from oil change to nightmare

[haste]

got all the stuff, got home. Jacked it up, everything was good. Went to inspect oil filter first. At 87k, it looks great. I noticed a metal particles, but it was what you would expect out of any vehicle with age. Not really of any "size", almost like a peice of glitter.

Went to undo the oil drain plug, and it popped right away. The head of the hex broke off, with the rest of bolt in the pan FLUSH. Went and got an extractor, with a drain plug the same size. They were out of the OEM porsche plug, got the typical 15mm one with same threads and size.

Extracted it, however the bolt instead of leaving from the bottom, went INSIDE the pan

When I used the drill bit, im assuming it went all the way through the bolt and pushed it in.

So, what to do now? Back hurts from the 6" clearance from garage floor. Wifes not too happy... Im assuming drop the 13 bolt oil pan and just grab it out the bottom. Reseal with rtf or the locktight stuff and im back in business within an hour?

[Tucker2]

Holy mother of all things unholy. Yeah....do the oil pan thing. Sorry...that is worse luck (almost) ever. Wow.

[Gilles]

be careful not to use too much sealant, otherwise you will get into a much bigger mess and damage the engine...
.

PS, tell your wife how much the dealer charges for an oil change and she will bring you a beer and offer to help you to clean the spill... LOL
.

[Hormoslyr]

Next time use a left hand drillbit....

[Timco]

Agreed, get an oil change quote from Porsche.

These things happen!! Sorry to hear this. Hope it went well.

[scottvd]

Originally Posted by Hormoslyr

Next time use a left hand drillbit....

+1

Sounds messy!

[seningen]

Don't use RTF == get the Loctite 5400(??)

That way you can inspect to see if there is any metal shavings in the pan as well.

Are those metal particles ferrous. BTW, my new to me 101K mile S has 0 particulates
in the filter I just pulled this weekend.

m

[JFP in PA]

Originally Posted by seningen

Don't use RTF == get the Loctite 5400(??)

Loctite 5900...............

[seningen]

Originally Posted by JFP in PA

Loctite 5900...............

Not sure if I should claim bad eyes -- or bad memory :-)

Just used it this weekend on my deep sump kit, got the grooves
in my palm to prove it :-)

Mike

[BYprodriver]

This was merely an Omen telling you the metal flakes in your filter indicate you should pull & clean your sump pan. Buy a LN drainplug to prevent future plug problems. Make sure the pan & case mounting flange are sanitized with rubbing alcohol before applying sealant & reassembling. Haste makes waste!

[Kenny Boxster]

Dropping the oil pan and grabbing it out like you indicated sounds like a good idea. There is a ton of oil- make sure you oil pan is well equipped.

[seningen]

Originally Posted by BYprodriver

This was merely an Omen telling you the metal flakes in your filter indicate you should pull & clean your sump pan. Buy a LN drainplug to prevent future plug problems. Make sure the pan & case mounting flange are sanitized with rubbing alcohol before applying sealant & reassembling. Haste makes waste!

You should expect to have to remove some old sealant -- so be sure to have something to scrub it off.

I used a 3M Tapered Bristle Disc,2 In Dia,80G - Abrasive Bristle Disc-Cup Shaped - 6RX77|18732 - Grainger Industrial Supply

on a air tool -- but a cordless drill would work as well.

I'm sure it or something similar can be found locally.

Mike

[haste]

alright, the 13 bolts are removed. The hard part is removing that oil pan! Gave up after 15 minutes. The car is hardly off the ground however.

I heard pry bar in a certain area?

I used a rubber mallet and hit around the mount areas , no give.

[jcb986]

Bad break indeed. Good time to drop the pan and see how much of the flakes are there. Clean it good and do a slow check of everything you see. Be carefull when cleaning the old sealant. I usually use a automotive type putty knife, you also get them made of plastic. On the pan after cleaning use the alcohol to remove oil residue. When you apply sealant, use a thin beed and use a artist type paint brush to smooth it out over the plane of the pan, smooth it out to the outside and keep away from the inside edges. Do not torque any bolts until you get all of them in and snugged up a little. Some guys have all the fun.

[steved0x]

I've also heard to get a couple of extra bolts and cut the heads off and put them in on the corners as a guide so when you fit the pan back on you have it lined up just right and don't smear the sealant around.

This article shows where the prying points are.

I haven't done this particular job but I just had my boxster up on jack stands for the last few days and there was a decent amount of room, and I did it in my garage. You can jack the whole car with two lifts (one in the back, and then one lift from either side in the front, so if you are close to a wall you can lift from the other side) I got the jack and the stands from Harbor Freight (on sale of course )

If you get the LN plug (I have one) be sure to note the lower torque - it is hard to miss as they stick it on a label over the hex hole on the head.

[Mark_T]

Originally Posted by steved0x

If you get the LN plug (I have one) be sure to note the lower torque - it is hard to miss as they stick it on a label over the hex hole on the head.

The problem occurs the following year when the sticker is gone and you forget about the lower torque spec. Not something I'm likely to forget twice, though. Well, probably not, anyway. phhhhhhht ... 'ere!

[Jamesp]

Originally Posted by haste

alright, the 13 bolts are removed. The hard part is removing that oil pan! Gave up after 15 minutes. The car is hardly off the ground however.

I heard pry bar in a certain area?

I used a rubber mallet and hit around the mount areas , no give.

The rubber mallet sounds like a great idea to vent frustration. I'm using that in the future.

Go to the right rear of the pan, look for the engine number, it will look like this from a distance




and this close up



There is plenty of meat to pry between the engine number and the oil pan to get it started. The left rear corner also has a pryable area, but not nearly as nice. Do yourself a favor and get jack stands and a hydraulic jack from harbor freight, and then look up how to properly jack up and support the car so you don't damage it. Be sure to block the front wheels. Don't get the smallest jack stands, you want to lift about 19 inches in front of the back wheels so you can just roll right on in and get the job done. My experience is that you want a hydraulic jack that starts out as low as possible. Otherwise it will not be low enough to be of any use. Get a jack that starts as low as you can. I paid $80 at harbor freight, and it works great.

[Jamesp]

One other comment - don't pry with anything metal on the sealing surface. Gentle prying on that surface is fair game using wood or plastic, the key is to be careful not to deform or scratch it. Should not be a problem using wood or plastic, but anything made of metal could be trouble.

[Perfectlap]

perfect oppourtunity to grab a sample for a Blackstone Labs oil analysis?

The glass is always half full.

[Jamesp]

One other, other comment. Using a semi soft plastic scraper does a great job of removing the original sealant, and any Loktite 5200 from the flange area without scratching the aluminum sealing area. The 99 cent scraper gets trashed instead. Then clean everything up with a lint free rag and solvent that does not leave any trace of oil or itself. I use carb cleaner, followed up with brake cleaner followed up with acetone because I am OCD about leaks. The acetone alone should do the trick, but if it is all there on the shelf... Also if the flange area is not completely clean and dry when you apply new sealant, the sealant will never bond with the metal and you will have a leak.