The Case of Disappearing Oil, What happened to the oil level? Options

[VaccaRabite]

If the oil light went on during a longer corner, it could totally be oil sloshing away from the pickup. It is not challenging to do that in a 914 - I did it myself this summer at the Northeast Gathering during a long fast sweeper. BUT - if the oil pressure loss happened on a straight road or a slight bend, sloshing isn't your answer.

And, the oil HAD to go somewhere. Burning a quart of oil in an afternoon is pretty excessive. Likewise you would see signs of a leak all over the top or bottom of your motor. Have you looked at the bottom of your engine? Is it coated in oil?

Zach

[DrinkMan]

If the oil light went on during a longer corner, it could totally be oil sloshing away from the pickup. It is not challenging to do that in a 914 - I did it myself this summer at the Northeast Gathering during a long fast sweeper. BUT - if the oil pressure loss happened on a straight road or a slight bend, sloshing isn't your answer.

And, the oil HAD to go somewhere. Burning a quart of oil in an afternoon is pretty excessive. Likewise you would see signs of a leak all over the top or bottom of your motor. Have you looked at the bottom of your engine? Is it coated in oil?

Zach

No excessive oil on the bottom of the engine. When we pulled over, at least 3 people looked and could not find anything. The oil light never came on, i reacted to the cabin gauge. Part of the issue is the sloshing but where the oil went is still a mystery. No blue smoke except occasional puffs when shifting (we were in a line of 914's all day and had witnesses). And we still have not lost a drop since the incident (3 tanks of gas ago). I think the pump starving and low pressure was definitely slosh but being that low is unsolved. I'm almost done with the TR6 (yesterday we discovered that rear SU carb piston was sticking and that the heat shield was interfering with the linkage synchronization so now we are in final mode of buttoning it up and the only thing left is a much worse hot restart discovered during the test drive. It has always had a small hot restart issue but after fixing the piston and heat shield, it has gotten worse. We should be able to finish that today) and we have 914 parts coming in (including a new mechanical oil pressure gauge that we will replace the engine mounted one) so we can put the 914 on the lift and get to it this evening or tomorrow.

One of the funny things during this is when we were at our rental cabin, every morning we would move the car and study the gravel to see if anything dripped. One time, my wife found some stained gravel and picked it up and smelled it - not oil. I told her that only true gearhead smell gravel to determine what dripped.

[930cabman]

If the oil light went on during a longer corner, it could totally be oil sloshing away from the pickup. It is not challenging to do that in a 914 - I did it myself this summer at the Northeast Gathering during a long fast sweeper. BUT - if the oil pressure loss happened on a straight road or a slight bend, sloshing isn't your answer.

And, the oil HAD to go somewhere. Burning a quart of oil in an afternoon is pretty excessive. Likewise you would see signs of a leak all over the top or bottom of your motor. Have you looked at the bottom of your engine? Is it coated in oil?

Zach

No excessive oil on the bottom of the engine. When we pulled over, at least 3 people looked and could not find anything. The oil light never came on, i reacted to the cabin gauge. Part of the issue is the sloshing but where the oil went is still a mystery. No blue smoke except occasional puffs when shifting (we were in a line of 914's all day and had witnesses). And we still have not lost a drop since the incident (3 tanks of gas ago). I think the pump starving and low pressure was definitely slosh but being that low is unsolved. I'm almost done with the TR6 (yesterday we discovered that rear SU carb piston was sticking and that the heat shield was interfering with the linkage synchronization so now we are in final mode of buttoning it up and the only thing left is a much worse hot restart discovered during the test drive. It has always had a small hot restart issue but after fixing the piston and heat shield, it has gotten worse. We should be able to finish that today) and we have 914 parts coming in (including a new mechanical oil pressure gauge that we will replace the engine mounted one) so we can put the 914 on the lift and get to it this evening or tomorrow.

One of the funny things during this is when we were at our rental cabin, every morning we would move the car and study the gravel to see if anything dripped. One time, my wife found some stained gravel and picked it up and smelled it - not oil. I told her that only true gearhead smell gravel to determine what dripped.

picked it up and smelled it - not oil

Now that's a real keeper (IMG:style_emoticons/default/cheer.gif)

[type2man]

You need to fill it up past the dipstick line. It is not going to hurt anything except maybe the breathers will blow out the excess oil. Better safe than sorry. An easy way to tell if youre burning excess oil is to stick your finger in the tailpipe and swirl it around. Then try to remove the black soot from your finger with your other hand. If its still black, youre burning. Do the same with the new car in your driveway and youll see what I mean.

[DrinkMan]

You need to fill it up past the dipstick line. It is not going to hurt anything except maybe the breathers will blow out the excess oil. Better safe than sorry. An easy way to tell if youre burning excess oil is to stick your finger in the tailpipe and swirl it around. Then try to remove the black soot from your finger with your other hand. If its still black, youre burning. Do the same with the new car in your driveway and youll see what I mean.

You assume we have a new car. Everything is over 15 years old. It's parked next to the Elise. I'll compare the two.

[JamesM]

As for where did the oil go
It probably burned

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/agree.gif)

Going to guess you were driving more "spirited" while out with the boys than you normally would, more sustained time at higher RPM and loading it up. Oil went out the crankcase vent as vapor

[Geezer914]

If he burned 1-1 1/2 quarts of oil, his car would have looked like a mosquito sprayer!

[sixnotfour]

type4fsaie

[DrinkMan]

If he burned 1-1 1/2 quarts of oil, his car would have looked like a mosquito sprayer!

Absolutely!! I had an old Alfa that would burn 1 qt per 300 miles and I was embarrassed. Finally rebuilt it to cure the embarrassment.

There were lots of people behind us during the various drives and none of them detected any smoke except a little puff at shifting sometimes.

No smoke here:
(IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/uploads_offsite/live.staticflickr.com-20872-1727457988.1.jpg)