Red Oil Pressure Warning Light with Coolant Loss

After taking some time reviewing previous posts, I have found pieces of my current problem but not a similar sequence of events. I will bullet point what has occurred to my 987.1 Boxster with M97 engine : Driving up steep hill (12% grade) and red low oil pressure light comes on Red warning light goes off when engine revved above 2k rpm Drove car (getting near my house) for another 1/2 mile Coolant loss out of rear of car that I can see on the road Rattle from engine (sorry I can't be more specific) Coolant temp is pegged on gauge and red warning light comes on Coast at idle for 200 meters to my garage and shut engine off What I've learned this morning: Water loss seemed to be coming from water pump area (trail of coolant is on that side of engine with a small puddle on aero tray) Removed water pump Bearing in reasonable shape (no previous dripping from water pump) Impeller in one piece Hoses all good Coolant sprayed in the area around the coolant tank in trunk No coolant in oil Small black chips in coolant (not very much, but visible, 1mm or less in size) Oil level good Coolant level correct at beginning of trip What I have not done: Compression check to verify head gaskets are good First, has anyone has a similar sequence of events and can tell me what my problem may be? Second, if not, what other tests should I do to confirm what my problem is. Thanks in advance for any help you can provide. I've since removed the thermostat and checked that it is functioning, which it is. It would be great to hear from someone. Best regards

I have not experienced this, but I'll chip in my 2 cents. This may in fact be 2 coincidental occurrences. The oil light could have been triggered by the steep angle of the hill, the pickup may have been momentarily starved. The engine rattle is a concern; hopefully a bearing didn't run dry. Is it still rattling now, or just momentarily? How was the gasket on the water pump? If it was good (as well as the hose connections) the coolant spray must have come from the pump shaft.

Could coolant spray around tank be caused by a crack in the tank? Tank failure is not rare. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Follow-up since you asked for suggestions: check the oil and filter for metal contamination. This will let you know if the engine was damaged from the lack of oil pressure.

Thank you all very much for both of your replies! It appears that the loss of coolant came from the radiator tank overflow tube. My checking the thermostat was in response to that possibility. I drained oil from the pan yesterday to check for coolant, but did not specifically look for metal shavings. While I did not see any yesterday, I was not looking specifically for metal shavings, so I'll drain some more oil today. The oil pressure light did go off when I increased rpm's, which leads one down the path of a failing oil pump. I agree that this may be two independent events happening close together. I live in a rural area of Northern CA, so I'm trying to avoid a long tow to the Porsche shop I take my car to. Short of dropping the engine, I try to do most of the work myself. All of your ideas are a big help. I'm going to do a compression check and check the coolant tank for cracks. After that, if I don't find any problems, I'll reinstall the water pump and thermostat, fire up the engine and see what happens. I'll look closely at the impeller shaft on the water pump also. If you have any other ideas please let me know. I'm all ears! Best regards, Hugh

I have followed this with interest and concern for your sake. Based on what you have found so far, it sounds to me as if the engine simply overheated due to a stuck closed thermostat. If hot enough, oil pressure would certainly be reduced. Maybe it is an oil pump, but I wonder. Good luck on the restart. Can you connect a mechanical oil pressure gauge? Scary stuff for sure.

I put the thermostat is boiling water to check function and it was working fine. Can thermostat function be intermittent?

You might want to replace your oil pressure sending unit while you are at it. They are very inexpensive.

this is really puzzling. loss of oil pressure may cause the lifters to deflate and thereby cause the rattling. don't know why it would overheat AND loose oil pressure at the same time....if it lost oil pressure, it would take a while to overheat. if it overheated first, it shouldn't loose oil pressure unless something failed. did you let it cool and start it?

I have not started the engine yet. I checked the thermostat again using a thermometer. The large end that seals the opening in the thermostat housing started opening at 180 deg F. The small end in the block did not move? Being a bit of a worst case scenario type of person, I've been concerned about the head gaskets. The engine did not run long enough to be totally starved of oil and cause a bottom end failure if my previous experience with other cars counts for anything (maybe not!). I hate to replace parts without a smoking gun (which I've done many times before!). I'll have to say I'm confused. It makes sense that the two issues (oil and water) are not connected. That said, they happened one immediately after the other. Thanks again for all the help/suggestions!

