2006 Cayman S Oil Guzzler

I have a 2006 Cayman S with 84000 miles. Dealer maintained all of it's life. It's using a fair amount of oil, 1.25 quarts in just over 2000 miles. No smoking, and no visible oil leaks, as verified by the Porsche dealers both in Chicago and St Louis and my local Porsche specialist. I just had the 80K service, brake flush and the spark plugs replaced and for the most part it's been driving fine. It had a new air/oil separator at 82K. My mechanic said my old plugs didn't look bad and there were no error codes. It splutters at low RPM and has been getting progressively worse, I'm suspecting a faulty coil which happened to my BMW 535i. I've taken the hose off that goes from the air oil separator to the induction manifold and there is a lot of yellow oil residue in there. Should that pipe have any oil residue in there? Is it possible that the AOS could go bad in 2000 miles? Should I be worried about this consumption? I don't want to mess up the engine. Any advice would be much appreciated. Cheers

The plug at the bottom right of your picture looks pretty nasty, have a good look at the coil pack for that cylinder. Don't have any any suggestions for the oil consumption, but that does seem excessive, at least compared to my experience. I would indeed have the AOS looked at, even though it's fairly new. It could have been defective from the start.

Thanks, I'm checking it in tomorrow and I'll update with news.

My 07 cayman s has done 72k miles and it's always used about 600ml per 1000 miles since I owned it (2.5 years) although this has improved since I fitted an Ipd plenum. My car has been recently boroscoped and found to have no issues and the Porsche specialist who look after it told me the consumption was ok and some cars just use this much. I would be more concerned if the consumption rate suddenly changed. One thing I will say it is very hard to accurately track the level as the electronic oil level indicator is ridiculously sensitive to gradient.

Thanks for your reply and glad to hear that. I don't want to assume the worst with mine yet, and you are right about the sensitivity of the electronic gauge. Spin my car 180 and it goes from 1 bar to 3 bars so I always measure in my garage as it's flat.

You may want to clean up your MAF. What is the build date? You may have a faulty oil pressure check valve.

Thanks for your reply. The MAF sensor?. I'll mention it to the tech tomorrow although I haven't had any CEL warnings. How do I find the build date? What would the faulty oil pressure check valve cause the car to do?

The MAF or mass air flow sensor can get muddled up after an AOS fail. It is located just after the air filter housing in the air manifolds. If you have oil getting sucked up in the tubes post AOS, it will end up in the manifolds where it can reach the MAF. The MAF is involved in determining the appropriate air/fuel mixture. It should be cleaned periodically using an appropriate MAF cleaner (spray can) from any auto parts store. It's a fairly simple DIY project and highly recommended following an AOS failure. If you can't find an article here, Pelican Parts - Porsche Parts & BMW Parts & Mercedes Parts - Automotive Parts and Accessories - Porsche & BMW & Mercedes should have one. You can find the build date, month and year, on the inside of the driver's door well. It is listed with other information like the paint code, recommended tire sizes and air pressure. I ask because there is a technical Service Bulletin (TSB ENU 1726) explaining that the oil pressure relief valve in 2005 and 2006 987's built prior to December 2005 require an upgrade.These cars were built before the upgraded part was implemented into the assembly line. Reference the following article for more information: 2200 rpm rattle - 987-1 Series (Boxster, Boxster S) - RennTech.org Community The primary complaint with the faulty OPR valve has to do with engine noise. It's involved in regulating oil pressure. A drop in oil pressure can cause sputtering at low rpms, like when coming to a stop from higher speeds. The replacement parts are inexpensive and is as easy as changing your oil plug. If your car's build date falls in the date range I mentioned, you may as well get that taken cared of just to eliminate that possibility. The problem you are describing can come from a myriad of sources. It would be helpful to post a walk around of the car at idle to help us get a better grasp of the problem you are experiencing. If you need to drive the car to replicate the engine sputter, have a friend help record for you. As racegreg mentioned, more than likely, all you need is to address a faulty coil pack. Looking at that bad plug, I'm surprised you're not getting any misfire codes. **Correction** The TSB applies to 987's built on or before 12/5/2005

Thanks so much for the info, that's all really helpful. I'll check the MAF. The build date is 12/05 and I'll get some video soon.

That plug looks to be burning some oil. If it has a lot of miles, not a real big thing but it looks like a cylinder is getting weak.

That's what I'm afraid of. Having a boroscope up there today to check.

Wow! 12/05. Looking at it more closely, The TSB actually applies to vehicles produced on or before December 5, 2005. That being the case, you can go by engine number. Here is some info from the renntech thread I cited before: The TSB says the new control spring is "as of": Engines manufactured since December 5, 2005 as of engine numbers: M96.25 61 6 04763 M96.26 62 6 03668 The date is not that important (except that if your car was built before that date it couldn't have the new control spring). If your engine number is below the engine numbers above (depending on model) -- then you need the new control spring. You can find the engine number on the bottom edge of the sump/oil pan area. If you can't read it easily, use MAF cleaner or Brake cleaner. It'll clean right up. ​I'd change it whether or not it falls in the range, but that's just me .

Thanks very much. That's a big help. UPDATE: It was a faulty coil pack as suspected but when the replacement arrives tomorrow, I'm having them check the other items including using a boroscope to look up into the cylinders to check for scoring. Touch wood we don't find any. I'll update again once I know the final outcome.

Thanks askqbert for your help. I got the car back and it just needed a new coil. It's running nice and smoothly now. I'll keep an eye on the oil consumption. Porsche techs have told me a quart per 2-3000 miles is normal so I'll see, although the horror stories that you read on here are putting me off owning it altogether. Thinking about trading it for a new car with a warranty! I looked for the engine number but mine starts with 987

How much was the IPD plenum and did it improve the performance? Mine is driving really nice now the coil has been fixed. Lots of power and torque and very smooth. Although it's always nice to have a bit more power.

Yeah... Walking through the showroom has been known to do that. The 981's are soooo sweet, I can't blame you one bit. now that you have it all sorted out. Just enjoy it for a while! These are great cars. FWIW, your 987 is equipped with the beefier nonservicable IMS bearings and its very unlikely that they would give any issues after so many miles. As for engine #, IDK, mine looks like this I'm glad you found our advice helpful and your car is back on the road. Cheers! :cheers: and feel free to PM me if you ever have questions in the future.