944 very low oil pressure! please help

dan944944 · 09-25-2008, 09:38 AM

i recently bought a short block for my 85 2.5 n/a 944,and it supposedly had balanced crank new oil seals and bearings all round, recon water pump. problem is it didnt come with oil cooler housing or valve ect,so i put on my old one,but had to get a one piece relief valve as my old three piece didnt fit.now i dont know what year it is,as the numbers on the block dont mean much,so i took off the fly wheel and it had 87 embossed so im guessing its an 87 model? when i put it in the car it had no oil pressure,so i sent it to the place where i bout it and got the car back with a £2000 bill (not happy at all!!) it was ok for a while but lately it had been dropping to 1.5 then recently dropped to 0.5 and the red oil light came on! so phoned these people and they dont want to accept responsability,so im stuck doing it on my own. i know this short block was on the shelf for a few years weather that has anything to do with it in the way of blocages i dont no. i didnt use a allignment tool when i fitted the oil cooler housing but surely they would of checked that. im not even sure if its the right one piece relief valve,as i dont know the differences between the two that are available. i took off the pump insspected it all seemes ok resealed it,tried again and same thing took out the relief valve and cranke a few times and no oil came out.does this mean its the pump? ive checked the pick up for blockages and cracks,checked the rod bearings,changed the sender,checked the torque on the crank bolt,inspected the relief valve and hole seems fine. still the same,onlything i found were small shavings in the sump which made my heart sink,but the rod bearings are fine.its driving me crazzy and has cost me a lot of time and a lot of money and i really need some help! anythining would be greately appreciated. thanks dan

Slam · 09-25-2008, 09:51 AM

What weight oil are you using? They like heavier stuff. When the crank was balanced, was it cut, too? Did you plastigage the rod bearings to check the clearance when you checked them? When you checked torque on the oil pump did you back the bolt off and retorque it?

I found that a change in OPRVs made a difference on my 83 944. I had a couple of spare 3-piece ones and experimented with them. Strange thing was, the ones not original to the car caused a drop in pressure. Using the alignment tool with the 1-piece isn't crucial but it helps, and you can't assume the shop you took the car to did what you want but didn't ask for.

You need to post you car's type and year, as well as where you're located. I assume UK.

JivenJim · 09-26-2008, 10:25 PM

Check the Tension on the main Crank bolt. I believe it's suppose to be 160lbs. If that goes loose it can cause the oil pump not to work well.

Also get a multimeter and go to Clarks garage and test the Impedance of your oil pressure sender. Could be giving you false readings. Check wires and connections to oil pressure sender. But if your not getting Oil out of pressure relief valve when removed and cranking over engine (with coil wire removed!) then after that Crank bolt, either Oil pump bad or oil pickup tube no working/broken.

I hope for the bolt...

dan944944 · 09-27-2008, 03:28 AM

thank you all for the response! the car is a 85 on a c plate.i am in the uk by the way. at the moment i have removed the pump again, the shop i took my car to i believe put shell engine 10/40 semi sinthetic and the presure was droping to 0.8-0.5. when i tried to reseal the pump the first time after that i put a much cheaper thiner oil becuase i didnt want to waste money if that didnt work,which it didnt as i strugled to get pressure on cranking alone.when i let her fire up the pressure went to about 1.8 but would rev up to about 2.3 but die to about 0.5 when warming up.but after that if i tried just cranking the engine without the coil i coulnt even get 0.5 bar up on the dial. its just got worse and worse. when checking my pick up for craks ect,it seemed fine but i replaced it with one from my preveous engin to make sure,and put some locktight seal around the rubber. although checking the rod bearings in hope that one of them spun becuase i found small shavings in the sump, they were fine and still looked new and no lines.i didnt filler guage them as i dont really know what to do,although i am more than capable if someone could explain how! i did notice something strange to me and that was i could move the con rods left and right about 3 millimeters?could this be a problem?i am desperately trying to sorce a second hand pump but cant seem to match up my one as it has slightly larger oil valley on the part that pumps oil into the block,i need to take a photo and put it on here and maybe someone might know what year and model i have on the bottom of my engine!when i tightened up the crank bolt i believe i thought it was 160 nm is that more or less than lbs? dont know if that could be a problem,i didnt tighten then sklack of and tighten up again though,would that make a difference? thanks dan

zedsn · 09-27-2008, 08:20 AM

Hi, NM is alot less than pounds I believe so you may want torecheck that and retorque your pump bolt to 155 lbs.

