JFP in PA

Besides the obvious cooling system hot spots, the European weather can be a factor as repeated cold starts and shorter drive cycles lead to fuel intrusion into the oil which both washes lubrication from the critical trust side of the cylinders and reduces the effectiveness of the lubricants, as does the European penchant for putting a lot of miles on oil before changing it. While such action is obviously "green" and environmentally friendly, it can lead to accelerated wear issues in alloy engines. Add in the ever lowering levels of ZDDP in the oil and you probably have another contributing factor.

The oil viscosity difference is marginal at best, but the lower oil temps is important to the oil's longevity and hear resistance. What would also be important is selecting an oil with high ZDDP levels and film strength.

I find it unusual that you have the CEL on and no codes; who's scan tool are you using? As for the tank vent valve, try this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zulI06TPBVc

1997 boxster. It has 2 cats, one on each side. there is one O2 sensor between the maniford down pipe and the cat, on one sensor on the end of the muffler. Each side is symetrical (e.g. 2 O2 sensors/side, 2 sides, total of 2 O2 sensors). So now the question remains: for North American car, What side (driver or passenger) is Bank 2?? and where is Sensor 1 located? (between manifold & cat? or at muffler?) Any help is really appreciated. Thanks J Bank #1 is on the passenger's side of a Boxster, bank #2 is the driver's side. Sensor #1 is the one closest to the engine.

If you can get the car up in the air a bit, the sensors are definitely a DIY project. That said, I would not be buying any until you have the code(s) as many O2 sensor codes are actually caused by something else.

Try disconnecting the radar detector power connection and see if the problem goes away.

If you suspect oil leakage, it is not going to heal by itself. You need to put the car up in the air and have a look from underneath to try and spot the source. Oil leaks are common on these older cars, particularly from the spark plug tubes; fortunately and is a relatively easy and inexpensive fix..

Try removing the oil fill cap while the car is idling, if it come off easily and the car starts to idle funny, you are fine. If it is excessively hard to get off, the AOS is on the way out.

Unfortunately, I have no reference as to its ACEA ratings or ZDDP levels, and it is expensive. I think you can do better elsewhere.

As I noted, we have many customers running the 160F LN thermostat for years with absolutely no downsides. Changing the stat is a matter of draining the coolant out, and removing four bolts. Would also be an excellent time to replace the coolant if it is more than 4 years old.

Dealer's are going to pretty much "toe the factory line" when it comes to lubricants. 0W-anything is way to thin for an air-cooled car, and their recommendations shows they have not seen an air-cooled car in a while. 15W-50 and 20W-50 full synthetics are not that much different, except in the case of cold start in winter weather, and as you live in NY state, you see the cold. We use the 15W-50 Gibbs in air-cooled cars year round, and we see plenty of cold as well. You will be fine.

For an air-cooled, I would be going with a 15W-50 full synthetic with the highest ZDDP level I could lay my hands on, such as Joe Gibbs Driven Racing Oil 02806 DT50 15W-50.

To me, this product has always seemed like an expensive solution in search of a suitable problem. We see literally dozens of liquid cooled Porsches every day in the shop, some with over 200K miles on them, and not one of them are using this "magic ingredient" as you describe it, and none of them are dying from liner scoring. Long before I would head in the direction of "waterless coolant", I would simply cool the engine down a bit. It is well documented that these engine's run way too hot to begin with, and that problem is further exacerbated by the creation of localized hot spots that are caused by the coolant flow restrictions inherent in the engine case castings. The result is the general coolant flow is running at over 210F under good cooling conditions, with the localized areas running as much as 30F (or more) higher. My first step would be to change the car over to a 160F thermostat (the OEM stat begins to open at 184F, but is not fully open until nearly 210F). Just by doing this simple and relatively inexpensive change, we have seen car's coolant temps drop to 175F under the same conditions that they previously ran over 210F. We have also observed a drop of 25-30F in the oil temperatures as well, which goes a long way in helping the oil do its job while living longer. We have many customers running this configuration, and have done so for several years with absolutely no issues, and even their UoA's look better. You cannot easily address the engine's inherent coolant flow restrictions, but by lowering the coolant temp and keeping the front radiators clear of any debris, you will go a very long way towards eliminating this issue.

For a Cayenne, I believe it is under the A/C section (I am away from the shop at the moment).

The easiest way is to test it with a Porsche specific diagnostic tool like the Durametric system, you can simply activate it. I would be surprised if the car did not throw a code if the fan was bad.

That could be tough as it was never released in print. You may need to consider a subscription to Porsche's technical services system PIWIS TSI: https://techinfo2.porsche.com/PAGInfosystem/VFModuleManager?Type=GVOStart On the site you can purchase single pages or complete service manual sections as need.

Yes, check the tank vent valve as noted on Loren's response.

Cylinder scoring is more than a matter of clearances, there are other, more prevalent factors involved.

It might, but I seriously doubt the dealer will give you a nearly 45% discount off the asking price for an already discounted vehicle. They are in the business of making money; if you don't take it at a price somewhere near the asking number, they will simply say no and wait for another less informed buyer to come along, or in the worst case wholesale auction the vehicle to unload it on another dealer. They have multiple options to unload it and still turn a profit without going in the toilet on the asking price.

OK, you have a 7.2 DME, so the same code (P1128), which is an overly rich mixture, which could be a bad MAF signal, fuel pressure too high, a leaking injector, or a stuck EVAP purge valve.

Welcome to RennTech :welcome: Let's start with what year and model is the car? On a 5.2.2 DME car, P1128 is indicating an overly lean condition in the bank housing cylinders 1-3. Unfortunately, on cars equipped with the 7.2 DME, it is entirely different, so we need to know the year and model. Ahsai has an excellent point, if you have access to a Porsche specific diagnostic tool, you can see the real-time voltage patterns which will show how the sensors are working.

1) Yes, in factory trim. Some modified cars will have problems. 2) Some, but they are mostly cosmetic. All 996TT's carry the Mezger engine. 3) Do not scrimp on a good PPI, and make sure you check if the DME has aftermarket software as many have issues going through state emission inspection.

And strangely enough, after all that folderol, you can still buy it but it is marked "For off road use only".

Not a problem, that is what Renntech is here for. And don't consider this to be an overly contentious issue; while it can be so with some individuals, it is more one fraught with misinformation, innuendo, and rumor that are masquerading as fact. But if you do your homework, "the truth shall be known."

The bearing LN designed was a long development process, during which literally every component and material was not only examined, but actually tested before LN settled on the current ceramic hybrid design. The issues involved not only strength or hardness of the ceramic balls, but how they interact with the cage and races use to hold it together. A lot of different ideas were tried, many were rejected along the way before the final design was settled. As I noted earlier, these units are not "off the shelf" bearings used for other purposes, they are built for LN, to their specs, so no one else has the exact same bearing. Also as noted earlier, the bearings that failed fell into two categories, they were either installed improperly, or were installed in engine's that already had other issues and should have not even been considered for a retrofit. To my knowledge, there was nothing wrong with the bearings themselves. Because of these problems, LN moved away from selling the bearings directly to the end user's (DIY market) and moved to a more elaborate program that requires professional installers to be trained on how to qualify the engine before even attempting the retrofit, as well as how to properly install the unit. Do some internet searching, there have been many threads involving both Jake and Charles on this subject.