Couple of issues, Rev limit and oil level

Hi all, first post but have learnt a hell of a lot over the past few weeks from others on here. Now to my issues... I bought my 2006 cayman s around a month ago and have been over the moon with it but I now have a couple of issues. The first one is when I’m accelerating the Revs will not go over 4000rpm just seems to stop there and I’m forced to change up a gear. Runs nice and smooth till 4000 then nothing? Any advice on possible causes? The other issue is my oil consumption. If the reading is a true read out then I’ve gone from full oil when I had it serviced 3 weeks ago to just 1 bar on the read out now? I’ve checked the oil both when cold and when warmed up in my garage. Could I really be out of oil? No signs of an oil leak and I’m not experiencing lots of smoke on start up, just a little smoke on cold mornings. I will phone my local Indy and get it booked in next week but was just hoping someone had had a similar experience of either problem? Could do without a big bill as I forked out £2000 on the last service as I had a broken front coil and had to have the front suspension overhauled due to corrosion. Any help or advice on either problem would b much appreciated. Thanks

If it stops revving at 4000 RPM, you have a real problem. My 08 S starts revving hard at 4000 RPM. It should not consume large amounts of oil. 1 quart every 1000 miles would not panic me but I would not like it. Mine uses less than 1 quart every 5000 miles.

No idea what could cause the revs to hold back around 4000 rpm? Like I say it goes nice and smooth to 4000 then no further. In regards to the oil usage, is the level sensor likely to be temperamental? I’m just struggling to understand how it could have used so much oil without any indication of an oil leak? Where has it all gone? Should I try topping up with oil and see what happens? Like I say the oil was only changed 3 weeks ago.

I would just be guessing if I said why it will not rev. On the oil thing, the most common problem is the air/oil seperator. If its bad you will consume much oil and it will effect how the car runs. Just GUESSING. For sure add oil. You do not want to run low. Do not dtive it without fixing this. The level sensor is temperamental. I always park the car in the same spot when checking. If the car is on a slight hill the reading will change big time.

Oil level sensors can be flaky - hopefully that is your issue. I don't know how to check how much oil there actually is without draining all the oil and seeing how much comes out. My indicated oil level moves up and down one bar, so not as much variability as you're seeing, but I always check it cold in the same spot in my garage. A faulty AOS usually involves a lot of smoke, so I doubt that is your issue. You can check for a faulty AOS by measuring crankcase vacuum - there is an article on the Pelican website on how to do it. Each bar represents about 0.4 liter, so you might want to add that amount and verify it goes up one bar, then very carefully monitor oil level so you don't go below one bar until you can get it into your mechanic. It would seem that if the engine runs fine up to 4000, it is probably another faulty sensor somewhere, but I've not heard of that issue. Since you didn't mention it, I assume there are no warning lights coming on when you hit the 4k limit. Good luck.

Your engine has a feature called VarioCam Plus. A solenoid with change the cam timing as the rpm's increase. The change happens at about 4000 rpm's. You may have a bad cam solenoid.

One possibility which is easy to check is for a very dirty air cleaner or other obstructions in the air intake pathways. Good luck! Joe Henley

Another 'easy' check is removing and cleaning the MAF sensor . If it's using oil, and/or has a failing AOS , that sensor may be coated with an oil film. It takes an unusual FIVE POINT SECURITY torx driver in '06 (why why why?). I have 30 sets of torx in every variety known to man and yet I struggled with the two screws holding the MAF to the housing. My 'normal' 6 pt security torx couldn't free the #%$& thing. Special spray cleaner at the parts store but not likely the driver. Plenty of articles on here where they hid it and how to clean. I suggest this 'easy' procedure because after a total AOS failure I did plugs, coil paks & new cats ( SOUL headers ) and nothing but breakdown around 4000 RPM and above, silky smooth up to that point. Not a shutdown but erratic attempts by the motor to exceed that RPM. Spritz-spritz and wunderbar!! She's back to howling her way to red line (well close to anyway Good luck!

My money on this. AOS does usually smoke a lot if bad and this a very common thing in all the early engine that a tracked. How many miles on the car ?

My 2008 S had 83,000 miles. Miles don't really matter. Runs like a sewing machine. With regular maintenance and good driving practices you will be fine. Over revs in zone 4 and higher and oil starvation from long high speed curves will cause stretched rod bolts and bore scoring.

Something is definitely not right with your car. I had high oil consumption on a 140k mile 3.2 M96 engine - 1 qt every 500 miles with sooty exhaust and oil in the intake. AOS was good and was replaced recently. I had a ticking noise audible at idle and slight bit of white smoke on gear shifts. I replaced my engine and breakdown of the original engine showed no bore scoring or IMS issues. Suspected cause was bad valve seals in a couple of cylinders (5 and 6 I think). High carbon buildup on those pistons and valves. I went with an engine replacement because not much price difference between a head rebuild and an overall engine rebuild.

Hi many thanks for your replies, a little update.... So I have added a litre of oil and this is showing in the oil indicator so I can rule out a faulty oil level sensor. I removed and cleaned the maf sensor but it appeared clean prior to cleaning. Plugged in a code reader and no codes or issues found. I also removed and cleaned the throttle body. On start up I had quite a constant flow of white smoke from the exhaust , not bellowing out but a pretty steady flow for a good couple of minutes. Took it out for a spin and still the revs won’t go past 4000/4500. Thinking of changing the aos next as can’t find any record of it being changed. Car has 1000k miles on the clock. I can appreciate a bad aos being the cause of the oil loss but what about the Rev issue? Or do I have a couple of issues here?

I had the AOS suddenly fail on my 2008 at about 60K miles. The previous day I could hear a bit of whooshing noise coming from the engine. Didn't think much of it until the day of the failure when I looked in the rear-view mirror when at a stoplight: Is that dense fog? I can't see anything out back — just a solid sea of white smoke. Nothing at all. Oh. Ugh. On the flatbed, oil was running (unburned) out of the tailpipe. I check my oil level regularly and have never added any oil between the 10k miles oil changes, so AOS was flawless until catastrophic failure. My garage floor is very slightly slanted (on purpose). I park facing uphill. The oil gage runs a little high when on the very slight grade. I hope you fix your redline issue. You are missing the best part of the engine! I like the theory above that the variable cam tech is failing and limiting the engine RPMs because of it, but I assume that would throw an error code or two.

I've never heard of an engine that stops revving at 4K. On the oil. Park on a LEVEL surface. Leave it overnight. Check before you start the engine. I think you will "find" more oil in there. If car is nose up, It will read lower than when it is level. If it is nose down, it will read higher than when it is level. The guy who said it might be a air/oil thing is right. That is a weak point of these Gen1 engines. If you replace, I'd get a GT3 type AOS . A little more money and a PITA to install, but they don't break. There are instructions for installing in the Articles and if you use the search tool in the forum. If you take the good instructions to a decent indy tech, they'll install it properly. If you're a tool guy, it's doable by yourself. Lots of vacuum lines and such to work around to get this big thing in where it goes, but the tips and tricks help. I would suggest going to a shop with a good engine analyzer for the rev thing. :cheers:

What happened? No word for 10 months!

variocam requires specific oil weight. Are you using any aditives or something higher than 0W or 5W?

TfT....Good point. Wish I'd thought of that!