ticking noise?

[Globe_911]

My 944 was taken to the garage today to have all new fluid bled through and braided lines put on and as such was run properly for the first time in a couple of weeks. 1st thing I noticed when i started it (after briefly charging the almost flat battery!) was that it was 'ticking' sped up and slowed down with the revs? drove it to the garage (about 8 miles away and by the time it was there it had stopped?? is this normal??
cheers

 

[RC18B 911 turbo]

If it was from the engine it could be the tappets esspecially if it hasn't been used for a while and was cold the oil hasn't been pumped through the engine enough

 

[Globe_911]

from the engine it could be the tappets esspecially if it hasn't been used for a while and was cold the oil hasn't been pumped through the engine

yep it was from the engine so nothing to worry about then??

It's about due an oil change so whats the best type of oil to put in??
cheers [8D]

 

[sawood12]

I guess the best thing to do is to see how you get on with it but our tappets and vavle train can make a hell of a racket.

In terms of oil - although it is a subject that comes up often and we love to debate I personally don't think our engines are that sensitive to what grade of oil you use as long as it is within the usual common bands for normal cars - so anywere from a 5W40 upto a 15W50 seems to be the 'usual' band I'm referring to. These grades are within Porsche spec for the car also. One thing I would say though is that you go for a good quality fully synthetic. Mobil1, Silkolene, Royal Purple. It may be more expensive that the cheaper oils but they are still a relatively cheap. Better quality oils will last longer and resist breakdown from temperatures and chemical contamination. I also personally use an Ester based oil that is clingy. Don't waste your time and money on semi-synths. They have such a low synthetic content they are basically no better than mineral oils. And oils that claim to be developed especially for older/high milage engines are just a marketing gimmick.

 

[TTM]

Had one tappet make some noise this summer when I started back my turbo after a three weeks off-the-road bodywork refresh. It cleared up within 30 miles. Nothing to worry about if it goes away.

 

[Globe_911]

good stuff, cheers [] the car will be being used on the track so will that make a difference in what sort of oil is best to use??

 

[sawood12]

All 944's have thermostatically controlled oil coolers (water cooled on n/a cars and air cooled on trubo's and S2's) so oil temps are controlled better than other cars that don't have any specific oil cooling at all, so you shouldn't have any trouble with the grades mentioned above. However it reinforces the use of a good quality fully synth. The thing about track days is that you tend to go out for shortish stints say 20 - 30 mins each stint, and if you take away your warm up laps and cool down laps then you are not really hard on it for too long. A 60 grade is overkill for track days and wouldn't get upto temp, and is not ideal for normal road use so there is no need to go that high in my view unless you are racing or really go for it for long stints on track days.

 

[edh]

If you're not getting any oil up to temp after 10 mins on track, you're not trying hard enough []

Why wouldn't 10w60 reach operating temp? - won't all grades heat up at roughly the same speed as it's largely a function of the amount of heat generated by the engine (and turbo)?

Constant 4-6000 rpm, WOT puts plenty of heat into the oil. Turbocharged cars are extra hard on oil.

 

[Globe_911]

maybe 10W60 is the way to go then as it will be getting some heavy use, unless someoen has another reason wy not too??

 

[sawood12]

My logic is that Porsche recommends a 40 or 50 grade for UK type climate. Our cars have pretty efficient oil cooling systems which should be able to maintain your cars oil within normal temps even on a trackday (unless you are a supreme trackday warrior). With a 60 grade oil you probably wont get enough heat into the oil for its viscosity to fall to that equivalent to a 40 or 50 grade at normal operating temps. In racing where the oil temps will rise much higher than normal operating temps then you might very well need to use a higher grade of oil as it will thin out - but racing is a whole different ball game altogether and much much more demanding than a trackday where you are probably only doing half a dozen or so hot laps at a time and on road tyres as well.

Certainly the advice I got from Oilman was that a good fully synth 40 or 50 grade oil should be perfectly capable of handling a few trackdays over and above normal road use in our cars - even in a turbocharged car so an N/A should be even more easy on oil temps. Maybe a query to Oilman might be a good idea to make sure you satisfy yourself.

