Ticking after siting for 2 weeks.

I just picked up my car after having the hood stripped and repainted. It's been sitting at the Autobody shop for two weeks. My dash oil indicator indicated empty while I started also once the car was started the car had an annoying ticking sound as if absolutely no oil was in the engine. I turned the engine off to check the dipstick. It indicated very low. I drove about 1/4 mile to the dealership to pick up a quart of oil ($10.45!). Where did all of my oil go? I didn't have an oil leak 2 weeks ago. Is this common for long term parking of P-Cars? The ticking went away after a 4 mile ride to my office which I hope is a good sign. I'm sort of paranoid right now.

I have never heard of any car being that low from sitting. It would have to be pouring out to loose that much. I am curious to see if you find out more info.

When you shut the engine off... how long did you wait before you checked the dipstick?.... reason being it take awhile for the oil to drop back down to the pan... as for the digital oil gauge, never really like them.

If the car is not parked on a flat surface, would the dipstick still be correct?

DC, my 99 996 makes a similar noise when I start it, after it has been sitting for more than a day. It goes away after a few seconds. My previous 99 996 did the same thing. I had it at the dealership for a few days and had a mechanic that I trust, start the car. My previous 996 would make a terrible noise upon starting, after sitting for a day or more. He listened to the noise and said it was normal in the 99 996 and I shouldn't worry about it. He told me that it was from the oil draining down to the bottom of the engine. It would be nice to have an Accusump type system to provide oil pressure, prior to starting the car. Both my cars were topped up on oil, when I experienced the start-up noise.

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No. The electronic dash gauge at startup only indicates the last quart of oil...If you are at one bar, it takes approx. one quart for it to read full again. Apparently, the ideal level is supposed to be in the center and not full.

I poured the 1 quart in that I purchase from the steelership for $10.45 as you may recall. As I left from work, the dash indicator still was blinking empty. I then went around to the dipstick which did show a bit of improvement from when I checked it at the dealership, still it was rather low. I ended up driving home but I stopping at Walmart to pick up some oil( $5.67). Of course the oil debate from this board was in the back of my head when I realized there was no 0w-40 on their shelves. Anyway, I get home, did some work around the yard for about 40 minutes before returning to check on the 996. Sure enough the dash indicator is off the scale reading full to capacity. It's almost time for an oil change so as soon as I find some 0w40 I'll get rid of the excess.

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Mine has made that noise before but never for as long. Then again, I've never "not" driven my 996 for 16 days in the past, the horror!

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Once I started the car, I drove to the end of the block onto what I think was an old gas station. I shut the car off then waited until dash oil indicator's countdown was complete, which took over 9 minutes.

As to the ticking. Mine does the same thing. If it sits a day or 2, it will tick for no more than a couple of minutes, or until I accelerate. I assumed it was from oil not being dispersed throughout the engine. Sounds like I may be right. As to the guage and oil loss. I read on this board the average oil consumption for these cars is about 1 qt./600 miles. Mine falls in that catagory. As to the "loss". Look under the car around the engine and engine/transmission connection. If there's no oil there, you must have consumed it. I didn't drip and evaporate away. It either leaked out, is in your coolant tank mixed w/you coolant, or more likely just got consumed and you didn't notice until you stopped it for 2 weeks. The ticking made you aware. I check my oil w/the guage every time I drive. It's level in the garage at that time and all the oil's in the pan. I figure at that point(engine cold) it should be in the medium point or slightly above. I like my guage. I use it as a relative measurement and confirm with the dipstick periodically. Just remember, you can't check the oil hot one time, cold the next, and compare. Try to eliminate variables. make sure it's level, same amount to temperature, same amout of time since last driven, etc..

So have those of you who burn an riduculas amount of oil tried changing to a better oil? It blows my mind that Porsche has been able to get around EPA regulations burning a quart of oil every 2 tankfuls of gas. What is even more mind boggling is that so many of you accept this flaw and "normal" and do nothing about it. Why should Porsche build a better car when there are so many willing to pay a premium for sub standard engineering?

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my 01 c4 has 60k miles and hasn't burned a drop of oil, near as i can tell, before and after my 60k service. i've been pretty careful to check oil levels (every other day, the car is my DD) but i've only had the car for 2k miles and it's been 600 miles since my 60k service so my experience may not hold up over the long haul, but only time will tell. i continue to check oil levels, but only weekly (about as often as i fill up) and will, of course, post something if i experience oil loss.

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Maybe I wasn't clear, but I never used the 3 quarts I purchased from Walmart and the 1 quart I bought from the dealership was 1 quart too much. I swear if this car wasn't a Porsche(with a threat of engine failure) I wouldn't have thought twice about the ticking nor what seemed to be a loss of oil until the 2nd day of driving.

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i hear you. i've never checked oil/fluid levels so often in any other car that i've owned. but then again i've never cared so much about any other car i've owned.

I have had two 996s and each would tick first thing in the morning when I started them up. As far as the amount of time it takes for the oil to drain properly so you can check it with the dip stick I think it depends how long you drove it before you shut off the car. If you have an on-board computer and put the key in accessory mode I think it will count-down the time until you can check the dip stick. I am not an expert but would guess there is nothing at all wrong with your car.

My 99 also had a slight ticking noise at start-up that lasted for a couple of minutes, but it was tolerable. Not too familiar with the Porsche engine internals, but in my other cars that I have built over the years, V8 push rod engines, ticking from the engine at start-up was associated if it sat for a while as the lifters would drain out the oil from them while they sat (because of pressures on them from the valve train), and so it took a minute or two for them to get back up to pressure, these being hydraulic lifters for the cam, solid lifters always made noise, rollers are better but still need pressure. Once the oil warmed up and the oil pressurized the lifters, the ticking noise went away. The length of time it took for this depended on the temperature outside and the oil viscosity (i.e. 20W50 vs. 10W40).