wrong oil tank!? consequence?

[Johan H]

Hello,

I tried searching in old posts, but couldn't find anything. I was recently told by my mechanic that I do not have the original oil tank in my 1967 car. The engine is a 911/01 and the oil tank probably a 75-78. My questions:

1) how can I identify what year the tank is? Do I need to take the tank out to see the part number?
2) more importantly, can I damage the engine by using a non-original tank!?

The mechanic told me to keep the oil level just above the minimum mark, he said that the engine might get too much oil otherwise. Does this sound plausible?

All info is very much welcome.

Cheers,
Johan H

[bliebler]

I have a 73 2.4 without the ft cooler. I'm now running with a 3 ltr tank. Prior to this my car took about 9.5 qts on oil change and the oil level at 190 deg would be a little above 1/2 way on the dip stick. Now in order to read 1/2 way mark on the dipstick it will take 10.5 qts, but at that level it will smoke at start up. If I put in the 9.5 qts my dip stick at 190deg is a little below the min line. Also note that the 3 ltr dip stick is longer and the min line is off a bit.(I believe it was 10mm off from my 2.4 dipstick)

[mike curnow]

I do not have exact dates for some items but others will speak up. First of all a bigger tank will not hurt the engine. As far as identifying the tank here is a general tank sequence. 1965 to approx 1970 the flexiable hose from the cooler to the tank was rubber covered with metal mesh with a nut on each end that screwed onto the cooler and the tank. In approx 1971 they changed the hose to the big fat black rubber hose and used hose clamps to attach it to the tank, and the cooler. They changed the cooler and the tank from a threaded fitting to a large barbed fitting. They also around this time changed the oil filter fron screwing onto a consul to directly screwing onto the oil tank. The final general change was with the 1978 SC tank, its made from stainless steel, and has a threaded on plastic cap. Prior tanks were regular steel, copper plated, and used a barbed arrangement to keep the cap on. The stainless tanks are painted black, but if you remove a little paint it should be shiney silver, not copper underneath .
Pictures of the tank, underneath and in the engine compartment, and pictures of the cooler from underneath would be helpful. You should not have to remove anything in order to identify the tank.

Mike

[Johan H]

I have a 73 2.4 without the ft cooler. I'm now running with a 3 ltr tank. Prior to this my car took about 9.5 qts on oil change and the oil level at 190 deg would be a little above 1/2 way on the dip stick. Now in order to read 1/2 way mark on the dipstick it will take 10.5 qts, but at that level it will smoke at start up. If I put in the 9.5 qts my dip stick at 190deg is a little below the min line. Also note that the 3 ltr dip stick is longer and the min line is off a bit.(I believe it was 10mm off from my 2.4 dipstick)

thanks, the mechanic told me he had put 8.5qts in the tank, but with this amount the oil did not show on the dipstick, I added approx 1qts and got the oil level up to the minimum mark, but now it smokes on start up. I'll tak some pics of the tank and the dipstick, maybe I have a dipstick not belonging to the tank...

[304065]

Johan, 73 and later tanks have the fill pipe ahead of the filter, so they don't fit in the earlier cars. Your tank must be a 64-72 if the inner fender hasn't been cut. It's a 64-68 if the rear of the tank is curved rather than straight. If you can get a decent photo we can help you out.

[Flieger]

thanks, the mechanic told me he had put 8.5qts in the tank, but with this amount the oil did not show on the dipstick, I added approx 1qts and got the oil level up to the minimum mark, but now it smokes on start up. I'll tak some pics of the tank and the dipstick, maybe I have a dipstick not belonging to the tank...

You are checking the oil with the car running and at operating temperature (as in after a drive and idling in the garage), correct? Just want to hit the easy points first.

[Johan H]

You are checking the oil with the car running and at operating temperature (as in after a drive and idling in the garage), correct? Just want to hit the easy points first.

Yes engine warm and idling.
Cheers,
Johan H

[Johan H]

Johan, 73 and later tanks have the fill pipe ahead of the filter, so they don't fit in the earlier cars. Your tank must be a 64-72 if the inner fender hasn't been cut. It's a 64-68 if the rear of the tank is curved rather than straight. If you can get a decent photo we can help you out.

My fender has unfortunately been cut...
It seems I can't upload pics, I'll try again tomorrow morning from my laptop.

I have started to suspect that the dipstick doesn't belong to the tank in the car. The number on the stick is; 930.107.731. (After this there are two zeros which have a cross over them)the last two digits are 01. As said I'll post some pics tomorrow. Does anyone know to what tank this dipstick belongs?

Thanks again for all the help

[Johan H]

Here are some pictures of the oil tank and the dip stick, sorry for the bad quality of the tank pictures... Does anyone know what year this tank is? And if it is usable with my 911/01 engine? also, it would be of great interest to know if the dip stick belongs to this tank.

Thanks in advance! All help is greatly appreciated.

Regards,
Johan H

[M_deJong]

It looks to me like a 73+ copper plated tank with a filler neck that has been cut and spliced (maybe to make install easier?) and with an SC dip stick. If the length of the spliced neck is long, then the dipstick will read wrong. I believe the total tank capacity is around 13 qt. If you don't have an oil cooler, then 8.5 qts is probably close, but up to 10 would be ok.

There's no reason the tank won't work well with your engine, oil pumps didn't change till later. Its just a matter of determining the best oil level. Too high and it will come out of the breather. To low will run hotter. Once you find a happy point, see what the dipstick reads (or the gauge) and aim for that in the future.

I don't know if the correlation of over-fill to smoke on start up is valid. 911's sometimes smoke on startup. A high oil level could push a little more oil into the sump after the car sits for a week, and so a little more could seep past the rings, but I wouldn't think 1qt more would do that. Anyway, not a good reason to underfill in my estimation.

I think your lower oil supply line could be improved on. Not something you want to have fail.

Hope this helps and that others will correct me if I'm wrong!