I have a 2004 Cayanne Turbo W 175,000 Miles, that has been burning oil like crazy.
The oil light came on two days ago, I didnt get to it.
Then the engine cut off.
It starts and all 8 cyclanders fire, I can even drive it 20-30 Ft then is shuts off.
Sounds like a fuel pump? Oil Pump, I'm praying it's not siezed!!
It was serviced completely three weeks ago!
Buddy saw a cloud of smoke after me.
Car is sitting in a parking lot.
Wow. Any advise would be appreciative.

 

Oil guage read, very low, almost no oil....

 

I suggest you propose your question in the Cayenne Forum under water cooled technical discussions. A lot of knowledge and expertise in that forum.

 

Its my own fault, low oil, Light on two days, just stopped. I can drive 20 Ft on all 8 cylanders and then shuts off. I hoping that its anything but siezed!
And to make it worse Im in Long Island and can't imagine the cost!
She has 175,000 miles, so I know the end is near, Is this the end?
Maybe just get luckey and its a fuel or oil pump?

Near greenport Long Island.
Please advise.
Many thanks,

 

Cayanne turbo.
2004

 

I hate to ask this - but when the oil light was on - you didn't think to look up in the manual what to do? It was on RED? Red means STOP and call for a tow.

I doubt it's anything as simple as a fuel or oil pump. If the oil pump fails - usually it takes the engine out with it. Fuel pump is unlikely since if it really fails the engine won't start and you won't go 20 feet.

Is this the end? Probably if the engine is damaged. The cost of replacing it is more than the hulk is worth. Best bet is sell it for salvage value.

 

The light comes ON at 1.6 quarts low... pretty ballsy not to top-up. Been tracking oil consumption?

 

We complain about not having an oil dipstick anymore with 958s. OP has one and chooses to ignore. This one decision will probably cost you.

 

I think it is unlikely you cooked the engine just being a couple of qts low. Have you topped it up yet? How low was it.

I think Porsche karma caused some other failure to get your attention about the oil Honestly I would be surprised if it was an oil related engine failure unless it was REALLY low, like 2-3 qts left low. Maybe an oil pump failure at that mileage? I haven't heard of any though, probably not too common. That could take out the engine quickly though.

 

Your story is really hard to figure out. So you added oil and then were able to start it up and drive 20 feet and then it stopped running? Any codes? Any sounds? It is pretty tough to help you with the information you have given us other than not feeling sorry for you for driving a car for 2 days with an oil light on.

 

The light came on 2 days prior to the engine stopping running. This doesn't indicate how much oil might have leaked out between the light turning on and the engine probably seizing up. For all we know - ALL the oil could have leaked out in that time. I haven't seen anything indicating the dipstick has been checked yet.

FWIW - there are "car" people and there are people who view a car as an appliance, like a washing machine. My son lives in LA - and he sold his car because it was a nuisance. He rarely used it - when he did it usually broke - and he'd end up taking his wife's car. So - not being a car person - he junked it. It was a Nissan Sentra with about 300,000 miles on it. He did faithfully have the oil changed every 3,000 miles, and actually the engine was in fine condition when he junked it - but the exhaust was falling off. A mechanic tried welding it and burned out the starter. Fixed the starter and burned out the alternator. It was simply an appliance that had outlived it's usefulness.

That might be the case here - and I suspect it is. If that is so - it says something about this chap's Cayenne - it survived being treated like an appliance.

Don't be too hard on him, we can't ALL be car people.. (and a surprising number of younger people have no interest at all in cars or driving. Go figure..)

 

Amen! I have two - TWO - children of driving age. One 18, one 16; both have permits, neither is interested in taking practice drives.

I have an '05 Cayenne, a '99 Boxster, and an '82 928, any of which I'd be happy to take them driving in - even at the risk of my Boxster's clutch. My wife's unused 2006 Mazda3 with only 80k miles on it is waiting for the first one of them that actually gets a license. I'll cover their insurance! We live in a small, quiet Susquehanna River town. The busiest street is a two-lane with a 35MPH limit.

I can't get them to even drive a mile to the grocery store for love nor money. Absolutely no interest.

Kids these days...

Just to contrast: Their older brother was in college in PSU and had a crap-tastic $500 Plymouth Laser. I could go on for hours about the stupid things that broke on that car, and his side-of-the-road repairs. It unrecoverably failed inspection during a Thanksgiving break and he ended up taking my '79 928 back to school. That car was a project, at best. It had over 300k on it, the electricals were complete shot (he had to rig the driver's window by hard wiring the motor with a couple feet of speaker wire and Radio Shack rocker switch), but the motor ran. And ran. And ran. He drove the snot out of that car. Literally thousands of miles in a few months. Back and forth to Philly, DC, Erie, wherever.

I miss that car...

Sorry for the thread hijack!

 

Well said!!

 

Moving your thread to the Cayenne forum.

 

I'm far from an expert, but:

1) If it fires and runs even a bit, then it's not seized.

2) If you know there is no oil in it, fill it up before you try to run it for any period of time.

3) There is obviously a significant problem so continually cranking it and trying to drive is not going to help and can do more damage (especially with no oil).

I would suggest having it towed to an Indy familiar with Cayennes or a Porsche dealer. At the very least have it towed home so you can work on it at your leisure in a safe environment if you want to try to diagnose and fix it yourself.