Oil level sender ? Yet another question on elctronic gauge vs. dipstick

Hi all, My electronic gauge says I am all the way to the top (one bar too high) when cold. After the engine is warm and up to temp if I turn the car off, wait a few seconds and then do the 30 second countdown, the oil level shows correctly FULL (top light bar empty). My problem is - the dipstick is right in the middle all the time. Cold, warm, etc. If I go by the electronic gauge as Porsche recommends, I am slightly overfilled. If I go with the dipstick, I would be towards the very bottom of the stick for the gauge to not show overfilled. I don't know what my problem is or how to get the gauges to agree. Any ideas? I figure I may need to replace or clean my oil LEVEL sender (not the PRESSURE sensor). Does that sound right, or is there a simpler way? I have a 2001 with the correct older dipstick design. Thank you in advance for any help.

Oh, and I've searched and searched and could not find anything to answer this, but if there is a thread that answers this question please point me in the right direction.

The conventional wisdom is to go by the stick but I rely on the electronic guage. 10X's easier to read, you don't get dirty and I think I am just as likely to misread the dip stick.

Well the Gauge is very Accurate. 2006+ 911's dont even have Dip Sticks, my buddies 08 does not. You have to make sure your car is Level to get Accurate Reading.

My gauge and stick do not agree either. The gauge reads one bar higher than the stick before I wake her up after overnight rest in the level garage. It's 9 quarts of oil, we are talking about 1/2 to 3/4 quart. I trust the stick and run mine one bar lower. I use the gauge as a relative indicator of if/when to add oil. BTW what oil is best??

The one you're using.

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I don't understand, Barn. I'm using both, but I like the dipstick's readings (middle) better than the gauge's readings (overfilled when cold, full but not overfilled when warm). Doesn't mean that's the one to go by, though, so I thought I'd ask you guys what you would do. So is there a way to get them to agree? Should I go low on the dipstick to make the gauge never show overfilled (trust gauge)? Should I be happy that my dipstick is right in the middle, check that regularly, and forget the gauge?

I have my first appointment for my 2000 C4 scheduled for the 18th. I have this same question. I looked at the dashboard gauge before I start my car up and it shows I am in the middle when cold. The stick shows I am a little above acceptable when hot. I have this as a question to ask my mechanic and will post the results. He may have my car for a few days as I have a few items for him to work on. My 85 had an analog gauge but I was told to only use the stick.

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I believe his response was to fpb111's oil question. We have had some really ugly, knock down, drag out "discussions" here over the years on which oil is best to use. Best to decide which one works for you and leave it at that. But I think fpb111 already knows that. He was just having a go at us.

Sorry Hugh, Bad RL oil joke

oil.jpg Here is what my manual says, in '99 all maybe all the bugs were not worked out

Thanks Thundertub, I completely missed the little 'what oil' question thrown in the response by fbb and therefore didn't understand Barn's response. Let's not go there - it'll get 1999Porsche911 involved and probably digress into a discussion of the 'Mobil Water'. Thanks MissMy993, I hadn't noticed that. However, my owner's manual also recommends oil weights that are now not recommended anymore and would get this board all in a tizzy, so I don't even know if my manual can be trusted completely anymore. I suppose I'll just keep on doing what I'm doing and monitor both, but ultimately trust the dipstick. If I am in the back of the engine sometime in the future, I may remove and clean my oil-level indicator and see if that makes any difference. It's frustrating that they don't agree though. My gauge seems to show 1/2 to 3/4 quart higher than my stick. -Hugh

What's the right way to read the dipstick? Warm/cold? Idle/off?

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you have to read it from left to right.... dipstick read with engine cold at level position....

