NO oil pressure...mechanic can't diagnose HELP!!!

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Help...

For some reason...the car all the sudden lost oil pressure. I drove the car last Sunday to a golf course. Everything was running fine. When I was leaving the parking lot....I noticed I had ZERO oil pressure.....I turned the car off...got it towed to the only local "Porsche" mechanic in town. He has had the car for over 1 week. He claims he has 30 hours worth of diagnosis labor in the car. He still cannot figure out the problem. He has looked into:
- oprv valve... says it is fine
- crank bolt - says torqued enough...
- oil pump...removed and cleaned oil pump...said doesn't look like it is the problem.
- oil pick up tube...said tested it with a vaccuum and water....no leaks...

He claims he is porsche certified. He worked at a dealership for 8 years. He now owns a volkswagen/porsche garage here in town.

Any suggestions.... He is back at square one.....I just can't keep paying this guy hourly labor charges and he can't even figure out what is wrong. A friend of mine said that if he can't diagnose the problem...he shouldn't get paid... What is the proper protocol on this. I want to get my car back, but don't want to screw the guy for his time...even though he hasn't figured it out.... I guess I could have another place look at it....I would have to get it towed to another shop..which is probably around 45 miles away....

Also...I have already given this guy a $450 deposit as well....

TIA

 

I assume he also checked the pressure sending unit and connections if he has done all that other stuff. My sudden lack of start-up pressure was caused by crud at the base of the OPRV housing. Even when I put the 1-piece conversion OPRV on the 86 it still read zero. I pulled it out again and noticed debris near the base of the housing tube, looked like o-ring bits or just hard black crud. I sprayed it with choke cleaner and used a hose and shop vac to get it out. It's been fine ever since. I hope your problem is this simple.

 

Did you hear lifter clatter? That is the most noticable sound when you really lose oil pressure. If nothing sounded unusual, you may be looking at a sender/electronic problem. Hopefully he has already considered this, if not, he should be shot....

 

yeah...he doesn't think it is an electrical problem... yes...i did hear lifter chatter btw...

 

I bought a 944 with no oil pressure. The OPRV piston retaining clip had moved down about 1/8 of an inch, not allowing the piston to go up as far as it should. The very top of the 4 bypass holes were open, had to look hard to tell they were open. One Porsche repair shop had diagnosed a bad oil pump. I looked at the OPRV 3 or 4 times before I noticed the problem.
This may be a rare occurence but is worth checking, if it happened once it could happen again.

 

I can't help you with the oil pressure problem, but regarding what to do with the shop if they can not diagnose your problem:

You can not just screw him and tell him he is SOL bc he couldn't figure it out. HOWEVER, you need to politely explain to him that you are looking for a mechanic, not just a parts changer; and that you were under the influence that you were going to pay for the car to be fixed. Not just for him to look at a whole bunch of other things. Let's just say the problem turns out to be "X." He did not do anything with "X," which is what you brought the car to him for. He played with a bunch of other things, but for all you know, it could have been just to generate revenue. If he checked the turnsignals, and charged you half an hour for labor, are you going to pay him for that? Absolutley not. Kindly explain this to him, and try to meet him somewhere in the middle.

 

My black car lost oil pressure several times. Heres what I did to fix it.

The first time, i took the filter off and used a tube and poured oil into the oil filter hole. This is because sometimes the oil pressure can loose its prime. Well I poured oil in the hole and it didnt do anything.

So I call up Andy, and he says "rev the car to 3500" so I rev it to 3500.... nothing. Then he says "rev the car to 4500" so i revved it and bounced it up to 5000. Boom! The oil pressure shot to life and the lifted quited after about 5 minutes.

I had this problem a couple times after this as well, a quick rev or two up in the 4500's brought it to life again.

Heres a good read on the problem.
http://www.clarks-garage.com/shop-manual/lube-03.htm

 

I would say the guy is dicking you around. I wouldnt pay him. Actually id demand he give my car back and tell him that you paid him to fix the problem, not take 30 hours of labor and switch out parts. Thats a joke if he wants you to pay for all of this, and most likely the problem is that the car just lost its prime.

 

I will have him try that...thanks...

He does claim he has primed it and started it...still no avail.... but the key may be revving it up a certain rpm..

problem is I don't want to ruin anything internally...rod bearings especially....

 

If its mechanical its in the bottom of the engine..