K-Roll's 944 Lyfe: 944's are Carnivores

"K-Roll-PorscheTamer" (k-roll390)
01/31/2015 at 11:25 • Filed to: 944 Lyfe

What happens when K-Roll does an oil change by himself for the first time on a German sports car? He gets at least a quart of oil on the garage floor, makes a huge mess, slightly burns his hand, and takes THREE HOURS !!

To be honest, it's actually a really simple process that should have taken no more than an hour at least, but then I realized I had some issues and one particular design flaw on Porsche's part.

( My belly pan is dirty from never being washed and containing a coolant and oil leak )

I first began with something I had already done a couple weeks ago. Most if not all 944s came with a belly pan from the factory; the early('83-85) cars came with metal pans, the late('85.5-89) car came with plastic ones. Finding a 944 that still has it's original pan or even one at all is somewhat rare nowadays, because most will run their cars without them or consider it to be a hassle to remove when doing things(oil, ect.) underneath the car.

It's far from difficult really. Just grab a 10mm socket wrench and unscrew the 4 bolts that connect it to the bottom of the car, and wiggle it out of place.

From there you can get a good few of the belts, rollers, and of course the oil pan!

In this picture, you can see the decent-sized hex bolt that is my oil drain plug for my oil pan. I didn't have the exact size wrench for it(A problem when you have imperial measured tools for a mostly metric car), but I had one close enough to tightly latch unto the bolt.

This is kinda where everything had went wrong. As per the instructions which I followed to a T, I was told to place the oil drain right underneath the drain plug to catch the oil when it pours out; and I had let the car run for 10 minutes beforehand to allow for easier flow. What I hadn't expected was the oil to overshoot the drain at least 6 inches, right onto where I had my left hand supporting myself under the car as I unscrewed the plug by hand, and consequently onto my garage floor...

(Oops)

So after some cursing, a good 20 minute break, including a cool-down and wash of my oil covered hand and a hot glass of cocoa(it's a little under 30 degrees), I got back to it. I'm now an hour and a half into the job and I grab a brush to fish the drain plug from the pool of oil and inspect it. The plug looks almost brand new or relatively new, same with the washer that was already on it. After a rinsing, replacing the washer, and applying some anti-seize, I screwed it back in and tightened it appropriately.

Up next was what should have been the most frustrating part of the job: the filter.

Why is it so annoying? Here's why, take a look at the filter's location and placement:

(The oil filter is positioned right next to the water pump near the bottom of the engine, can only be unscrewed from the top, is placed upside down so when it is unscrewed, the oil in the filter will pour onto the ground; lastly it's placed right next to the wall of the engine bay that no regular oil filter wrench like this can fit good enough to unscrew it)

This kind of wrench will not work. Here's the one you really need that specifically works:

It's a sort of clamp that goes on top of the filter, you attach a socket wrench to the top and happily unscrew without mishaps. Unfortunately I didn't have the time to order one online by the time I did this. I also ran to the closest auto store to grab a conventional oil filter wrench before I found out I couldn't use one. I was now 2 hours into the job and getting frustrated with the filter.

I decided to try unscrewing it by hand, and using all the force I could muster, and slowly and slowly it began to turn, until it finally came off!! Spilling some oil as I fished it out.

After getting it off, I fetched my new filter, lightly applied some oil around the seal, and screwed it in.

Finally, after all this time, I could add my new oil. The 944 I have, and maybe just 1983-1987 cars in particular require 5.8 quarts of oil, I bought 6 single quarts and just used the 6 quarts.