I'm sorry but you have violated the two cardinal rules of any car. Never, ever, drive the car when the oil pressure light comes on. When the light comes on, put the clutch in, no matter how fast you are driving and immediately shut off tzhe motor. The fact that you heard rattling noises tells me hat you have major engine damage, sorry. Second, never, ever drive the car when the coolant temp has shown it has overheated. Shut it off immediately. Even a brief overheating can cause massive damage. Good luck to you.

a car can run a long time on low oil pressure. I once drove a bmw 535 for probably 10 miles with no oil pressure. (it would do that occasionally on start up). it was making a little noise. then it pulled pressure and went on for years.....so I doubt you did damage due to low oil pressure.

the Porsche has hydraulics lifters so it will make a lot of valve clatter noise. i had a KTM with hydraulic lifters that would drain and refuse to fill for a while. the thing made terrible noise but it didn't do any damage. it was a "feature" of 04 KTM 990s

A slant of 12% is equivalent to a constant accel of only 0.12 g and a hard accel in first gear produces an accel of approx. 0.7 g, so oil starvation because of the slope is probably not the cause of the oil light. Unless you are capable of tearing down your own engine, I would advise you to have the car transported to a reputable shop or dealer. If you want more data, take an oil sample and get it analyzed.

Thanks to everyone for their thoughtful replies. I'm going to replace the thermostat and water pump, reassemble and fire her up. I've removed the carpet in the trunk, so I can watch for leaks in the reservoir. With the car still up on jack stands, I can watch everything! If the clatter from the hydraulic lash adjusters comes back (there was none at idle when I parked her) then she is off to the shop. Anyone know if you can replace the oil pump without removing the engine? Thanks again! Hugh

So hewing what was the final verdict. I have similar problem. Only after replacing my water pump and thermostat I have 1361 & 1371 code. Both related to valve lift control cylinder 2 exceeds lift value.

@P enthusiast you are tagging onto a 9 year old thread. You might want to start a new thread and post all of your details. Year and model of car, all facts and symptoms, etc. BTW, those codes don't exist in my M97 shop manual and come up generically in Google as something entirely different. Are they P codes?

Yes they are p1361-01 and p1371-01. His snap on code reader. I am sorry I will try and start a new thread. Not sure where to go to start one new to this. Please stay with me . Thanks for responding

I see you are new. Welcome to Planet-9. Take a look at the "stickys" that the Admin has placed at the start of the 987 forum for general posting advice and how to's. Per Google: The P1361 code indicates that the ignition control module has failed with a low voltage . When the powertrain control module (PCM) detects an abnormally low voltage in the control circuit of the ignition control module (ICM), it triggers this code. So I remain confused about those codes. Just as a general thing, if you prepare a Google search with something like "What does a P1361 code mean on my Porsche" it gets back towards something you might have jiggled or affected electrically during the water pump/thermostat change. My first guess would be the wiring for the camshaft position sensor, which is generally above the water pump. But again, post your details and we can work towards a solution. There are a lot of smart folks here.

I will check tomorrow afternoon thank you for your information.

This is awesome having someone to ask questions of.

I did start what I thought was a new thread . probably not in the right category I probably messed that up too but I did put a explanation to the details of what happened.. Checked the plug on anything loose not seeing anything, antifreeze residue glistening on everything. Even weeks after. If you would not sure i posted in the correct area let me know. I have been spraying (CRC) mass air flow cleaner on all connections I see In area.

Maybe I'm blind but I am not seeing any such new post in the 987 Cayman / Boxster Chat 2005-2012. I did a search of all of Planet-9 under your User Name and only got this existing post as attributed to you. Maybe go to your other post, copy the URL, and paste it into a reply to this post so I can figure out where you are at.

I tried again in what I believe to be cayman 987 area. With all the codes let me know if you can find it.

It is in cayman Boxer chat 2005 to 2012

It was moved and a redirect left where the original thread was located. It didn't belong in "Chat" - it went to troubleshooting land... https://www.planet-9.com/threads/problem-with-my-2007-cayman-s.255317/#post-2225156 PLEASE KEEP ALL OF THIS DISCUSSION IN THAT THREAD! Thanks!