 

[edh]

Castrol Edge, Silkolene Pro S & Millers CFS are all worth checking out. I doubt you'll go wrong with any of those

I use Millers because I can get it cheap [], I've had it in other cars & been very happy with it on tracks.

I'll be putting in an oil temp gauge next year - then I'll be able to see exactly what's going on.

 

[TTM]

How could one consider as "efficient" the cooling system ?
A friend who was following me in his 944 turbo during a long Autobahn shakedown from Stuttgart to Kehl reported oil temperatures consistently reading above the 110+ °C mark (Motul 300V 15W50). And we were clearly not moving at a pace that would have allowed us to hear flowers growing, meaning both radiators were fed with plenty of fresh air.
That's not to say his car did not perform as it should have, but that's certainly quite high temperatures for oil, even with a coolant system in good order.

 

[sawood12]

Well lik EDH I intent to fit an oil temp gauge as well but speaking to other people on this subject I got the impresstion the stock oil cooling system - especially the air cooled system on S2's and turbo's is pretty good. However as I said before, on your averge track day you are only really completing half a dozen hot laps and unfortunately we don't have Autobahns in this country so I'd be really surprised if our oil temps are getting much above the 110 degs - i.e. there should be enough cooling capacity in the oil cooling system to keep the temps under control - yet to be demonstrated but from people i've spoken to I get the impression we should be OK - I hope so because i'm running 5w40.

 

[edh]

half a dozen? - 30 min session at Donington should see you through 10+ I reckon @ 2.30/2.40 per lap []

 

[zcacogp]

Ahhhh ... the old "which oil" question.

I happen to believe that changing oil frequently is MUCH more important than putting expensive oil in. Sure, some modern synth may last 20,000 miles without needing to be changed, but would you really want 20,000 miles worth of crud washing around in your oil system? Or indeed the oil molecules which have been munched for 20,000 miles to be providing the lubrication you need?

I personally prefer a good (i.e. good-quality day-to-day) semi which is changed often. Given that you cannot change your oil too frequently, I tend to do it every 4,000 miles. I use GM semi-synth 10W40 because it is damned good stuff and very cheap. And you can do a change for just over £10.

I personally happen to think that a lot of the price of expensive oils is marketing and hype. And don't forget that these engines were designed to run very happily on oil technology that is now 20 years old. And oil has come a long way in the last 20 years.


Oli.

 

[sawood12]

I agree with you in principle Oli, however I don't think anyone is advocating an oil change every 20k miles, certainly not on our cars, but of course the more frequently you change your oil the better no matter what oil you're using. I personally don't think that even an expensive oil is that expensive in real terms. Even an expensive fully synth is relatively cheap - certainly cheaper than a tankful of V-Power, so a couple of times a year is not going to break the bank.

 

[Globe_911]

right I'll settle on a good quality fully synth then and change it regularly []

 

[zcacogp]

ORIGINAL: sawood12

I agree with you in principle Oli, however I don't think anyone is advocating an oil change every 20k miles, certainly not on our cars, but of course the more frequently you change your oil the better no matter what oil you're using. I personally don't think that even an expensive oil is that expensive in real terms. Even an expensive fully synth is relatively cheap - certainly cheaper than a tankful of V-Power, so a couple of times a year is not going to break the bank.

Scott,

Good points, and I agree with all of them. I guess my thoughts are that the expensive oils are possibly more expensive because they offer a longer life - that is where the development (and hence cash) goes. If you are only using them for a shorter period of time (c5k miles) then is it worth the extra expense? If it is, then I'm all for it. However, I always detect more than a smidge of hype (certainly in terms of requirement for most people's motoring - i.e. daily driving with the occasional trackday) in their claims, and don't like to spend unnecessarily.


Oli.

 

[Guest]

Good advice gents ...!

I use Shell Helix Semi-Syntehetic 10/40w in my Turbo... No trackdays just normal running .... I change it once a year but only do maybe3k miles max....Most of that is easy enough miles with the odd blast or two.[] Is this the correct oil for what I am at....? [&:]

 

[TTM]

If oil consumpion is low enough then yes.