Originally, the car was running Mobil 1 Synthetic 15w50. I decided to run Valvoline VR1 Dinosaur 20w50, as the owner's manual had that resting perfectly in the temperature range in which I normally drive the car, as seen below:

Why did I use Dinosaurs instead of synthetic? Because ZDDP(Zinc Dialkyl Dithiophosphates). It's some sort of additive used in some oils, and because the 944 uses hydraulic lifters instead of flat tappet lifters, it needs the ZDDP for better lubrication, at least from what I can understand from my hours of research on the "can-o-worms" topic of "what oil should I use in my 944". Valvoline VR1 has the right amount of ZDDP for the engine and while they do sell ZDDP separate should you wanna use synthetic oil, adding too much has the negative affect of melting the catalytic converters in these cars. So I played it safe, and we'll see how she runs when it warms up some more!

FINALLY, after THREE hours, I'm done with my first oil change on this car, and my first oil change attempted by myself alone. I spent 20 minutes cleaning up my personal BP oil spill later on, and all is well. It is so satisfying and fun being able to work on a car in your garage.

Hooray for being ambitious but rubbish!! :D

DISCUSSION (9)

twochevrons > K-Roll-PorscheTamer
01/31/2015 at 12:03

You're definitely not the only one who has made a mess during an oil change. Some cars are just inherently awful for that kind of thing. That oil filter placement looks thoroughly unpleasant – 'upside-down' oil filters like that are the worst. It's amazing how quickly hot oil flows – I remember being caught out by that the first time I changed oil, too. Now, I usually place the drain pan so that the very edge of it is directly below the drain plug, giving as much leeway as possible if it shoots out. By the way, cat litter is absolutely magic for cleaning up spills on concrete. I keep a tub of it in the garage for the inevitable messes.

Those 'claw' type filter wrenches are great. I bought one to use on my Volvo, which also lacks space to swing a band-type one. It's just a matter of finding what works best for your car. On that topic, GET METRIC TOOLS! Some sizes will do in a pinch (13mm and ˝", 19mm and ľ", etc.), and it's not such a big deal with the drain plug, but on tighter bolts, using imperial-sized tools on metric bolts is a sure-fire way to chew up the bolt heads and cause yourself endless heartache.

It's interesting that the recommendation is to use ZDDP – I was always under the impression that it was only flat tappets that needed it. Discussions of oil recommendations are always so full of strongly-held opinions, valid and otherwise, that I tend to just read them and not get involved, though. Especially for older cars, ANY modern oil of the right weight is surely far better than the oil that was available when it was new. I give my MGA a ZDDP additive just for good measure (flat tappets and no catalytic converters there!) but aside from that, it just gets whatever leftover oil I find in the garage!

5-Speed Gangsta > K-Roll-PorscheTamer
01/31/2015 at 12:13

That seems way too complicated. BMW makes everything so simple. The drain plug is easy to reach and the filter is presented to you inside of a metal cylinder at the front of the engine bay. I did get a bit of oil on my driveway the first time I changed my oil (about 1 mo ago.) My car's 2.5L I6 requires 6.9 quarts of oil; however, only 5.5 quarts were in there before I did the oil change.

K-Roll-PorscheTamer > twochevrons
01/31/2015 at 12:29

Most definitely! I can only imagine they placed the filter as such for compactness or something along the lines of that. When I look at the engine visually, how and where it's placed makes perfect sense; when I actually worked at removing it, I was dumbfounded.

My dad has a big metric/imperial toolkit at work, but I only took the one socket I knew would need, a 10mm for just about every important bolt I had to unscrew in the last week. I can take some screws and such out sparingly, but I can't bring the entire kit home with me.

I still have no real idea of what ZDDP is, but it certainly is a mystery additive to me. Oil discussions are as tedious as "can I use my summer tires in the winter if the roads are dry". And if you have no idea what oil is best to use, you rarely get a good answer as it's personal preference. Someone told me to never use synthetic in the car even though it had always used it, and to always use Dino oil, but it may have been paranoia.

What's even more interesting are my oil change intervals: every 3-5,000 miles!