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You need to verify the level by an independent method. This is not hard to do. Drain the oil like normal. Remove the filter and replace it with a new one. I do not know the oil capacity of your car's engine but let's say it is 8.5 quarts (with a filter change). Add 8 quarts. As per the owners manual check the oil level, using the dipstick and the in-dash display. The oil should show on the dipstick telltale above the min. mark and below the max. mark. If this is the case then add the remaining half quart of oil to bring the oil level where you like to run it on the dipstick. Done. If this is not the case the dipstick is wrong. If the dipstick comes up below the min. mark is either too short or not being inserted correctly, all the way. Dump in the half quart. You now know you have put in the stated capacity of the engine. Again check the oil level and note where it is. If the dipstick is being inserted correctly and it is not jamming/binding up then perhaps someone installed the wrong dipstick. You might take the original one to a local Porsche parts department and see if you can compare it to a new one of the proper part number, that is compare the two dipstick's lengths. If the level on the dipstick reads too high the the dipstick is too long. Again it might be the wrong dipstick. Or if you want, note the discrepancy and live with it, adapt to it. As long as the discrepancy is consistent and you know say if the oil level comes up to halfway between the min. mark and the max. mark and the engine had 8.5 quarts of oil added to it then the engine has the right amount of oil in it. The dipstick just reads a bit low. Or if the oil level is too high same thing, kind of. The dispstick is just being optimistic. You know the oil is not overfilled just the dipstick is telling you the oil level is higher than it should be given you *know* how much oil you added to the engine. If the level is about where it ought to be add enough oil to bring the level up to near(er) the max. mark (but not over it and I prefer to stay below the max. mark line/level to allow for oil expansion as it gets hot). Once you have established the dipstick's error, or lack of it, then you can use the in-dash display. If its reading is too far from what you now know to be correct you will either have to ignore in-dash gage or perhaps replace the oil level sender or learn to live with the error. Up to you. Be sure the car is level. My 02 Boxster's oil level was just 2 bars above min the other day and I parked on a crowned road -- road surface dipped to the right -- to run into the post office. When I came back out the low bar was blinking. Just a bit of a slope down to the right caused the level to drop two or more bars enough to cause the thing to flash. I had checked the oil level just a few minutes earlier at the beginning of the trip that ended with me parking the car in front of the post office, so I was confident the oil level was ok. However, I did drive around the block and pull over and added enough oil to bring the level up to near the max line on the dipstick and since my car's in-dash display and dipstick agree the oil level -- when I checked it with the car level once more -- was just 2 bars below the max line on the in-dash display. BTW, what happened to me is one argument for not running the oil level way down cause in the earlier cars that do not prohibit and oil level check if the car is not quite level enough can scare the bejeeus out of someone. (The oil was due to be changed in a day or two so I was reluctant to add any oil but peace of mind is worth a half to 3/4s a quart of oil.) With my 03 Turbo, which has no dipstick, when I change the oil, *every* time change the oil, I perform a check of the in-dash oil level function. (I double check the Boxster's dipstick and in-dash oil level display too *every* time I change the oil in the Boxster.) I drain the oil, then add the stated oil capacity less 1/2 quart. I check the oil level as per the manual and of course it reads a bit low on the in-dash display. But this tells me the in-dash display (and of course the oil level sensor) is at least accurately reporting the oil level. I then add oil to bring the level up to near the max mark and that's that. Now my Turbo's in-dash oil display (the on-board computer) will not perform an oil check if the car's not level enough (or the oil hot enough or the engine not running at idle -- Turbo engine has true dry sump and one checks its oil differently than those models that don't have a dry sump system). In short by paying close attention to the amount of oil you put in the engine then you verify the oil level reporting mechanisms (dipstick, in-dash oil level display) agree. If they do, done. If not then you have to decide what you can live with or can't live with and take corrective action. A new dipstick? Replacing the engine oil level sensor/sender? Sincerely, Macster.

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Correct.

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With engine off?

Wait a second, I thought that regardless of how you check your oil level the car should be off, at operating temperature, and given enough time for the oil to make its way back in the sump? I check my oil: with the stick on a flat surface about 3-5 minutes after I have shut the car off after bringing it up to full operating temp. That, I believe is the correct way to check the oil in the M96 engined 996. But, I've been wrong before.

I really don't trust this catalog anymore...have you tried filling 8.5 Liters of oil in a carerra? smoked the hell out of the country...and i don't trust the automatic sensors anymore...lost oil pressure because of nearly empty oil tank, the sensor still gives me nearly full!!!...