Chris White

Maybe I need my own super hero theme music...

Yes, 1 bar at 1k rpm is not optimal...but for a street stock car it is OK by the factory...

It is normal for most 951s to see a slight dip in oil prssure at the start of hard acceleration.

Its also common to find some metalic 'fuzz' on the oil drain plug magent.

JET951

Chris (dagame27) a worn rod bearing or bearings will always result in a very distinct low (bottom end) knock or knocks ,and can be heard very clearly .
I take it you are in Chicago (if so) then naturally you are in the middle of your summer , so according to the owners manual ,the first cab off the rank in the "shaded centre section"of the oil viscosity chart in the owners manual that came with your 951 and printed by Porsche for temp range from minus 10 deg cel to unlimited high ambient temp is a 20W-50 .
Give it a try , because it is the next logical step in diagnosing and comparing oil pressures before you start dismantling the engine and its very inexpensive .
Regards
BB.

gstreev

Yes, for summer switch to 20W50 if that doesn't help gauge or sender.

dagame27

I instructed my mechanic to switch to 20w50. We will see if that makes a difference. Either way, I am going to at least get some driving satisfaction from this thing before the summer is over. I think that I've only had it for about a month since March At least the Audi is the DD now, so I can mix in the 951 a few days.

carlege

Lord knows its hard to change oil Do you even know what oil he is putting in? Does it have adequate ZDDP levels?

Reminds me of my boss that emails me to send an email to a consultant

choinga

I'm only 8 months into my 951 (which I love), but can't imagine not doing as much work on it myself as possible. Changing the oil in these cars requires pretty much zero mechanical ability and tools that I'm sure everyone has in their garage.

I had never worked on a car prior to owning my 951. As of right now, my intake manifold is off and I'm waiting on new screws for my ICV bracket, I'm completing my venturi delete and waiting for a few hoses, I'm installing a new ICV, I rebuilt my throttle body while it was off, installed a new TPS and replaced a silicon vacuum line that was under the intake that got cut, and while the intake is off (something I don't plan on doing a lot) I'm waiting on a new battery negative kit from Robby to route down to the bellhousing. I don't know what my mechanic would charge me for all this - but I'm sure I saved myself at least $500-600 bucks in labor by doing this myself.

None of that stuff is that hard - go slow, learn something, get a great deal of personal satisfaction that you're working on your own car and you know it's done the right way. These forums are amazing - no way would I have been able to do the stuff I've done without knowing the folks here have my back.

dagame27

Having a professional do the job is a much better idea than me doing it. I am a cpu/electronics guys, and an idiot when it comes to working on cars. I'd find some way to screw it up. The mechanic is a friend of mine and qualified for the job. I bought the oil, which was Castrol Syntec 20w50. I've always used Syntec in my cars.

carlege

That is my plan! These cars require this attitude. learning to work on the car is essential to experiencing it. Then when you drive it you appreciate it more. Taking it to a mechanic is easy but remember they are there to do a job nothing more.

choinga

Me too man. I work for a ginormous software company and prior to owning this car had never changed the oil on a vehicle before. Now, not because I didn't think I couldn't figure it out - but mainly because I didn't 'need' to. Part of the reason I bought a 951 was to learn a little about how to wrench on a car. The money fortunately isn't an issue for me, but I don't know how folks get into these without taking on some of the work themselves. I know the work I've done in the last 8 months has at least saved me a couple grand vs taking it to the shop.

I don't have any near term plans to pull the engine out and rebuild the crankshaft or anything like that - but who knows where I'll be in a couple years with this thing.

Download the shop manuals, plan out what you are going to do in advance, document or take pictures if you need to while you are working to remember how things go (I wish I'd have done that after pulling my wastegate out to replace with a new Tial...), go slow and if you get stuck well then you post here.

If you would have showed me pictures of my engine bay in my garage the way it looks today when I was driving the car home 8 months ago I would have said no way.

JohnKoaWood

OK guys, as I am waiting for penetrating oil to make easy the removal of my turbo, and still need to pull apart the front end of my N/A motor, I too am quick to prod someone to get their hands dirty...

BUT

Some folks (yes they do exist) are better off knowing what their limits are, and staying within them, I have spent countless hours un-fixing what a out of limits owner had done to my car (stereo worked, don't know how, but it worked... took me longer to un-mess the wiring then it would have taken to rip it out, and install a new one... multiple crimp connectors used end to end to connect ALL stereo connections.. I think the original installer must have connected it, clipped wires, crimped in new connections, clipped wires and crimped in new ones... I don't know... but it is straightened out now...) and that is just for starters...

How many folks on here set up their own computer (from pieces), home network, internet connections and maintain these on a regular basis... now go to Best Buy and ask the geek squad how many installations of plug in stuff they do in peoples homes... they have formed an entire business around it... some people recognize their boundaries and other push the envelope... I have always been an envelope pusher, but I am an A type personality, if everyone was like me I would have to find something new to do...

OH and I do all my own work, until I don't feel like it, and I have currently in my house on my home network...6 Laptops, 3 PCs, PS3, Wii, XBox360, Ipod Touch, router, switch, hub, and wireless all around outside... I'm also running fiber into the house and a gigabit wired in the house..But I have also been playing this game longer than SOME (most?) 944/951 owners have graced this good green earth...

carlege

I Did ! !

Google "how to build a computer" and i went from there Got tired of paying people 125 to install a hard drive when i could do it for cost never again

choinga

Nice post John. I totally agree - the key is to stay within your bounds. I needed my head gasket replaced last month. Didn't even attempt that. Would I attempt it two years from now though? Possibly. As I said, I hadn't ever worked on a car and just in the last couple months I've installed a new Vitesse MAF, the Piggyback for the MAF, a new Tial 38mm wastegate, a wideband O2 sensor and pulled the intake off to replace all the stuff mentioned in the previous post. None of this stuff is rocket science and as I said, if you map it out before you get started (read the manual, start a new thread asking for advice, search the forums for others that have done the same thing, etc...) then you should be able to determine if it's out of your comfort level.

carlege

I agree to a point..... if we stayed within our comfort level (zone) we wouldnt even attempt half the things we do....

choinga

Agreed - but you don't go from not ever doing an oil change to starting with a top end rebuild.

The first thing I ever did was pull the DME and change the chip, replace my FPR with a 3BAR and installed a LBE. After a LOT of reading (including just perusing shop manuals in PDF format on my kindle when traveling...) I got a better feel for where stuff was and what it did and the process involved for removing/replacing it.

That said, looking back - pulling the DME, removing the stock chip and putting in a new one and then pulling hoses and such off (I was scared to yank the end of a vacuum hose off the FPR) is about as easy as it gets - but at the time it was WAY out of my comfort zone.

There are still some things I probably wouldn't touch - reference and speed sensors, replacing the turbo, etc... - I could probably do those but I'd like to watch someone do it first. My main concern with most of the stuff that I don't want to do is simply breaking stuff because it's old - or stripping something trying to get a bolt out of the head, etc...

I think the key to ownership of these cars and saving yourself some $$ is to at least be able to handle the regular maintenance stuff - oil changes, basic electrical stuff, fuel filter/pump, relay's, new hoses and other easy to get to engine parts (BOV, FPR, etc...). It's asanine to pay a shop $100 an hour to do that stuff.

Chris White

Yeah? I had a Sinclair Z81 and then a Lisa and then the first Mac...128k of memory and no hard drive...the only fiber we had was belly buton lint...and the 944 had not been rolled out yet...

If you want ot have fun how about a secure wireless network with a Tec3....tall enough tower and I could remotly tune and datalog at the track...