Oil pressure and ticking

Hello everybody, I'm writing from Italy, so I'm sorry if my english is far from perfect, but I hope you can understand me. I'm experiencing since some months an issue that seems common on many thread I've read, so I ask how you solved it. My 996 3.6 has got low pressure oil when engines goes warm and only when you accellerate (oil pressure indicator doesn't rise and remains on 2,5/3, or rise pretty late). At idle, oil pressure it's ok. Obviously I changed oil sensor but problem remains. Moreover, when car is warm it starts a ticking sound that seems to came from tappets. I changed tappets, but nothing solved. I think next step will be oil pump. Have you got any suggestion? Thanks

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Year of car? How many miles/kms? What oil are you using (brand and weight)? Maybe the oil bypass spring/needle needs changed? Can you tell if the ticking is coming from one side or both? If one side, which side? Johnny: Your english is better than many folks who live here!!👍

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Thank you! 192.000 km / 2003 I'm using Mobil Oil 5/50 (the one Porsche recommend). I've read about spring, and I told to my mechanic, but he is skeptical (actually he says that oil pressure at 2,5/3 at full throttle is ok...and infact I'm considering to change mechanic). Ticking seems to come from left side...however when engine from hot became warm, ticking is a little bit softer (I suppose because oil recover some viscosity).

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Sounds like you should borescope the cylinders to check for scoring. Here's a link to a series about it: You Tube May not be good news, but better to be sure than to guess...

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I would exclude, because cylinders has been re-built 15.000 km ago....moreover car do zero smoke, even at start...

You will want to start using a stethoscope-like tool to figure out where the tick is coming from. It can be any of these items: - loose exhaust gasket, loose cat plate, anything on the exhaust - some vibration, like a hose - fuel injector - pulley - something on the valvetrain - bore scoring - clutch rattle (my car ticks right at the clutch pedal sometimes, lol) You will have to isolate the noise and maybe post of video of the sound.

Two things you should check::: Test the oil pressure with a "real" manual gauge at the head, don't rely on the factory dash gauge for diagnosis.. Pull the sump and make sure the pick-up tube is not stopped up with a silicone sealer, or has came loose.. Report back with the findings, also a video/audio recording will be helpfull..

agreed with Mike, and add: -retorque spark plugs -remove drive belt and run engine for 10-20 seconds to check the pulleys Good luck!

Thank you very much to everybody for all suggestions. However, it seems very difficult to find a mechanic to solve this problem, so yesterday I decided to send the car directly in an official Porsche worskshop. Next week car will be there, and I'll keep you updated. It will be more expensive, but it seems to be the only solution. I'm pretty sure that the problem is related to oil pump or oil pick up tube. We will see!

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I'm curious, did the dealer figure out what's wrong with your car?

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Good evening. I just had response. For sure there is an oil pressure problem, and there are some small metallic pieces inside oil filter. Porsche told me that they don't repair problems like that, but they change engine. They proposed me a new engine, at the price of 25/30k euros. I said thank you and goodbye. I will find a mechanic who can recondition my engine. I have no hurry.

Jonny Hartech in England is probably your best bet they are the best

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I'm sure he is...but I live in Italy

But you can send your engine to him or buy one from him it’s a lot cheaper then trying to figure out a way to do in Italy for someone who has never worked on these motors it cheaper and easier in the long run and health of your engine

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There is a recent thread about engine builders in Germany. A little closer but definitely not around the corner. Good luck finding a builder.

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Good Sunday to everyone. It seems I solved this problem. I wrote here some months ago that I sent the car in Porsche and they told me I needed to change the engine because there was some small metallic pieces inside oil filter. Cost would have been around � 25/30k. I sent the car to one of the best Porsche workshop here in Italy (not official), asking to rebuilt engine and after they checked the car they told me that rebuilding was not necessary. Oil pressure and ticking problem was generated by foaming oil pumps that weren't working properly. Ticking came from tappets. Small metallic pieces inside oil filter seems nothing particular, because oil have been taken down from the car and was clean (so clean that they decided to put it again inside car because I drove it for less than 100 kilometers). Howerer this situation of metallic pieces must be checked again next months. The mechanic told me to use car because engine seems perfect and come back to him to change oil in 2-3 months. Since this repair, I drove car for about 500 kilometers (of which 200 kilometers was a pretty long travel from the factory to home) and oil pressure is ok and tappets ticking disappeared. Cost of repair: 1000�, included some other small services. I would like to ask you an advice (however I will talk about this with my mechanic when I will change oil). Now I have inside car a 10-60 Castrol Oil. Oil pressure when engine is hot with running car is around 4 when car is between 2000 and 3000 rpm, and 4,8/4,9/5 over 4000 rpm (it depends how hot is the engine). Oil pressure at idle, when engine is hot, 2/2,2. They told me a 0-40 or a 5-50 oil would be more appropriate for my car, but it is working very fine with 10-60 and I'm not sure to change. What u think about it?

If you live in a very hot climate 5/50 is good but in your climate I think 0/40 is best it works best because it flows better at start up this where the most damaging engine wear happens on any car also when it’s hot the oil is thinner travels better inside helps in cooling off engine

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Thank you for your answer. My only doubt is: if I have a 4,8/4,9 oil pressure at 5000 rpm with a 10/60 oil, with a 0/40 oil maybe could go lower�am I wrong?

