Kevin Baker

OK. Two months ago, I changed the oil pressure sending unit, and the oil and filter. I installed an STP oil filter, made sure that it was not double gasketed, and did not leak. I ran the car close o 100 miles this morning with no problems, driven daily about 24 miles, and then this evening, the thing starts pouring oil all over the garage floor. Checked the oil filter, and the gasket had blown out from under it. I thought it was from the filter being quite old, and maybe the gasket was bad, so I replaced it with a known to not be old Wix brand filter, and bam, same thing right from the start, blown gasket under the filter. Could this be from a faulty OPRV that is not opening and thereby allowing too much oil pressure at the filter? Anybody have this before?

car_slave

Sounds like it to me. May be binding

Porsche-O-Phile

For one, STP oil filters are complete crap. I think they were rated down near the bottom with Fram, but I'll double-check the site. For a 944, I think the best ones are either the stock Mahles or the Wix (NAPA) Gold in terms of allowed contaminant size, construction, and durability. . . But I digress.

For two, this seems to be a not-uncommon occurrance lately. Eyal951 had this exact same thing happen on his car. He swore up and down that it was a faulty OPRV but ends up to have only been the rubber gasket (good news, but still made an awful mess). I suppose it's possible that the OPRV isn't doing its job if you've had a repeat of the problem. . .

What indications are you getting on the gauge?

Kevin Baker

Well I would have thought gasket too, but one on an STP and one on a Wix? Both in the same day?
Guage has normally read close to 5 bar at 3K rpm, and 2.5-3 at idle. Now today driving back, it looked like it was almost to the top at 5bar maybe 5+.

Jfrahm

Make sure the gasket from an old filter is not stuck to the housing. If that gasket tears off the old filter and sticks to the housing (as it can if not properly oiled) you end up with two gaskets when the new filter is put on. The doubled gasket is not well supported and can squirt oil or blow out.

-Joel.

Red1

I'm scheduled to work, but if you need a hand this weekend call me. Work's been real slow lately.

FWIW, I'm inclined to blame the OPRV, but I have no personal experience with a bad one.

Kevin Baker

Thanks, I'm looking into the oprv. That seems like the most likely culprit. I'm going to take the valve to work and see if we can get the snap ring out and see if maybe there is some junk in there. If I can get it back together, I still think I'll need one.

nine-44

I'm thinking the OPRV. I've been running the STP filters for a while now on multiple cars with no problems, good pressure on starts and all. The only problem I've had was loosing prime and not being able to get it back up. That was with a Porsche filter that I bought at the dealer. Go figure?

Legoland951

The OPRV was the problem for one of the spec racer's car that had the same exact problem. He had it replaced twice, first with a new one, then with a properly installed new one.

Mongo

what is the torque on an oil filter to ensure no blow out? Someone has to have a shop manual for this....it says CLEARLY in there.

Eyal 951

i actually blew the oil filter gasket because of my OPRV. Amazing how fast oil pressure gauge went to zero, and how I had the car OFF before it got to zero. I thought I blew something else, not the oil filter gasket. I have a used one in the mail, so that should fix my high oil pressure.
~Eyal

Kevin Baker

Thanks for the fast responses, that is one of the things I love about rennlist. I'll get a replacement oprv.

Red1

It's responses like this that make rennlist the community it is. People in my office have gotten immune to me laughing at my desk.

Legoland951

I am glad to be able to bring a good laugh. Sometimes all these mechanical problems will make you cry unless you find a way to laugh about it

Kevin Baker

OK, so someone make me laugh. I cleaned up the oprv, and hoped for the best as $288 is just a bit more than I have laying around. No dice. Oil pressure builds SLOWLY to 5, while the bearings are not sounding good at all. Took the filter back off, poured some oil down the boss, pulled the dme relay and cranked until the pressure was about 4. Then replaced dme relay, and started, sounded better once the lifters pumped up. Sat a idle for about 90 sec, then noticed at 1800 rpm, the friggen oil pressure was off the charts. Shut it down, pushed it back into the oil *** garage. I'm kinda flustered by this.