB / front OS suspension is becoming annoying and Saturday morning I found a bit of oil on the garage floor (first time) and leaking a bit last night (onto a newspaper).

I visited the previous owner to collect my hardtop on Saturday and he said he managed to cure the creaking suspension previously with some grease and the oil leak just went away.

I took some pics this morning and identified two leak areas - one in the centre and one which is on / around the right hand cam cover (possibly the plug liner / or ring?)

Should I worry about the oil leaks - the electronic gauge doesn't show any loss and the dip stick seems to show the max? Is it worth me trying to sort the creaking or should I get it looked at by a mechanic - I have invested in the Bentley's workshop guide, but I don't really know Boxsters yet and I didn't plan on doing any DIY on this car. I have posted this request on a couple of forums as I am still new to Porsches and would appreciate all the advice I can get.) One reply on another forum has said to start thinking about RMS change, plus clutch and IMS upgrade, do I need to go that far at this stage?

Some pics of the leaks...

Pics below all comments suggestions welcome - should I worry / stop using the car / rush into a dealer?

Leak 1

leak 2

Mark

Edited June 7, 2010 by Stonehaven

[Loren]

:welcome:

As with any leak the first thing to do is clean off all the old oil that has been blown around on the engine from driving.

Once the engine is clean start the car run it until it completely warmed up - turn it off and inspect for the origin of your leak(s).

[ppbon]

Leak 1 seems to be from the Rear Main Seal.

Leak 2 seems to be from a cracked sparkplug tube or bad O-Ring.

Leah 2 is easily fixed.

To fix Leak 1 you'll need to drop the tranny.

If it's not too bad, leave leak 1 until you have to replace the clutch.

Happy Boxstering,

Pedro

[Wayne R. Dempsey]

The Rear Main Seal (RMS) is sometimes blamed for the more often leak around the intermediate shaft bearing cover. I have an article on replacing this that I just recently posted here: http://www.pelicanparts.com/techarticles/Boxster_Tech/14-ENGINE-Intermediate_Shaft_Bearing/14-ENGINE-Intermediate_Shaft_Bearing.htm

I probably wouldn't worry about fixing that leak until it was time to do a clutch job...

-Wayne