My first warning: "oil indicator failure"

I got my very first warning in the display when out on my usual Sunday drive/cruise and my heart skipped a few beats and sweat started to form on my forehead. A few days ago, I topped the car up with about 1/2 liter oil and realized that each bar only accounts for about 0.2 liters so I filled 'er up a tiny more than I should have. Anyway, the display showed the oil to be full (as expected) and I have driven the car very sporadic and only for smaller trips (less than 5-10 min per drive). Engine sounds perfect as always... So, Yesterday, while driving I hear a a beep, looked in the display and saw that oil canister symbol followed by the text "oil indicator failure". My heart skipped a few beats but I was thinking this cannot have any devastating effect as 1) The oil is topped up, 2) The oil pressure is still a 2.5 when pushing in the clutch and letting the car roll jumping to 5 when releasing the clutch and pressing the accelerator, 3) No red warning light in the display. Drove home, parked the car, and saw the ! in front of messages. Switched off the engine, waited a few minutes, turned the key to do the oil measurement again and the warning had gone and the oil was measured as expected. What now? I gather this was just a misreading somewhere in the system and I should probably say this to the garage when taking the car for service next time or should I have this looked at now immediately? I have seen some other posts around the net on the subject, but people have a tendency to jump the gun and draw up conclusions which cases even more panic than doing anything good.

It's normal happened to me twice, if your that worried replace your oil sender sensor. Done!

What Bull said, except I would call it a common failure instead of normal

Thanks guys... Knowing this, I can now sleep a bit better at night :-)

Just replaced my oil sender unit. $55 at the dealer. I wasn't exhibiting those symptoms, but just jumpy and errorneous readings. Get a 19 mm crowsfoot, a long extension and socket ratchet. Easily done. Took all of 15 minutes.

This happened to me literally a block after driving away as the new owner of my car. As those say above, the oil pressure sender in these cars can get a bit wonky. You might try cleaning off the contacts before you replace it. Sometimes it is just a bad contact.

Funny. I have the C2 in at the dealer for preventative water pump replacement. I tell the service writer that I am in no hurry as I have the C4S and it is running great with the new engine that Porsche donated to me last April. I get a mile from home and warning indicator goes off and oil pressure gauge drops to zero then bounces to max and back to zero. But I don't sweat because it happened to me twice in the C2 - two replaced senders. Sender on the C4S is under warranty since it came with the new engine. Not sure if the sender is different but it is mounted differently - up top on the right - looks like it would be and easy DIY but I'll let the warranty cover it. As the dealer says, there is a reason that they keep a ton of these in stock.

OK, now it came back on and this time the oil pressure indicator on the right side of the dash, fell to 1 and then went up to 5 and stayed put. I drove home (5 min drive) and restarted the engine and it seemed like it went back to normal. Now, not knowing if this is just an indication error or actually the oil pump (?) maybe I should drive the car to my Porsche garage and leave it there for repairs? It's only 20 miles (about 30 km) away... I'm getting worried now... How would I know if the oil pump has folded? Is there anything else I should have "looked" at or replaced while they are at it in that area? Cheerio, F PS. Still not as much as one drop of oil is leaking if it makes any difference...

It is not the pump, it is the archaic sensor. Some oil pressure sensors for our cars are already malfunctioning when new. Symptoms of the dead/dying sensor are the "oil indicator failure" and oil pressure gauge falling to zero. Few seconds/minutes later gauge jumps back to 5. I had this happening once a week for over a year, never bothered with sensor replacement.

Frank - Did you ever replace your old sensor? If not, then you should. I've not had to do it myself, but from all indications, it is a cheap, easy and common repair - kind of like the ignition switch. Until you do change it, it will probably continue to give you wonky readings - it isn't likely to fix itself. Plus, if you have a real problem with your oil system, a bad sensor may hide that problem.

Oil sending unit. Would get that stupid warning when I'm heading back to paddock only. On track no warning. Mike

kcattorney, I must confess, bow my head in shame and say no :-( As it only popped up this one time I didn't pay it much more attention and did get to drive around before it came up again. As you can read, first time the oil pressure indicator in the dash board did not react to the warning but second time around it did. I have booked time with Porsche in Bern (the one in Switzerland) for the following week after the next to have it fixed. Just hope they have and open spot for me... I'm anything but an DIY person and especially as I do not have a private garage but rather have the car parked in the secure communal parking basement at my home. Thanks all for your feedback and pointers with this issue... Anything oil makes me VERY nervous tbh ;-)

Let's recall........996 has an oil dipstick too! Hmmm let's talk about the best viscosity now......

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But surely that will not give any indicatory on the oil pressure and/or if the oil pump is working or not?

I had the same thing 2 weeks ago. At first, my heart skipped a beat. Then I listen to the engine, checked my mirrors for any smoke, watched the tach carefully and all was good. Although oil pressure had dropped for a second, it had come up to normal range and no CEL. I figured it's either the sensor or it's connections or an electrical glitch. Got home and 2 hours later when I came back the warning was gone. Checked with my mechanic and he said just stope by at some point to replace sensor but not an emergency.

Car going in for service on the 26th of October to have this checked out and fixed... Changing the water pump as well - as a precaution - while at it :-)

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I've had the issue and was at least partially re-assured that there was a normal oil level with the dipstick....at least its something you can verify in the 996. That's all I'm saying.....

happened to me yesterday. My first thought was WTF? Then I did a search, read this post and my fears were suspended.

It was a faulty sensor that had to be changed so that part alone cost me about CHF 100 + labour + VAT (around USD 100 + all the extras)...

Guys, what's the proper torque for the tightening of the Oil Pressure Sensor?

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There is no straight shot to use a torque wrench even with an extension unless your emgine is out. I just went by feel. There's an aluminum crush washer on it so you just need to make sure it's tight enough to crush that lightly to seal. Err on the loose side if in doubt and you can always tighthen it more if it leaks. No fun if you strip or break the thread there.

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Thanks! I changed it today and an oil/filter change (Joe Gibbs) then drove the car a bit and once warmed up, the pressure sensor was a lot more responsive than before and it made it very obvious that the old unit was faulty. And no more "Oil Indicator Failure" fault and no more heart beat skips because pressure doesn't suddenly drop to zero during WOT. Happy camper!

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I know the feeling haha. Btw, another indication the sensor is bad is when you turn the key to the last position before cranking, the oil pressure should read very close to 0. If it reads 0.5 or more, the sensor is bad and can fail soon.

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Thanks for the tip. Hopefully I won't need to worry about it for a while.

so I take it "took all of 15min" means you wont need to drain oil to do this? got this twice, it comes and goes so fast I cant see a change in the oil pressure. its happened twice in about a week span or 300 miles or so. also this is on a 04 996 GT3. looks very accessible which is good news I guess/

The sensor is on top of the engine, the oil sump is at the bottom... No oil will be lost when changing the oil pressure sender/sensor...

I figured, but wanted to be sure thank you!

K1 - your GT3 is a dry sump which means the oil tank is located behind the sender you are going to replace. Even so, no oil will come out of the oilway apart from the small amount inside the sender unit itself. Its vey simple to replace - if awkward - and shouldn't take more than a few minutes if the engine is "cold". I've replaced mine a couple of times.....