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YOUR RESEARCHForensics: what could have prompted the PO to pull the oil pump?
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overheating
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Reported cause · Original poster
The current failure is my fault and is due to overheating.
Forensics: what could have prompted the PO to pull the oil pump?
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Leading evidence: 'overheating' (1 discussions report identifying this cause; no attributable repair resolution). Across 1 matching discussions, the most frequently mentioned possible cause is 'overheating' (1 discussions; 1 report identifying it and 0 suggest it). The most frequently discussed action is 'Replace heads and not do this job' (1 discussions). For that action, 0 discussions report a resolution and 0 report an unsuccessful attempt. No action has an explicit, attributable resolution report under the current rules. These are forum reports and suggestions, not a confirmed diagnosis.
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Forensics: what could have prompted the PO to pull the oil pump?
heads off and pull valves
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Suspected cause
Only way to tell is likely a heads off and pull valves.
Forensics: what could have prompted the PO to pull the oil pump?
Replace heads and not do this job
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Suggestion · Original poster
Seems odd that someone would change heads and not do this job, but who knows?
Forensics: what could have prompted the PO to pull the oil pump?
Test kit
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Suggestion · Original poster
I now have exhaust gases in the coolant verified with a test kit.
Forensics: what could have prompted the PO to pull the oil pump?
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15 eligible posts · 0 unverified posts · 1 discussions match the subject in their title or opening post.
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Pulled my blown 2.5 engine today (user error) and saw some interesting things.
1. The oil pump housing has been off and refitted with RTV and the old gasket.
2. The heads, especially bank 1 are much cleaner than the block.
Will be interesting to see what shows up when I tear down the engine, but what do you think could have happened?
True it's a 98 Boxster, but given that the m96 engines are basically the same I figured I could post it here to perhaps get some interesting insights from the 996 crowd.
Who knows what happened. Was there a loud banging noise? Codes? Low oil pressure? Was the car tracked? Please share pics of the engine internals.
I don�t like hearing that the oil pump might have been messed with. I don�t know any good reasons why someone would mess with the pump other than to investigate a low oil pressure situation. And if that�s the case, then bearing wear should show up during disassembly.
I realise I worded my first post badly. What I'm curious about is what the previous owner might have done.
The current failure is my fault and is due to overheating. I was too tired after working day and night to make it for track day and forgot to put the cap back on the coolant reservoir after topping up
I suspect there's a crack in the block or a head.
I'll look closely at the bearings when I get that deep.
Could the reason the PO had for removing the oil pump be a broken hex drive or would that have caused instant death?
When I bought the car in 2016 I found coolant pump debris in the coolant hoses, so the engine may have overheated previously.
Puked all the coolant.
I naively hoped it was just the missing cap, so I refilled. Puked it out again.
I now have exhaust gases in the coolant verified with a test kit.
Apart from that the engine runs fine until it overheats.
Test kit
Thanks for sharing your thoughts and helping out.
I just realised my first post was not well worded. I made this thread because I would like to hear thoughts on what the previous owner might have done. It could influence what I decide to do when it comes time to rebuild. I may consider this engine compromised if the POs actions indicate previous heavy damage.
Only way to tell is likely a heads off and pull valves. I always thought the 2.5 was fairly resistant to the head cracking issues.
There is also a semi rare 996 issue and I'm not sure which engines where a crack occurs in the head passage where the Air pump
pushes the air in to the exhaust to fire off the cats.
I doubt you can get much real info with us guessing what a P-O did ,, people do some really odd stuff under the strain of a
engine issue even on less complex/expensive cars.. The one standout issue for a oil pump, would be if they were chasing the
problem where the scavenger pumps suck up some broken bits when the valve train breaks things, the pump locks up and boom...
Which would kinda tie in to the "heads look new" but all they did was heads and there was still glitter/boulders in the bottom end.
Thanks. Thoughts you guys share are valuable to me as they may help me interpret what I see once I disassemble.
When I bought the car the cam timing was off due to worn chain guides. I changed the pads and chains and timed the cams.
Seems odd that someone would change heads and not do this job, but who knows?
Are there clues which can tell me if the head gaskets are originals from 1998?
U can get to 2 addition chain guides (for the long chain) if u pull off the oil pump housing. When i did mine i reassembled with a new factory gasket and some hitemp copper spray gasket. Maybe they did this or were just investigating a possible issue.
Thanks. That's very useful information. That will be for bank 2 right. I need to go back and look at the used parts to check if the wear on the cam chain guides on the left side was less than on bank 1 indicating someone was in there.
