Kerry.

Oh, guys.

I'm on about Step 7 of the 50 steps to change your oil (you know which one I mean... the one that ends with your wife bailing you out of jail except that I'm a girl, so I don't have a wife). If it wasn't for that I'd be ready to kill myself or someone else... if you haven't seen that story it's at theunixgeek.com/oil-change.html. It goes around the web about every 6 months. Anyway, I'm not at Jiffy Lube, I'm doing it myself. My car is an almost-exclusively dedicated 84 944 track car soon to be racer, it has numbers and decals plastered all over it, and I am too self-conscious to drive it to the local oil change place.

The upshot is that I can tell it's been a LONG time since I changed my own oil on my 944, because I can't remember a thing about it. (I did my motorcycle last month and still have the drain plug washer taped to my refrigerator).

Okay, anyway, so I jack up my car from the driver's side and look for the oil pan plug. Apparently it's the wrong side, I can't find it anywhere so I take it down, turn it on, roll off the 2x4's (my car is really low), get out and move 2x4's to passengers side, and roll back up. Of course it's night and it's dark, and the flashlight is broken, so I'm using a desk lamp from my office plugged into an extension cord.

Now I seem to find a plug that looks like an oil drain, but check my Haynes manual to make sure. It just says "Locate the oil drain plug and loosen." It also identifies everything under the car with a number EXCEPT an oil drain plug.

I rummage through my tools to find the right size socket and corresponding extensions, but the 16 mm is a little big. My set is clearly marked 16MM... 14MM... with NO 15. It did not come with a 15MM socket. Any clue why that would be?

Long story short... I gave up and came in. Searched Google to find instructions (like on Paragon Products, which helped me immensely with my wheel bearings this weekend, despite a few missing instructions, but no luck on the simple jobs). I almost drank a beer too, but I tend to reserve that for the hot track.

I am too embarassed to post this on my USUAL car list. Can't remember how to change her own oil? What kind of a car wench is this??? No respect for her!!!

PLEASE... help me with the following:

WHAT SIZE SOCKET? (WHY DOES A SOCKET SET COME WITH NO 15MM SOCKET?)

JACK UP THE LEFT OR THE RIGHT SIDE?

HOW CAN IDENTIFY THE 84 944 OIL DRAIN PLUG FOR CERTAIN?

BEER BEFORE OR AFTER?

ANY OTHER TIPS?

Thanks!!!

Kerry

Bob S. 1984 Silver

Hi Kerry..

Some of us,at least, feel your pain. Yup, the drain plug is on the passenger side, close to the bottom of the lowest part of the oil pan, but definitely on the vertical surface.

Second, 15 mm heads on bolts are far from common. Leave it to Porsche to "do something different" (and frustrating!!). AFAIK, I have to remind myself every time I do it, it is a 15 mm. And, sad to say, there is no direct non-metric equivalent (15mm divided by 25.4mm = .59 inches; a .562 (9/16) too tight and I do not think you would have a 19/32 (.593)) You might try a pair of vise grips, although you might also want to get a spare plug if you round off the edges too badly. It all depends on what kind of gorilla torqued it down the last time.

Have you tried loosening the filter yet? There was a excellent thread on how not to slobber oil all over since the filter (Porsche at its best) is upside down!! There is precious little room to get any kind of filter wrench in there. I would recommend a replacement filter with the nut welded to the top. Much easier to install/remove. Mahle?

Best of luck.

Bob S.

Edward1

Hi

My 944 is a 1987, but I would think they would be similar since the manual does not show any differences. First, I would invest in a set of ramps, cost very little, and may save you some bad injuries. If facing the front of the car the drain plug is located on the left side (passenger side) of the engine. The plug is located to the lower side of the pan approx. midway of the engine oil pan. The size, I am uncertain of, the original plug may have been replaced and may not be metric even, but I would go under the car prepared with my rachet set to test what size it is by fitting it to the plug.
Fresh oil in any car is it's life blood, especially racing, I would change very often since in racing it can get very hot and lose it viscosity.

