A few oil questions ( Porsche )

My car has 34.000 miles.

1- I had an oil change at an authorized Porsche Dealer 1000 miles ago. Yesterday, on the highway coming back from wisconsin, the car was asking for oil. Is it normal ? I thought that they would fill it up after changing the oil ! .

2- Obviously i couldnt find the Porsche recommended oil in Wisconsin..Some gas stations didnt even have car oil ! I had to buy Mobil 5-30. When i cant find the recommended one, which is the best oil to get?

I had one more question that i cant remember now...

 

porsche recommends mobil 1 0w-40
you will be just fine with having added a quart or so of 5w-30.

they should have filled the car up to the highest indication as the flat sixes tend to burn some oil. especially when the engine is new.

 

thanks. So either the dealer didnt fill it up or my car is burning too much oil if they did fill it up. A 1000 miles is not a lot to go through it all, is it ?

 

What model is it?

FWIW - on the 993 and earlier, you can often be tricked into not getting enough oil in on an oil change. Reading the little oil level guage is an acquired skill - depends on not only oil temperature, RPM, and seemingly the phases of the moon (besides the actual oil level).

I would hazard a guess that any 34,000 mile car should go at least 1500 miles if not more before needing a quart of oil just due to internal consumption (i.e., it wasn't already low and wasn't leaking it out too badly). Especially if it does not smoke noticeably when you start it...

 

It's a 997 Carrera 4S. I was surprised when i saw the blinking gauge..The car doesnt smoke when i start it and has 0 leak so far.

 

Could it be that somehow my car is running too rich ? Is it still possible with all those electronic sensors nowadays ?

 

Right - sounds like a normal car running like it should. Probably they just didn't get the tank all the way full.

Well, as it happens we just got a 997 C2S ourselves with about 18K miles. We had a precautionary change when we picked it up from RUF autocenter...so I guess we will be watching. I am still driving the 993 - stepson has the 997.

BTW, what does the manual say the blinking light low level is? I would guess MORE than just one quart down.

 

You really should check that out. On my Mr2 I dont' get a low oil light until I'm a quart low but, it only takes four quarts of oil. 997 like all 911s utilize a lot of oil for their lubrication system. Isn't it like 8 or 9 quarts?

 

993 had of course a real dry sump system - catch tank over in the right rear fender well. It went about 11 quarts with the filter.

996 had I believe a sort of semi-dry sump; catch tank in the sump but with scavenge pumps.

997? Somewhere I believe I read that this went back to conventional dry sump - but I could be wrong. Have not completely kept up on all the new water cooled flat six models.

I would say that all of them are at least 10 quarts capacity.

 

Before you put in the oil, how low on the dipstick were you?

 

He has no dipstick.

OP: I don't understand.

After the oil service how high has it been showing on the multi-functin display? You have been checking it right?

What exactly did the display say? Did it say to check the oil? If it said that it only means you have not checked it in a while, not that it is low.

 

All of mine went through about a quart of oil for every 1,000 miles - 1,500 miles depending on where I drove them, just like clock work except one, it hardly ever needed any between changes and that worried me.

 

the 997 GT series and turbos have a dry sump, the 997 does not.

 

When it asks for oil, go ahead put in about a half qt or alittle more and recheck the guage. Top to bottom bars is appox 1.2 qts. (your car holds 9 quarts total).

It was explained to me by someone in whom I trust (not a dealer) that these engines are made of very hard metals. Because of this, it can take the rings along time to seat in some engines. Mine uses one quart anywhere from 800 to 1500 miles (an '06 w/ 20k mi) and I hear of others with this kind of oil usage.

One car I know of at it's 35k mile oil change, went from using one quart of oil every 1k miles to using one quart of oil every 5k miles...almost overnight. The theory being the rings finally "set" in his car.

Porsche's official line on this is that anything above 1 quart every 600 miles is "normal"

Carry a couple of quarts with ya.

 

Sounds like Porsche knows how to cover their bases almost as well as Ferrari North America.

 

Neither do new BMW's.

On older 911's and cars with Dry sump you always check the oil level after it has warmed up.

FYI

 

So yesterday i noticed that my left exhaust tips are much more dirty than the right ones. They are almost black.

But that happened after i put in the quart of oil. I also bought a STP fuel injector cleaner on the highway on Sunday..

Am i running too rich on one bank ?
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Andrew - please drive your car another 1000-1500 miles and recheck!

 

James,

I think i will take it to the dealer..if what i read here is true

http://www.911uk.com/viewtopic.php?p=405750&highlight=&sid=97e2d1c50728f5cffcf7ad56c95ec80d#405750

 

Good find. I hope all is good or you're still under warranty.

 

Yuk. Wonder if I am headed for the same thing?

 

Well, it really started out of the blue on sunday/monday. Before that, the car was running good. And when i had the car at the dealer for the Oil change, they said it was all good ( after they changed brake fluids, front tires and oil ).

So i would advise that you take your car in as well if it is still under warranty..

 

I think it still is yes. Until November 2009 ( it's 4 years IIRC.) .

 

Mine unfortunately has already run out via the 48 months. I guess we will have Hans at RUF Autocenter (where I just bought it) take a look.

Man, I cannot tell you how much that would suck if one or more of the pistons ovalled out or grooved their bores...

 

Let us know what they say Andrew..

I'm interested in knowing what they find.

Mine's doing the same thing. They looked in the cyls. and said they could find nothing wrong.