2008 Cayman S Oil Consumption question

Evening all, I hope you are all enjoying the Cayman as much as I am. I have a question about the oil consumption for you experts. Please see attached picture. Do you think the oil consumption looks about right for a Cayman that has done about 600 miles from the 23rd Aug to todays date? Your thoughts would be much appreciated.

IMO, you're trying to use the gauge as an accurate direct drop dipstick and it's not. Instead of this method, track with the oil consumption by exactly how much you are adding for a given mileage and look at what Porsche says about a normal amount of loss. Also, if the car runs great and it's not smoking too much, keep it one bar low, drive it and enjoy it.

The car runs fine. It doesn’t smoke or have an unusual engine noises. As this is my first Porsche I wasn’t sure. Thanks for your input.

This is always a topic that comes up often.. I’ve had a few Porsche ’s now and they all “use” oil… how much is considered acceptable? Manual on 997 says 800-1200 miles/qt is acceptable… that seems like a lot. Remember one of those blocks is .25 of a quart or 1/4 of 1/4. As of right now my 987 has used a 1/4 of 1/4 with 1k miles… I can live with that… coincidentally last week I checked it and it was on par after showing 1 block down…. It’s the stupidest concept I’ve ever seen… absolute fail! Only check it to see actual level in the morning or I guarantee you it’ll show up as lower…

I’ll keep an eye on it. I’ll check what the mileage is tomorrow and then again the same time next month. Thanks for your input.

And I've had a few Porsches - and none of them has needed an oil top-up between 5k changes. The V8 seems to use about 500cc between 5k oil changes. So far the flat-6 hasn't needed ANY oil between 5k changes. If you're continually driving high speeds and 9/10ths performance you can expect to use more oil than someone old like me.. (who strangely tends to go slower in the Boxster with the top down.. sometimes even at the speed limit.)

Generally mine haven’t either… I just checked, I’m at 1200 miles and the gauge shows 1/4 of quart down… most 996/997/991 use a quart in less than 2000 miles… it’s ridiculous and yes it depends on driving style.. if you just putt and drive it normally it shouldn’t eat much but if your fast and furious …. Have some on hand… older motors, bore scored motors will show signs of internal issues just by oil consumption and the soot on the tail pipes, rear bumper etc… watch for the signs, motors are 20-30k

That one line down is about 8 oz . Which is not a lot and with the fact that within error it could be as little as 6 oz I do as the others say and just watch it

I believe that your engine will be happiest if you use the amount on the right picture, these engines does Not like having the oil topped to the highest mark, also IMHO one line per 600 miles is very low consumption but the best method is mentioned already based on the mileage, enjoy your car

Actually, on the 987.1 the amount each bar represents is 0.42 quarts (0.4 litres), not 0.25 quarts. That said, when it drops one bar doesn't mean the level dropped by 0.42 litres, it just means it dropped to the next category. So if when it was filled it was 0.3 litres below, it would show as full... and then when it drops another 0.1 litres it would show as being down one bar. That's why, as a previous poster said, it's important to track usage by how much you're adding over time/ mileage, not by what the bars say. They only give a rough indication.

After 3 years of ownership, and 30,000 miles I have never had to top up my oil. It has been serviced every year, but no top ups.

Your right…. We don’t know how much of that .25 quart it is low. So if it’s a 1/32 of a .25 of a quart and you add that .25 of quart it’ll be to much. One block down isn’t low it’s just a place to start chit… that’s what I meant… you got me

I’ve had my 06 Cayman S since March. Serviced it right away when I bought it. I’ve had to add about 3 quarts over the 3,000 miles or so that I’ve put on it since then. I know the motor was rebuilt around 55,000 miles (it has 65,000 now). My indy scoped it and says it looks perfect. I often notice the smell of burning oil when sitting at stoplights with the windows down or when I parkin the garage after a drive. I’d that normal, too??

Even tho this can’t be normal, it’s seems really excessive

That’s not normal. Maybe a faulty AOS ?

Manual says 900-1200 miles can use up to a quart… but I agree with you

Indy said he thought the next step was to replace AOS . Hopefully that will help. Thanks for the input, guys. Kind of freaked me out the first time the oil light popped up. It was only a couple thousand miles after the first oil change. It’s the first time I’ve driven a car that burns oil like this. Now I keep a closer eye on it.

BrettS. There are two possible ways that a car will “burn” oil. The first is blow by past the piston rings. This would happen with bore scoring. If your engine was rebuilt 10k miles ago, I would hope this is not what is happening. The second reason would be that oil is coming up from the sump and through the AOS because the AOS is no longer filtering properly. Most likely this is the case. Although I would think that during an engine rebuild the AOS would get replaced as well. If were in your shoes, I would replace the AOS . It’s not an expensive part and will hopefully fix the issue.

You can test the integrity of the AOS with a manometer ( vacuum gauge ) before you buy one. To check for bore scoring is more elaborate as you have to remove the oil pan and get to the cylinders from behind the pistons..

Every engine will use some oil, that is normal, the real question is how much High rpm’s and load will use more oil than easy driving That said 3qts in 3000 miles is not “ normal” regardless of what the cya manual state

My 2008 used about 1/2 a quart before the 5,000 mile oil change, my 2010 is the same way on the street, on the track I use about 1/3 of a quart in a 500 mile track weekend.

I replied to another thread semi recently about this level stuff … as stated above after 1200 miles I appeared to be 1 block down… 1/4 of quart give or take… cars been sitting for 2 weeks and I checked it… it’s now on the top mark… god damm I miss dips sticks…