nvrlft

Hello All,
Today I changed the oil in the 964 for the first time. I have been having it serviced at a local shop for the last several years and IMHO I have been meticulous in caring for and restoring the car.

So....this is not my first rodeo. My previous pcar was an '82 911SC so I have done this before but am a bit rusty.

I first drained the engine block and that went smoothly enough. Once that had drained adequately I moved to the tank.

As I began to loosen the drain bolt a "clear" liquid started to dribble out. Of course I expected to see old 15W50...not what appeared to be water!! This freaked me out so I double checked both the Rennlist DIY page I had printed but also the very helpful owner's manual. I had the correct bolt...honest.

I went ahead and ignored whatever the heck that fluid was and released the bolt. And along came the next surprise. In addition to the expected dumping of oil...there was also a white/cream colored goop that poured down. It took me a moment to get over my shock and take the attached photo. The bright white blob is the latex glove I had on...Across the top you can see some "bubbles", that would be the water (or whatever) that came out initially. There was also quite a bit of road sand and dirt that was rinsed down that I think is visible.

But the very obvious white streaks are the goop that came out of my oil tank.

This, needless to say, caused me to pose several questions.

A. Has my mechanic ever drained the oil tank? fwiw, he redid the front cooler and oil lines last winter and used Mobile 1 for the first time.
B. WTF is the white goop?
C. Has anyone seen this before?
D. This cannot be normal??
E. Am I an idiot?

I went ahead and finished up the job with about 10qts of fresh M1 15W-50. Car seems happy.

ilko

Did you warm up the car before draining the oil? If not I think what you're noticing is oil separation. When it gets old and sits for a long time, oil breaks down, so that's what I think you're seeing.

nvrlft

Thanks for replying.

Yes, I had driven the car for about 1/2 an hour and kept it idling right up until I did the work. I do not know the composition of synthetics so I would buy that this is associated with this.

Bearclaw

Do you do a lot of short trips in the rain???
That's H2O, and it seems like a lot of it. It's heavier than oil, so there it is in the bottom. That goo is oil emulsification.
I saw something like this when I bought my daughter her first car off a used lot. I don't think it had been driven more than a few times around the block in several months. When i got it home and changed the oil, this stuff was actually at the top of the dipstick and started to corrode it. I actually changed the oil twice on that one that day.
As you want a nice uninterrupted flow to the bearings, it would be in the "not good" category to see this get sucked through the engine. Hopefully it just sits dormant in the bottom of the tank. I think that's the most likely scenario in a dry-sump engine. You should be okay.

PNine64

I remember someone writing up a DIY about draining water from the oil tank. I believe the general consensus was that he wasn't bringing the oil/engine up to an appropriate temperature for a long enough duration for condensation to evaporate. Wait...click this link.

I have no idea what the white stuff is.

nvrlft

Ok...thanks everyone for replying.

This is crazy.

I drive this car a lot. I have a 30 mile commute from Falls Church VA to Quantico. I split time between the Porsche and a Honda civic. Temps typically read normal and the car runs/idles well. I have been "over-the-top" with maintenance ($20k over the last 3yrs). I know the oil cooler is in use as I often feel the heat at the right front. The oil is circulating (I hope!).

My suspicion is the mechanic never cracked the oil tank in my 3 years of ownership.

Ryan360

check this out:

https://rennlist.com/forums/964-foru...taminants.html

Indycam

Do you still have the old oil ?
If so , you might want to send it in for a look see .

Carrera51

Even your 30 min in stop and go isn't getting the motor really warm. Had a similar experience once when changing the oil in my Carrera after it had not had any meaningful driving for several months. Checked with the mechanic and he said it needs more longer trips to really get the motor warm and burn off any condensation. So now that is what I do and have not seen this type of thing since.

tbennett017

I wouldn't worry about the white stuff. As mentioned above, it's emulsified junk.. most likely water. Good thing you'll be changing your own oil from now on, as you'll be able to watch for this. In the winter when I used to take short trips I'd get this stuff too. No reason to panic.

newsboy

Condensation, can also cause some water in the oil. It's more prone to happen over the winter, if you don't get the car up to full operating temperature. The water sits on the bottom of the tank, and is below the oil pickup, so it shouldn't get circulated to the engine. I get small amount when I change my oil every spring. Which is why I like to change it at that time.

Redcoat

Been there, done that.

I was bit alarmed to find my daily Audi with 6k miles showing what I thought to be symptoms of a blown head gasket.

Exhibit A.





But what do I know? Very little according to the dealer! Apparently this is merely evidence of engine oil NOT getting up to proper operating temperature over short distances.

AOW162435

Coolant?


Andreas

Redcoat

If you're referring to mine Andreas its oil emulsion, oil and moisture mixing due to the engine not getting fully up to temperature. Dealer told me drive it harder after start up in the winter - which I hadn't been doing apparently.

AOW162435

No, was answering the OP's question. In jest. This is an air-cooled Porsche forum, after all.......




Andreas