Porsche Enthusiasts Club Forum

I've had some oil pressure issues today, after a long drive down the motorway at reasonable speed it dropped on tickover to the point the pressure warning light flickers.

I'm using 5w40 oil so is it just too thin for the heat, or is there potentially something more sinister afoot?

It still lifts to 4 to 5 on the gauge when the revs go up, but on tickover dropped to just below 1, when it usually sits on 1-1.5.

It was also a bit low on oil this morning before I set off (about half on the dipstick) so I topped it up to 3/4 which was all the spare oil I had. I have since topped it right up, but not driven it yet.

I could change to a thicker oil (maybe 10w50), but have only done about 2000 miles since the last oil change

Give jmg a call and get some mobil 10w60

If theres no sudden jump in pressure as the revs increase (slightly) then is almost certainly an oil grade issue. Get some gloopy oil and it will be fine. 15W- or 20W- are both suitable and these grades in a synthetic oil are even better.

That pretty much describes it. I also popped in Brookspeed Porsche as it's close to work at lunch, and they said much the same. Looks like I'm going to pop into gsf to get some thick oil tomorrow morning!

I would try some 10w60, makes no real difference in performance but better for leaks and pressure issues.
Not expensive either

mine sits at 2.5 when absolutly red hot any cooler and its higher
I'm on mobil 10/40

I've put thicker oil in (10w60 fully synth) and the pressure is better after a run (no more flashing light at warm tickover) but still low on the gauge. As it seems to rise and fall as you would expect during driving, just showing a lower reading on the gauge, I'm going to look at the connections on the sender unit before trying a new one, and failing that maybe a new gauge.
From what I have read, and the symptoms I have, I'm not that concerned as it doesn't seem to exhibit the 'on/off' behaviour of a failing pump or broken oil pickup, it's just reading low.

Does anyone have any more nuggets of wisdom? I'm hoping I can get things fixed for minimal cost, i don't really fancy forking out for a new oil pump!!

I've had good results from mobil 2000x which is 10w40, good pressure, low burn etc.

Bottom pulley bolt tight? Or drive sleeve worn? Both will cause strange oil pressure issued. Both easy and cheap enough to fix

10W40 or 15W40 shall also do the trick.

I would not worry about low oil pressure at idle (I think Porsche say it can sink as low as 1 bar at idle) as long as the pressure rises once the revs rise. The pressure being consistent is more important