JCreasy

Some of you may recall I posted about hard starts after re-fueling a few weeks ago? I have had time to fix.

Today, I lost oil pressure. The engine would run but not idle. If I blip the throttle, oil pressure goes to 3 bar... It used to sit at 4 to 5. Temp slowly started rising too. I noticed all of this in the few minutes it took me to get off the road. No leaks under car and no oil splatter in engine compartment... No weird smells or sounds.

Any ideas? Also, please withhold the "... told you it would grenade" comments.

Thanks in advance,

JKC

JCreasy

I just went back up to where I parked it to see if it was sitting in a puddle of oil and it all looks clean and dry. Not a drip. (It has been sitting for about 3 hours).

That help with any ideas?

Jake, if you pick up on this thread, can you shoot me an email when you have a second? Obviously, we need to talk.

Thanks guys and keep your fingers crossed for me. (I'm rubbing a rabbit foot right now).

JKC

Soaringman

You had time to fix? what was it ?

If you fill up at a station after a tanker has just filled the underground tanks alot of crap can be stirred up into the gas that can make its way into your fuel filter, happened to me on my sportbike.

JCreasy

I am sorry for the spaz... I have not had time to fix. It is some sort of vent issue that I "... was planning on getting around to."

However... Oil Pressure and Hi Temps are a different breed of cat. I was on the phone with my wife and made a u-turn in pretty decent traffic to get off the road. I could almost hear the bomb going off and I was on the phone with her telling her that if this thing goes off it is a 20k issue.

Appreciate any feedback and I will keep you guys posted on what I discovery. Needless to say, a very scary evening.

JKC

Flat6 Innovations

I am in California finishing up my M96 Engine Mechanical Class today and I am not at the shop.

That said, I think I know what this is and the symptoms are pretty characteristic. Email me if you want our truck to come grab it tomorrow morning so it can be there when I arrive. If I am right about this (pretty good chance) then we may be able to repair it simply and timely. If not, you can get in line :-)
I have held one "hardship" position in my schedule for a full reconstruction- just in case.

JCreasy

Thanks, Jake.

I will email you the address tomorrow. (It is in Roswell, near Horseshoe Bend and the river off Holcomb bridge).

I have a rental car for a week, so not that big a rush. And if things head South with the car, I will just have to make other arrangements to get around while we figure it out.

Have a safe trip back from CA and thanks for the reply.

JKC

Hurdigurdiman

Over 200 thousand and I think you should be getting a full engine strip down or another car. No iffs or buts about it. Bang it in Part Ex for another Porsche at a dealers. Or sell privately. Its time I think.

Kalashnikov

OP, could be the water-pump failing on you and giving the overheating? Bad or weak fuel pump could be the culprit of the hard stars.

@hurdigurdiman There are millions of cars on the road with over 200k miles that run better than sub 50k mile cars. This is not 1950's, with modern synthetic oils most cars easily run up to 200k+ miles.

My 2003 Acura TL is at 190k miles. It uses no oil between 10k oil changes, and it will still roast the tires off the line like it is nobody's business. There are cars on the acurazine that have 350k+ miles and are still on original blocks with heads never being removed.

There are not many high mileage Porsche stories because people don't drive the cars enough. I am struggling to believe that Porsche makes engines so badly that 200k is end of the line for them. There are 300k+ miles Cayennes, boxsters, and 911s out there. If people drove their Porsches more, there would be more high mileage stories.

DBJoe996

There is a lot unsaid here. First, with what you said about a "20K issue" and having a spaz attack over this, what did you do? Look underneath for any signs of leaks? Park it in a spot and check it out 3 hours later to see if the car hemorrhaged fluids? Come on...get in there and check things out! Coolant level up? Pull the dipstick and MANUALLY check the oil level. Are the cooling fans running? How hot is hot? Water pumped changed? Coolant changed? When was the last oil/filter change? What oil weight are you running? Any CEL's or codes? You make it out like it is going to be some mysterious Porsche engine problem....but these types of things could happen on any brand/make of car at any mileage. Please do yourself a favor and manually check out all of the fluids and post more history on maintenance and care.

