Engine Blowup (on the Kings Road @ 2mph)

[wbartram]

Guys

I have just had a major engine failure on by Cayman, year 55, with 80,000 miles on the clock. It has been service on the dot by a Porsche main dealer all its life, and all items have been fixed on the spot, as and when required. In fact I have just spend £3000, on a new water pump, heater servo motor, and cabin Fan + Service.

The worst bit was that I was driving down the Kings Road at 2 MPH at about 6.30pm Friday, and the car disapeared in a cloud of smoke. The good news was that I was able to stop immedately and call a tow truck.

The engine is out and the guys tell me that the oil seperator has completely failed, filling one bank of cylinders with oil, so head off and check for damage etc, not a good way to go. Anyway its been replaced, and the bill is £3K not the £9K for a whole new engine, thank goodness. Porsche will not pay any good will as the motor has 80K on it, disapointing as you would expect.

You thoughts?

Regards

William

 

[sawood12]

Was the oil separator disturbed during the work you had done on it recently? Or in any way can the oil separator be damaged or affected by the work carried out? Might be worth talking to a specialist for an independent view point as i'm sure Porsche wont own upto the possibility that they have in some way caused the damage or the failure of the oil separator.

 

[Geoff_Fields]

These oil seperators are so problamatic that it may be advisable for owners to be advised to have them changed at say 50,000mls or every 5 years whichever sooner. Would be a lot cheaper than the type of bill mentioned above.

 

[berty987]

I would have expected the AOS to give some indication of failure before getting to the point of flooding the engine with oil. Did you not experience white smoke from the exhaust when cornering or excessive smoke at start up ? I was under the impression the AOS only did any real work when the car was being driven in corners when oil surge from the sump became an issue , after all its just an oil separator for crankcase breathing is it not?

 

[Gary C]

How does it work. Never thought about it before, but a flat engine with a wet sump must be difficult to keep the oil from sloshing into the bores. (Thinks, glad mines got a dry sump)

 

[telford_mike]

Do the Gen 2 Caymans have this feature, or has the new lube system engineered it out?

 

[Tess Tickle]

Mike the new DFI engines (like yours) have a 4th scavenge pump, so wont have this issue.

 

[Gary C]

Thought scavenge pumps were for dry sumps, ie pumps that did not mind sucking a bit of air along with the oil ? Ah, just did a bit of reading, scavenge for the head oil return ?, but crank oil returns under gravity.