Start up noise

[Ben S]

When starting my car from cold, get a gurgling noise which seems to come from the fuel tank. After a minute , with the car warming up it disappears. Recently had the engine out and it never seemed to do it before.
Any ideas?

 

[Heuer]

It is the oil circulating but should not happen.. The cure is to always use Mobil 1 per Porsche recommendation and nothing else. Happened to me many years ago and I found out the Porsche specialist was using some other bulk oil and filled the car at service. They were perplexed about what was happening but changed the oil as per my suggestion and the issue went away. They now only use Mobil 1 on all their cars

 

[wozy]

It is the oil circulating but should not happen.. The cure is to always use Mobil 1 per Porsche recommendation and nothing else. Happened to me many years ago and I found out the Porsche specialist was using some other bulk oil and filled the car at service. They were perplexed about what was happening but changed the oil as per my suggestion and the issue went away. They now only use Mobil 1 on all their cars

Hmmmm. Not sure correct there ref specified oil. My car was never speced with Mobil 1 from new, the OEM sticker fell off many years ago now from in the engine bay but it was definitely not Mobil 1. (Maybe it was Shell).

So if it's an early one ... It wasn't filled with Mobil

 

[stewart rix]

I remember the gurgling noise after two routine oil changes going back more than 15 years ago. Never really got to the bottom of it, but there was some blame attributed to the oil at the time. Seems that the issues could just as easily been caused by the oil filters, changed at the same time.

I've supplied my own oil (various different premium 'Porsche' spec) for OPC servicing over the years and never heard that noise since, so it's certainly not necessary to go with Mobil 1.

 

[decgraham]

Hi,

I too had the gurgling noise at start up many years ago but only in the winter when it was cold. Winter time is Spain can be chilly I was running on Mobil 1 then but the noise went away. I'm not running Mobil 1 now as I have a heavier oil due to a small oil leak and I haven't had any gurgling for years now.

ATB

 

[Heuer]

Recently had the engine out and it never seemed to do it before.

Did you change the oil - could be a clue? As regards what your car was originally filled with I have no idea. I still have the Mobil 1 sticker on mine so got them to drain whatever they used at service and filled with that. I can only say that filling my car with Mobil 1 immediately solved the gurgling and it has never recurred, others experience may be different.

Porsche's lists with EU or WW A40 approval oils appear in Technical Bulletin 1701, and they are all synthetic and include:

Castrol Syntec 5W-50 (G)
Mobil Mobil 1 0W-40, 5W-40 (GL)
Sunoco Synturo Gold 5W-40 (GL)
Havoline Formula 3 Synthetic 5W-40 (GL)
Valvoline high performance synthetic 5W-30 (GL)(GL)

Maybe other oils would achieve the same but I have no interest in researching the issue further - my problem has gone. To quote one of the PCA guru's "For most purposes, Porsche's factory fill of 0W-40 Mobil 1 is the best all-around thing going."

David

 

[Leosayer]

I'm pretty sure the noise is the cold oil travelling from the oil cooler in the front wing to the engine. Once the oil warms up it thins and becomes more fluid and the noise stops.

Like others I used to get the noise but ever since my specialist switched to a different type of oil many years ago I don't hear the noise any more.

I'm not aware that the noise is the symptom of any issue although it's certainly worth checking the grade of oil used.

 

[AVI_8]

Recently had the engine out and it never seemed to do it before.

Did you change the oil - could be a clue? As regards what your car was originally filled with I have no idea. I still have the Mobil 1 sticker on mine so got them to drain whatever they used at service and filled with that. I can only say that filling my car with Mobil 1 immediately solved the gurgling and it has never recurred, others experience may be different.

Porsche's lists with EU or WW A40 approval oils appear in Technical Bulletin 1701, and they are all synthetic and include:

Castrol Syntec 5W-50 (G)
Mobil Mobil 1 0W-40, 5W-40 (GL)
Sunoco Synturo Gold 5W-40 (GL)
Havoline Formula 3 Synthetic 5W-40 (GL)


Valvoline high performance synthetic 5W-30 (GL)(GL)

Maybe other oils would achieve the same but I have no interest in researching the issue further - my problem has gone. To quote one of the PCA guru's "For most purposes, Porsche's factory fill of 0W-40 Mobil 1 is the best all-around thing going."

David

Noted that you have no interest in researching this issue further but the technical bulletin you mentioned was from 2007
Porsche themselves now recommend 10W60 oil for displacements above 3.0, don't believe me though it's there in black and white on www.Porsche.com there have been many discussions regarding this subject as you can imagine but it's now well recognised that the very thin modern oils just don't have enough ZDDP for flat tappet cam followers and camshafts the oil you're recommending has Both a Zinc and Phosphate count of 1000 ppm.
1200 ppm is generally the minimum recommended level for these old engines.
Mobil 1 do actually have an oil which is suitable for flat tappet engines it's their 15w50 oil with 1300 ppm ZDDP, all fully synthetic.
Personally I'm not a fan of Mobil 1

 

[ToreB]

I also hear the gurgling from time to time at cold start.
It is a quite unnerving sound, and may even resemble a failing ball bearing or something. I am especially wary for sounds after a major engine overhaul, but my local Porsche Classic workshop has told me to relax and enjoy the sound of oil flowing in the oil cooler pipes.
Cheers,
Tore

 

[AVI_8]

I also hear the gurgling from time to time at cold start.
It is a quite unnerving sound, and may even resemble a failing ball bearing or something. I am especially wary for sounds after a major engine overhaul, but my local Porsche Classic workshop has told me to relax and enjoy the sound of oil flowing in the oil cooler pipes.
Cheers,
Tore

Tore, this is a question which has been asked quite a lot over the years, some people have said that by fitting an Genuine Porsche filter has reduced or stopped the gurgling noise, others have said it makes no difference. It affects the 964's as well. Mine didn't do it then all of a sudden it did, I hadn't changed anything. The noise is definitely on mine from the offside rear, my theory is that if the engine hadn't been run for a while some oil goes through from the tank to the sump and when the engine is started the scavenge pump then picks up this oil sending it back to the tank via the body mounted filter.
Whatever is causing it I wouldn't worry about it.