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Jonny, i am not a mechanical engineer, but if you are worried about oil pressure, and assuming you have had your sump dropped to make sure you dont have any clogging, you may want to order the UAOS track version. You can run the oil 1qt over full. Should help with your oil pressure. Never heard of anybody running the oil weight you are running. Porsche now recommends 5w 50 if I am not mistaken. I run millers nano 5w 40 with a deep sump and UaOS track at 1 qt over filled.

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Yes, you�re right, Porsche recommend 5/50. However a lot of persons uses 10/60 on 996 and even on 997 with high mileage (I know it from a Porsche FB page). Thank you for your advice.

That�s still really good oil pressure. You might be close to 4.5-4.6 bar hot at 5,000 with 5-50, which is sill ample. I would switch to 5/50.

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I think at next oil change, on January, I will try 5/50 oil.

10W60 seems really thick. I've only ever used xxW50 on really old engines that are burning oil due to bad rings. Our engines have an oil pressure bypass spring which limits the top pressure. I seem to recall it's around 5 Bar. It's quite possible that you can reduce the weight of your oil and not affect this number. I'm not sure what RPM mine tops out at, but the pressure is right around 5B. I use 5W40 oil. At idle, engine hot(20+miles at speed), my idle pressure is 1.8B. Ultimately, unless there are engine wear/use or external temperature conditions requiring the 60W, you may be spending extra money. Agreed with others that there is no downside to using it.

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Thank you. I talked to mechanic who repaired the car and he told me he want to use 0/40 because he is sure is the right oil for my car. He also told me that if I want we can use 5/50, as Porsche recommend, but 10/60 is not necessary.

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Hi Johnny. Would you mind sharing what was replaced? Was it just the oil pump and associated parts?

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Hi! It wasn�t changed the main oil pump, but the 2 oil foaming pumps near the 2 banks. That�s the only repair they did.

I was running Mobil 0W40 full synthetic in my 996... Key word "was" ! A Blackstone Lab oil analysis determined the Mobile oil suffered substantial viscosity breakdown after less than 3,000 miles. It looked like water... I switched to Driven 5W40 full synthetic as recommended by many Porsche mechs. Driven is expensive (approximately $15 US per quart) but it's not breaking down after a few thousand miles. Mobile 0W40 or 5W40 is not the brand or weight to use in a 996. My $0.02...

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Interesting. And odd that the oil recommended by Porsche, who sell new cars with 5k Mile oil change intervals advertised, would break down so quickly... For my high mileage original 996.1, that's had no engine rebuild, my local porsche guy uses MOTUL 8100 X-CESS 5W-40, and I do a change every 6 months, which is probably overkill but UOA reports so far are positive, no concerns noted. I used both Blackstone and speed diagnostics the first test.

I think the reason why Porsche led with M1 0-40 is that, despite this oil being known for losing viscosity after aging, Porsche�s M96 engine�s oil volume delivery and design still makes this oil quite sufficient. I mean 5 bar above 3500 RPM hot (and 5-bar pegged at cold idle) is still a lot of pressure, even at lower viscosities. The oil pump is delivering more volume above 3500 RPM than the engine can take. In any event, I also did switch to MOTUL 8100 X-CESS 5W-40 because I think it�s better. And I change every 9 months, even though I have only been doing 2,000 miles a year (city/town duty).

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Johnny I�m a retired tribologist, lubrication engineer. I�m in Houston Texas where more than not it�s hot an humid. I run a mix of Mobil 1 0W40 with Mobil one 5W50. At hot my idle pressure is 1.5 bar, at 3000 rpms 4 bar plus, my reasoning for mixing was as follows, since I have three cars two of them porsches the car will sit sometimes a week at a time, at startup the tensioners would have leaked and it would rattle a bit. I also saw a bit of viscosity loss on the 0W40 due to a bit of fuel dilution not much, but the oil (VII) viscosity index improver would shear. My car is highly modified and once it is warmed up I really drive it, it has an ecu tune and my new Red line is 7500 rpms, I shift at 7,000. The 10w60 will wear your engine prematurely, will make your car run hotter, will loose power because the additional friction within the oil molecules. A hotter running Engine, long term will degrade the oil creating more carbon deposits and sludge inside the engine. I Change my oil every 6 months about 2,000 miles. I can get the oils that I use cheap. My last oil change costed $87 but I got a $15 gas card from Mobil. Good luck, always look at your used oil filter when changing the oil in the car.

So, I just switched from 10-60 to 5-50 Porsche Classic oil. I did a small trip and the car was better than ever. Oil pressure at cold idle 4,9/5; at hot idle 2; at 3000 rpm 4,8; over 4000 rpm 4,9. So, there was no downgrade of oil pressure switching from 10-60 to 5-50 oil. Moreover, car is very smooth especially at low rpm (with 10-60 sometimes I felt the car a little bit nervous or �empty� under 3000 rpm). I can say it�s a real joy to drive it. Any ideas about oil factory who produce Porsche Classic Oil? I would say it�s Mobil, but somebody told me it isn�t.