Winter of Discontent

This January, while outside seemed the very image of a bucolic, folksy wintertime scene - truck and trailer slumbering peacefully, dreaming of races to come, siberian huskies frolicking through the woods - inside the garage was a much different picture. Much gnashing of teeth and pitiful wailing, the rendering of garments (overalls) and loud beseeching of the car gods, why have you foresaken me!?

And it all came down to one simple thing, pressure. Or more accurately, the lack of.

Let me explain. The beginning of January saw the new rebuilt motor all buttoned into the car. Fluids topped off, electrical connections all in place, new fuel lines installed. Life was looking good. And then it all went to shite, and my January with it.

The first thing a new rebuilt motor needs is a nice healthy supply of oil. Lovely liquid deceased dinosaurs to smooth the pistons as they journey up & down in their cylinders. Oil to coat the bearings as they spin at 6000 revolutions a minute. Without oil to provide a nice slippery surface, all those metal surfaces would soon revolt, leading to what is known as the Big Bang - see last April.

The motor when built was nice, clean and dry. I used a light grease called assembly lube when putting it together. This provides the initial lubrication when the motor is started, and is dissolved as oil courses through the system. So the first order of business is to get that oil flowing through everywhere. 6 quarts of oil was added. The external oil cooler was left off for now until the motor is happy. So lets put that oil to work.

Now the recommended way for new 944 motors to build initial pressure is to disconnect the coil wires, so there is no spark; pull the DME relay so no fuel is pumped into the cylinders and then just crank the starter in 30 seconds bursts until the oil pressure gauge jumps to 5 bars. Now while this is the recommended way, it has never worked for me, and if you read the forums, it doesn't for lots of others either. But each time, I'm willing to try.

And as expected, it doesn't work for me.

And thus began my own personal brick wall for the rest of month. No matter what the technique, and there were plenty, no oil pressure was ever produced. By the beginning of February there was no more advice coming from anybody, it's all been said and done. All tried, and all with the same result, zip.

The oil pump - aka The Slacker - on the front of the motor

So one option is now left on the table. Yank the motor and put it back on the engine stand. You don't know how much I really don't want to do that. But since my ice climbing partners always seem to be washing their hair on these winter weekends, I guess I'll drag my butt back to the garage and get back to work - and work is what its feeling like. Sigh...

Tonight it's out and tomorrow I'll start playing detective, but for now, it's time for beer.