2Tight · 09-27-2008, 08:36 AM

Are you sure you have a 1-piece OPRV for an 87 block? If you ordered one for an 85 they are not the same and will not work since the 87 block has no sleeve for the OPRV.
Compare the pics below for the bottom o-ring placement to what you have.

1-piece OPRV for 83-86

1-piece OPRV for 87+

dan944944 · 09-27-2008, 02:04 PM

thanks for the replies its so nice to check this forum and to see that people are trying to help me! to be honest they are both looking the same to me in the pictures although i can see a slight difference at the front. i will have to match mine to the pictures but im hopping that i have the wrong yeared valve. altough i cant stop thinking about when i removed the oprv and cranked the engine over without the coil,there was no oil bein pushed out? has anyone ever had a problem pump with similer symptoms?

onZedge · 09-28-2008, 11:46 AM

160Nm is only 118 ft-lb. Crank bolt should be 155 ft-lb or 210Nm. Fix this first. Your pump may be slipping.

Slam · 09-28-2008, 05:11 PM

^+1

It's amazing how crucial this is.

dan944944 · 09-29-2008, 09:38 AM

i had a look at my friends torque rench becuase i remember using the last settings on one side,but couldnt remember if it was lbs or nm. it turns out that it was 210nm, so very confused. could i have the wrong washer pushing against pink o ring, or the washer pushing against the crank pulley? i dont know,am very frustrated.

dan944944 · 10-07-2008, 02:23 AM

i am trying to find a used oil pump,but am finding it very difficult to match up. i have given it to a number of porsche technisions but they dont seem to know what year it could be,so i am going to try to take some photos and put them on here in hope that someone may recognise what year or model 944 it is from?

dan944944 · 10-11-2008, 03:20 PM

This is the shape of the valleys on the back of my oil pump,could anyone tell me what year 944 this could be or give me any idea of what pump i could use to replace this one? any advise will be grately appreciated,thanks!

dan944944 · 10-11-2008, 03:23 PM

this is the front

2Tight · 10-11-2008, 04:15 PM

Isn't there a part number on the case? The photos make it hard to see anything.

dan944944 · 10-12-2008, 03:08 AM

yes there is a casting number but i am getting my pump back tommorow off of a technition so i will write it down soon!unfortunately he could not figure out what year or model it was from.

HondaDustR · 10-12-2008, 12:58 PM

If your car has power steering, make sure the drive pulley is centered and goes around the end of the crank and not pinched between the end of the crank and the bolt washer, or you will be torquing the bolt against the end of the crank and not against the pump drive gear.

dan944944 · 10-12-2008, 02:45 PM

hi there thanks for the response! my car has got power steering. you will have to help me understand this a little bit more,i do recall reading this information before somewhere, but wasnt quite sure how i could get it wrong. is there more than one type of bolt washer ie an older version and newer version for different models? i have used my old one from a 84 and my new short block i believe is a 87. any help would be grate. thanks and kind regards.

HondaDustR · 10-12-2008, 04:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dan944944

hi there thanks for the response! my car has got power steering. you will have to help me understand this a little bit more,i do recall reading this information before somewhere, but wasnt quite sure how i could get it wrong. is there more than one type of bolt washer ie an older version and newer version for different models? i have used my old one from a 84 and my new short block i believe is a 87. any help would be grate. thanks and kind regards.

I don't know if there's a difference between years, but check your PM. It's not hard to get it wrong, since there's so little room left on the crank for the pulley, and it's easy to not notice that there's a certain space for it, or it dislodges as you install the bolt, and it's also hard to notice that it did 'cause it's so deeply recessed inside the alternator pulley assembly.

dan944944 · 10-14-2008, 10:28 AM

thanks for the reply, i will try that when reasembling!

dan944944 · 10-15-2008, 10:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 2Tight

Isn't there a part number on the case? The photos make it hard to see anything.

i have just picked up my old oil pump so i can now give you the casting number in hope that somebody can help me figure out what model and year i need : 9441071049r any help is grately appreciated as i must try another pump to alliminate this as the possible culprate, before i do all that work of puting it all back together for the forth time!!!!