From: Wally Plumley [wplumley@bellsouth.net]
Sent: Monday, October 15, 2001 3:29 PM
To: 928
Subject: [928] RE: Status of GT

>As some of you know, during the last run session of the Frenzy DE, the
>engine seized.  In spite of this rather depressing situation, I managed to
>have a pretty good time at the Frenzy.  Thanks to all who expressed their
>concern.  Now if you can only send it along with a signed blank check, my
>pain and suffering will go away instantly. ;^)
>
>Seriously, my tech was able to get it to run!!!  The dip-stick does not
>register a drop, so loss of lubrication is the most likely culprit.  He's
>going to be dropping the pan and then we'll know just how much has been
>damaged.  For sure some bearings, but I'm hoping the crank is still ok.


>>>>>no oil at all ??!?!!  Where'd 2 gallons of oil go?


There are two possible answers, and I suspect that both were a factor in 
Ed's case.
1) A 928 operated at high RPM levels is known to blow oil out of the 
crankcase/valve area thru the breather system. One of our owners (Don 
Hanson, perhaps?) has arranged his breather system so that the oil blown 
out is recovered and returned to the crankcase.
2) The second is a more common and mundane explanation - and it happened to 
me on the way to the Frenzy. As a normal, expected thing, slightly more 
than a gallon of water is formed as the result of burning a gallon of 
gasoline. This water mostly goes out the tailpipe as invisible vapor. 
(During cold weather, this is the white plume that you see until the 
exhaust system warms up.) A small portion of this water vapor goes by the 
rings into the crankcase, and ends up in the oil. When the oil gets 
thoroughly hot, the water is vaporized, and most of it will go out thru the 
crankcase vent system.

Well, a 928 has a LOT of oil in the crankcase, and it takes a long time for 
it to get thoroughly warm. That means that if you drive the 928 on short 
trips, say less than an hour, then you don't get that water out of the oil. 
Then, when you put the car on the road, or on the track, the oil gets hot, 
the water gets evaporated, and the oil level is low.

My '90 GT is due for an oil change, and I use it as a daily driver. It had 
not been on a road trip since Sharks in the Mountains. It doesn't use oil - 
I had never had to add oil my oil change interval of choice, which is 5,000 
miles. I checked the oil before I left for the Frenzy, and it was down 
about a pint. Since I plan to change it soon, I elected to leave it alone. 
Bad move. After a ten-hour trip (with an average on-the-road speed of 73 
mph), I was down 1 1/2 quarts, so I lost a quart in 650 miles. Chris, at 
Curry's Auto Service (where the dyno tests were done - good folks!) gave me 
two quarts of Castrol Syntec 5W-15. On the same trip home, the oil level 
did not go down at all.

Either I had close to a quart of water/blowby contamination in the 
crankcase, or I suddenly developed an oil leak that then suddenly stopped.

Wally