LordVicious

From your description the engine runs but stalls at idle speed. I can think of 10 things off the top of my head (idle control valve, bad gas, fuel pump ...) none of which are particularly egregious problems to fix.

halik

At 200K miles a used motor is probably a better idea than spending $20K on a rebuild; you can get another '02 for that much...
60-70K mile motor show up in the classifieds for $6-7K all the time.

Gonzo911

Another Flat 6 commercial. Don't people use phones/email to communicate anymore? I mean really, if I thought my car was ready to blow up I'd be speed dialing my Indy instead of sending smoke signals on RL.

Sneaky Pete

The scarey part is loss of oil pressure. Ask me how I know.

Also...Gonzo is spot on. Phone or email......I prefer phone.. amazing what you can pick up out of listening to a person's voice.

JCreasy

Thanks for the feedback guys.

Regarding Hurdigurdiman and Kalishnikov, I think you both make good points. But I tend to side with Kalishnikov on this one. Modern engines that are taken care of and using modern motor oils are way different than the 351 V-8 I had in my '69 Cougar.

I think the "... Raby Commercial" comment is little off base. He is not a pal and I am not his sycophant. However, I do trust his insight and we've talked off-line about this car for several years. He has always given me good advice and heads up. Plus, I live in Atlanta, so he is my "... Indy." (I use him and RS Motowerks in Roswell).

As for the "... smoke signals" comment, I posted on here for two reasons... First to get some ideas of possible cause. (I've done that before and gotten great leads on here). Second, to share my experience with the board in case the same thing happens to them. If you want me to continue to post so you can follow along with my experience in case it happens to you, let me know. Or, I suppose you can email me off-line.

We are looking at possible causes. The good news is that Raby drove it yesterday and he said that while the engine is worn, it was not a catastrophic failure.

Finally, as for the money on a rebuild vs. engine swap vs. new car, if it needs it, I'll probably just do the rebuild. Here is my calculus, which may not apply to your situation...

If I spend 20k on the rebuild, I know what engine is in my car and what went into it. I can also do some minor upgrades... Like balancing. If I get a used engine, I will never know exactly what it has been through before... Even if I do all the diagnostics on it, which I am not equipped to do. Plus, I like the fact that the original engine and everything is still with my car. (I know, kinda silly).

If I spend the 20k on a new car, I am still looking at car payments unless I buy a smaller Suburu or Honda Civic.

In any event, thanks for the feedback and if you guys want me to just shut up about what happens on the board, let me know. Won't hurt my feelings a bit. And, if someone tells me to do that, and someone else wants to know what happens, contact me off line and I'll put you in the loop.

JKC

JCreasy

Oh, and DBJoe,

Good point. I'll try to be more specific.

Oil last changed about 7k miles ago, right before 200k. Weight, I think was 10/50 Mobile Synthetic. Level is full. Coolant level full. I didn't check fans because I shut down right away because I really didn't want to do more damage. I cannot check the codes because I don't have a reader. I've had the water pump fail on me with this case and I don't think it was that because I think I would recognize the sound, and because the water pump is reasonably new. Service history is pretty standard. In fact, I had a new clutch and everything gone over about 20k miles ago. (I've had the RMS and IMS service done on it) As for care, the car is a daily driver, in and out of traffic and on the interstates... Never been on track, at least in the 8 years I've owned it.

I didn't mean to imply this was a mysterious Porsche problem, I just get freaked out when I see oil pressure dropping. Particularly when it is still showing low pressure when the engine revs.

As for temp, my car usually sits right at or just barely over the 185 mark, so close that the needle still covers the number. The other day the needle started climbing far enough that there was space over that number... Not too hot (as when the water pump blew) but again, I get nervous about high temps because a buddy in high school ignored that issue and ruined his car. His dad was not happy with him about it either.