993 - Chain Covers

From pcarworkshop

The 993 engines seem to characteristically leak at the Chain Covers. These are flat covers that seal the drive chains that drive the camshafts from the crankshaft. They are held down by several stud/nuts. There are two sealing systems for these covers. The first is each cover has a continous rubber gasket that sits in a groove in the cover, and then the cover is in place presses against a machined surface on the engine. The second is for each stud/nut, there is a rubber donut seal that makes sure no oil can seep buy.

Its typical on these engines, especially if they have gone through lots of heat cycles, to have the rubber seals dry and harden, thus not offering such as pliable seal as before.

This procedure can be done with the engine in the car but it is much more difficult. The front of the engine (the side facing you when you open the rear hood) has to be removed, the engine mounts, mufflers, catalytic converter, sheet metal supports, etc. are in the way of removing the covers. The best way is to jack the front of the engine down (supporting the bottom of the engine with a jack) as well as loosening (but not removing) the rear transmission mounting bolts).

here is a pict of the catalyser and the heat tube with the missing support:

Then it seem obvious that you have to remove the AC compressor support. It's impossible to remove it without removing the wheels so both wheels are required to come off. So I just removed the bolts of the support. this was enough to move it to have enough room to insert the wrench and remove the bolt (yep just one) hidden behind the support!

And when everything is removed that's the view you have:

The assembly is the reverse procedure. The chain covers do not have to be very tight, in the order of 7ft-lbs. Porsche recommends using Loctite 574 on the gaskets before they are tightened.

Original Article Credit : JP (ala Toga) and MikeJ