K-Roll-PorscheTamer > 5-Speed Gangsta
01/31/2015 at 12:33

Oh on teh contrary! It's actually straight forwards and simple. Everything was easy to reach(oil filter has its own issues but still easy to get to). It was just my first time doing this on this car and by myself so mishaps were inevitable . I bet next time around, I can have it done faster than three hours. :p

Interesting how my 2.5L I4 takes 5.8 quarts, and you have to use an additional 1.1 quarts with two additional cylinders.

aberson Bresident of the FullyAssed Committe > K-Roll-PorscheTamer
01/31/2015 at 12:35

i put 20-50 VR1 in my alfa too. I also know your pain of having a oversized oil plug (who was the smart Italian engineer that decided a 27mm oil plug was the right size) of course my drain plug is right on the bottom of the pan, which should make it possible to use a wrench right? hell no the plug is recessed below the cooling fins and there isn't enough space for a wrench. The oil filter is also right under the alternator and the oil pan is too wide to get in from the bottom so i also have to take mine off by hand

Kinja'd!!!

look at that smug oil pan

K-Roll-PorscheTamer > aberson Bresident of the FullyAssed Committe
01/31/2015 at 12:49

Oh no it wasn't over-seized , just the way I had the car lifted and how I was positioned made it difficult. I raised the wrong side because I only had space for that side to life. And smartly, the drain is slightly above the cooling fins to the right on the passenger side, and I raised the driver side.

TheD0k_2many toys 2little time > K-Roll-PorscheTamer
01/31/2015 at 12:52

Thats not bad for an oil filter. I have seen and done ones that are way worse

twochevrons > K-Roll-PorscheTamer
01/31/2015 at 15:42

Citroën used to be a prime offender for boneheaded oil filter placement, especially on their high performance models that shoved a lot of engine into a very small space. On my father's BX 16v, you need to take the AC compressor off its mounts in order to get to the filter! My MGA is terrible, too – it uses a replaceable-element filter, and the filter housing is a three-piece assembly that you have to unbolt from the block in order to change the filter. It's impossible to do without spilling oil all over yourself, and clearance between the filter housing and the frame is almost nonexistent, making it a real pain to get everything lined up to bolt back together.

A decent toolkit is a worthy investment if you're going to be doing your own work. I hate borrowing tools, for fear of losing or damaging something, so I ended up buying my own toolkit pretty early on. I keep another small one in the car, too, for roadside repairs. You can pick up a pretty comprehensive Craftsman kit for $100 or so – it won't be pro quality, but it will have everything that you'll need, and hold up just fine to casual work.

It's interesting to see what manufacturers recommend for oil change intervals. My wife's Golf has a recommended change interval of 10,000 miles, which, with synthetic oil and a modern engine, I can understand, but it still doesn't sit all that well with me. Contrast my MGA, which has a change interval of only 2000 miles!

JasonStern911 > K-Roll-PorscheTamer
01/31/2015 at 20:27

As per the instructions which I followed to a T, I was told to place the oil drain right underneath the drain plug to catch the oil when it pours out; and I had let the car run for 10 minutes beforehand to allow for easier flow. What I hadn't expected was the oil to overshoot the drain at least 6 inches, right onto where I had my left hand supporting myself under the car as I unscrewed the plug by hand, and consequently onto my garage floor...

Yeah... That always happens on every car. Even if you get it down perfectly, once the stream gets down to a drip, wind will blow oil drops everywhere. And if you can get past that, then removing the oil filter will likely cause spillage...

The oil filter is positioned right next to the water pump near the bottom of the engine, can only be unscrewed from the top, is placed upside down so when it is unscrewed, the oil in the filter will pour onto the ground; lastly it's placed right next to the wall of the engine bay that no regular oil filter wrench like this can fit good enough to unscrew it

Exactly! On the RX-8, the filter is upside down just to be a dick and ensure there is no way to replace it without spilling at least some oil! And it is so stupid from an engineering standpoint as you cannot prime the filter when filter is at an angle such that the oil can spill out!

While expensive, Motul X-Cess seems to be a solid high-ZDDP oil that is Porsche approved. It's what I run in my 996.