I had my 2006
997.1
at the track and missed a gear resulting in a Range 4 for 105 ignitions.
First, Is that enough to spin a crank bearing?
My car has 40K miles. It doesn't smoke and doesn't leak oil.
I'm embarrassed to admit, but the car was very low on oil (4.5 quarts low). My car had a full 40K mile $2500 service performed at the dealer just 600 miles before the event.
After the 3rd 30min session on the track it was still running great! After it cooled down, I fired up the engine to go get gas. I immediately heard 4 knocks and a rattling noise which to me sounded like the timing chain rattling in the guides. I THEN checked the oil and proceeded to put 3.5 quarts of oil in the car and that brought the digital indicator up to one quart low. So, it was 4.5 quarts low! I flat-bedded it to a nearby
Porsche
specialist. They pulled the oil filter and found what they said was crank bearing material - lots of it.
Grant it I pulled a knucklehead mistake by not checking my oil. I had been away from the track for a few years and checked tire pressures on and off the track, torqued the wheels, but didn't think about checking the oil urrrggghhh!
Anyway, the dealer is telling me that being 4.5 quarts low on the track did not cause the failure... they say it was my missed shift. I drive aggressively taking some sweepers at ~100 mph. I don't have baffles in the oil pan. They are telling me that since the oil pressure fault didn't show up on the log, it wasn't low oil that caused the failure (which obviously be their fault for not putting enough oil in the car during the 40K mile service. I've asked them for oil level and oil temp data from the data logger, but they've not responded.
One other thing, the time recorded for the Range 4 was 1 hour before the failure. That means I ran 2 more sessions on the track after the Range 4 overrev.
So, four questions: 1) can a range 4 overrev for 105 ignitions spin a crank bearing if the car had full oil? 2) What about if the car was low on oil? 3) Can being 4.5 quarts low on oil not cause the failure without losing oil pressure? 4) is it possible that the low oil condition had nothing to do with the failure as the regional
Porsche
service guy is telling me?
Oh and it it a 3.8L
997.1
S
Range 4 is between 7900-8400 RPM. If it recorded 105 ignitions, that is only 17.5 revolutions in range 4. Slightly over a tenth of a second at an RPM that a dodge neon could handle.
Being 4.5 quarts low would absolutely kill the bearings just from the elevated oil temperatures.
Can’t say about the oil level, but I’d be willing to bet that an overrev of that level and duration is not the culprit.
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