Oil consumption

Anyone had a problem with their 996 burning oil? If I extrapolate [8|] current consumption, I seem to be burning about a litre per 1,000 miles - is this " normal" ? Motor has done 3,000 miles Regards Ian 2003 model C4S

Ian, I had a similar oil problem. Then I noticed small oil drops on my garage floor (2 or 3 drops when ever parking after the engine had got warm). They thought it was a loose oil pressure sensor but actually turned out to be a dodgy oil seal that they replaced. Mark MY02 C2

Thanks Mark Since spoken to my OPC who reckons this rate of consumption is OK - it is up to 1 litre per 600 miles for a Turbo! Trying to work out where to pack 3 litres for the PCGB two factory tour.... Regards Ian C4S

My cat keeps walking across my keyboard and deleted a bit of my last post! No oil drops on the floor, so looks as if it is burning it. Regards Ian C4S

Ian My C4S has similar mileage and similar oil consumption - I' ve been told by the OPC that there' s nothing to worry about - perfectly normal for the car to use more oil than usual for the first few thousand miles. Do you go by the electronic indicator or by the dipstick - there seems to be a big difference between the two which makes me wonder how accurate the electronic indicator is. Also does anyone know if accidental overfilling (slight) has any significant consequences? Vimal

I dont tend to bother with the electronic indicator, on the same day it will range from 2 bars above maximum (in my garage) to just under half-full on a garage forecourt. Whearas the dipstick shows just under the max line.

Porsche' s info says oil consumption of up to 1.5 litres per 1000 km (600m) is normal and that consumption may be higher during running in.[8|] I have the opposite observation (I won' t say problem). Mine burns almost nothing. I was careful about running it in and am gentle till it is warm. It gets driven 60+ miles every day [ ][ ] I have noticed that the electronic measurement is very susceptible to the car attitude. The camber of the road makes a difference, parking on opposite sides or facing in opposite directions make a difference, so does parking it facing up or down a gentle slope. It is more sensitive than I expected. Since where I live is not flat, I check to make sure when I turn it on it is not below the min, but rely on the reading after fillling up (since most garages are flat) for an accurate reading. I should probably check the dipstick more often, but I trust the electric jobby and I' m lazy. I would only bother looking if it goes off the bottom (or top) of the scale.

From my experience the oil consumption seems to be linked mainly to how the car was " run in" . If it was driven quite (or very) hard in the early day' s then consumption will be higher through out it' s life (although all new cars have high initial consumption as the engine bed' s in!). Having said this I have owned a number of Porkers, some with high consumption, which showed no mechanical problems, you just had to keep an eye on the oil guage !! Drive hard, don' t worry enjoy!!

I am running my C4S in, and have had to put half a litre of Mobil 1 in after 600 miles. This was based on the electronic meter. I will now check the dipstick as well after all your comments.

I think the key to using the electronic display is always checking the oil in the same place to get a " relative" reading (eg before reversing out of the garage) [X(]

That won' t work because relative changes in oil level are not important, that will only show you the consumption rate, you need to know the ' real' level otherwise you will never know if the ' real' oil level has dropped below minimum and you might be damaging your engine. Use the dipstick, its your only safeguard!

I wonder whether the reading on the dipstick also varies with the angle the car is parked.... must check that. Rodney, from your previous post when you mentioned that the oil was OK despite the differing readings on the display, was this when it was reading overfull, half empty or both?[8|] Regards Ian

Hey Ian, Well on the same day a few months back, I checked the digital meter in two locations and used the dipstick. In my garage, since I' ve owned the car (Boxster 2.5 tip last July) its always shown 1 bar above max, then I drove to a garage forecourt it showed 2 bars below max line, and later using the dipstick in my garage, the oil level was just below the max line. I think of all places to use the digital meter, the garage forecourt should be the most reliable, however a few months back one led to a display of 1 bar below minimum on my meter! I' m sure you' re right that the pitch and tilt of the car will probably also affect the dipstick reading, but probably to a lesser degree, not sure tho!

I thought I would give you an update: I put in about two thirds of a litre of Mobil 1 last weekend after 3000 miles, since the guage was one bar off the bottom (after filling with petrol). This puts it comfortably back in the middle. I expect this puts me at the low end of the oil burning range. FYI - Halfords do 4 litres for £34.99. I thought there was only one Mobil 1, but there are at least 2 grades, so get the 0W-40.

Most 911s evacuate some smoke on start up due to the horizontally opposed cylinder configuration. There are no rules on oil consumption. Some do - some don't. It should stabilize after a running in period.

The point re oil consumption is well expanded on the PCA site http://www.pca.org/tech/tech_qa_area.asp?id=8 They talk of new engines using a lot of oil until they are run in - this may well be different than the 3.4 engine which was in you old 996 and which is in mine which is a 1998 with 120k miles on it now. From my understanding the new ones use an excessive amount of oil until they are run in which can take up to 5-10k miles it seems but that once run in will revert to normal levels of consumption. My own has not used any perceptible amount of oil in the last 3k miles so I would say it is probably ok - not that I know but on it isn't what you expect of a 60k+ car. Take a look at the American site - it is a bit of an ey opener.

Thanks Grant, excellent web site, answered all my questions

Mine has done 19K and consumes about 1 litre per 6000 miles of normal driving (e.g. 60 miles per day at motorway speeds). I ran it in carefully, following the same process as the previous 4 new cars I have had (from other manufacturers). These settled down after 5K miles and then never used any. The Porsche used slightly more for the first 3K miles and has then been steady. I don't consider it an issue, and it is well within the amount allowed for in the user manual (1 litre per 1000km if I remember correctly, which I think would be an issue). The yellowish sludge or mayonnaise, seems to be normal. It's been there since shortly after new (1 or 2 months). It seems to do no harm and the garage never mentioned it when it was serviced (and there was no way they would have missed it). I read on here about a year ago that it is normal, so never worried.

I too mentioned the yellow stuff to my local dealer recently and they informed me that it was due to condensation and was nothing to worry about. The only issue I have is that filling the oil up to the correct level seems to be tricky because I put a bit in, turn the ignition on and test the gauge (on the dash) and no movement. Put a bit more in - nothing, put a tiny bit more in and bingo - all of the bars are lit showing an overfill. Now I haven't over filled it by a long way (I think) but what if I have done some damage?