1. I would jack up the left side (Passenger side)
2. It should be fairly easy to locate the oil plug
3. Bring you socket set with you and test fit for correct socket.
4. Drain the oil, and as the oil drains out replace the oil filter with a fresh one, same side of engine.
5. Replace the oli plug, torque to 44 ft lbs
6. Replace the engine oil with the recommended oil and quantity.
7. Sit back with the six pack and feel good about a job well done.

Good Luck Kerry <img src="graemlins/beerchug.gif" border="0" alt="[cheers]" />

Tom

Raise the headlights to improve access to the oil filter. Get a cap type oil filter wrench that will fit the Porsche filter. Seek out a 15mm socket.

Crackhead944S

Yes, I know this is an "S" but I believe your drain plug is in the same spot.

Mongo

I didn't have any problems on my 84..just a real hard time tryin to get the f*cking filter wrench to actually loosen the filter. <img src="graemlins/cussing.gif" border="0" alt="[grrrrrrr]" />

<img src="graemlins/burnout.gif" border="0" alt="[burnout]" />

Crackhead944S

That is one of the reasons why I bought a K&N oil filter. It has a one inch nut welded to the top of it for easy removal.

83na944

I recently read a tip on changing the filter: punch a hole in the end of the filter before loosening it. This is supposed to let the oil drain into the pan, minimizing the oil in the filter when it is removed.

Also, I took a Porsche oil filter to Pep Boys and found a cap wrench that fits the end of the filter perfectly. It has a 3/8" square hole for an extension. Costs about $5 and really makes the whole thing easier.

dk944s2

Puncturing the filter does help a little on drainage (and when you plunge that screwdriver into it, the screwdriver makes a nice lever arm to loosen it, BTW). But total neat freaks should cram a whole bunch of paper towels near the base of the filter, to soak up the remaining oil. Really cuts down on the mess.

mideastmafia

you are a race car driver but you dont know how to change oil? hmmmmm, wrong profession

SHAUN

mideastmafia

PS: go ahead guys, call me an ******* for saying this to a lady, but I dont take it differently between a man or a woman.

SHAUN

JohnK944

This whole thread reminds me of the model from Boston...

Magnus

Don't just raise the passenger side, raise both sides or drive it up on ramps. If you only raise the passenger side a fair amount of old oil will be stuck in the pan and pollute the new fresh oil.

That's my $0.02
//Magnus

Bones944

don't forget to replace the 50 cent crush ring.

SHAUN, how many race car drivers change their own oil? That's what the CREW is for

Kerry.

Shaun, I didn't say I was a racer, I said I am making my car into a racer. I don't pretend to have more skills than I actually do. Driver skills hope to follow. You aren't born being a racer, you know, it is a long progression and buttloads of money. In the meantime I teach racetrack driving for 3 local PCA clubs and have had to teach plenty of Porsche owners how to torque their own wheels before they get on the track. So I know I am ahead of zillions of other Porsche owners. :-)

I have changed my own oil many, many times but clearly, and just changed the oil on my own motorcycle last month. I have not done it in a while on this particular car which I have owned for 7 years. That's because I have used a race engineering shop, Moorespeed(.com), which has charged me $100 each time lately. We were trading work in exchange for the website I did for them, but the trade has run out. So I'm working on my car by myself again. :-)

Crackhead944S, thanks for the photograph, that is the bolt I was trying to break. CLEARLY the shop did NOT torque this, they used an impact wrench to solder it down.

I can't get ramps today since they won't fit on my motorcycle and my Jeep is in the shop. I will ease the car down to make sure I get all the oil out, thanks to Magnus for pointing that out.

Gotta go work on my car now before the Texas sun starts beating down. Thanks guys to everyone who had both good and irrelevant comments, whatta country. :-)

Kerry