Cayman07

I had my oil changed at a certified shop but not the Porsche dealer. The next day and less than 20 miles driven my car shut off and won't even hand crank. Is the engine done and what should I do? No smoke and no weird noise other than my car stalling out at 65 miles per hour on the highway. Only 51K miles on an 07 Cayman with no track or over revs. This is my first post.

ECS Tuning

Sorry to hear about this. Is there any signs of oil or any other fluids ?

extanker

you will need to get an opinion from a shop or dealer. imho. not enough data to blame anyone or thing yet

Cayman07

No signs of oil or fluids anywhere. When the car shut down on the highway my oil gauge immediately said no oil in the car. As soon as I got it at the shop the gauge read above the fill line. This all happened when I stepped on the gas while cruising at about 55mph. As soon as I hit the gas the car immediately shut off. Could this be because of too much oil settling in the combustion chamber and it spilled into the engine? The engine will only hand crank about 30 degrees either way. Could I try removing the spark plugs and see if excess oil was in the piston or does this sound like a seized engine for sure?

aviography

You need ot get an independent assessment, preferrably from a Porsche dealer to determine if it is just one of those coincidences or if the shop you had used did something wrong.

Oil doesn't just magically get into the combustion chamber without some very obvious reason, it doesn't look like the oil was overfilled, but what did you mean by your "oil gague"? Oil level gauge or oil pressure gauge? The two are very different, oil pressure is generated by the oil pump and will drop to zero when the engine stops, oil level is obviously different, I'm asking since I'm not familiar with Cayman system since some Porsche models have electronic oil level indicator, but IIRC all have oil pressure indicator in the instrument panel.

BTW user Gator96 with a 996 had a what he believed was an engine failure when the engine suddenly stopped, he had the car flat-bed towed to Flat Six Innovation only to find out it was the alternator pully bearing that had seized, which prevented the engine from truning, there was nothing wrong with the engine itself. So a proper diagnostic is critical in your situation.

LexVan

The 987 does not have an engine oil pressure gauge. Only the electronic oil level display.

Cayman07

Yes it was the oil level display. Leads me to believe that there was a loss of oil pressure, which could have messed with the gauge. If they did over fill the oil then it would froth the oil and make the oil pump go dry. Might explain something. I'm remaining hopeful that it isn't engine failure.

extanker

with a bit of luck you may find the VOS went bad and let in the oil. might/should be cheaper fix than a motor. keep the faith and let us know. good luck

Cayman07

Would a bad air/oil separator seize the engine? I did notice a puff of bluish smoke come out the tail pipe the day after the oil change, which was 10 minutes before the car shut off. It wasn't excessive smoke and I was told this is normal for the engine design of the car.

Cayman07

I did notice the car was a little sluggish when I step on the gas, which is another reason why I took my car in for an early oil change. I paid for a diagnostic and the shop told me nothing was wrong and to drive the car until the check engine light came on since there were no codes at all. Check engine light came on when the car shut down and still no codes.

extanker

a bad vos has been known to pull in enough oil to lock up an engine.pulling the plugs can confirm this.many times it is not fatal to the motor. as for smoke on start up ....yes they do it ...is it normal [this will start a battle] most people who eat with a fork would say no it is not normal.....more like a many years old bad designimho

Cayman07

I will try pulling the spark plugs and hand cranking the engine. The engine will not hand crank more than 30 degrees either way with the plugs in right now. This is technically an emissions part, which would is under the 7 year 80,000 mile emissions warranty by Porsche on the Cayman right?

Cayman07

My OBD did not display anything and no codes stored in the system at all even after car shut off. I know this has an 8 year 80,000 mile warranty in the U.S. so if it was not working properly and lead to this issue wouldn't Porsche need to replace anything that was damaged?

LexVan

Find a better shop.

Oil changes don't help to solve a sluggish engine.

Cayman07

I know oil changes don't solve that issue which is why I went in to have them hook it up to the diagnostic. Just had oil changed at the same time. Wouldn't it be weird that there were no codes and engine wont start now and was sluggish before? Shop thought mass air flow sensor but since there were no codes they didn't know. If it was the oil/air separator wouldn't the check engine light come on before failure?