PhilNotHill

When I took our 2011 Boxster S out of storage the electronic dip stick showed the oil to the max (overfull). Took the car in for annual service at an independent shop that specializes in German cars. they put in the correct amount of oil.

the car is still under warranty with 18k miles and expires February, 2015. Until now, no problems at all.

Any ideas? Any technical service bulletins on this?

Yes. I wish we had a manual dip stick.

Best

terbiumactivated

If they put the correct amount in then some residual may have been just enough to trigger the overfill level indicator. I always fill it 1/2 quart low and then add slowly each drive till it clicks to full.

Marine Blue

Additional moisture in the oil could have also caused it. A hard drive might have burned that off and been back to normal.

When my car arrived from Germany it was showing overfilled. Drove it that way for 1200 miles with no issues.

orthojoe

I can't figure out the stupid oil indicator light on my spyder. One day only 1/2 of the bars are lit, and the next day all of the bars will be lit. I don't get it.

terbiumactivated

Ojoe that sounds like a sensor or display malfunction. I'm not wild about the NASA "countdown to oil reading", making the simple complicated approach to maintaining proper level. Its like that Ideal mousetrap game only with oil.

sjfehr

If you put your car away hot, the hot thin oil will drip out of the engine and give your "fullest" indication the next day.

If you back your car out of your driveway cold and stop, your car probably won't show anything at all but a 60 minute countdown, because all that cold viscous oil is throughout your engine and would appear very low and potentially lead to overfilling. Wait an hour and check it, and you'll probably see it around half full, even if it read full 61 minutes prior.

So, if your level is between halfway and full depending on when you measure: you're just about perfect. Best to get in the habit of only checking the level the day after parking it hot as opposed to random measurements.

Marine Blue

I generallly measure once a month and only after a long drive. I remember reading that the oil needs to be hot to get an accurate measurement.

terbiumactivated

It wont read if it isn't a given temperature

the_vetman

OP, it's very easy to overfill our cars and even respected indies have been known to screw it up (personal experience). Oil needed for a full fill depends on how long you drain it for. I've added anywhere from 7.5 to 9 L depending on the drainage time.

And as others have posted, the gauge can be very sensitive on how flat the ground is, any sloping, and how hot the oil is. Even a minor slope can lead to a difference in 1 segment on the gauge. Really hot oil will often add a segment to the reading as well.

IIRC, the entire fill gauge from the bottom line to max full is only a little over 400 ml, i.e. only small amounts will vary a gauge a lot. There have been reports of dealers misfilling the engine also.

p.s. the easiest way to remove a little oil is to take the oil filter housing off and dump out the oil within.

Macster

Was the oil level ok when you put the car away?

BTW, I would advise you in the future to change the oil/filter *before* you put the car away for the season.

The oil change is the time for the electronic oil level system is to be checked for proper function.

This involves draining the oil as per the factory workshop manual guideline, which usually has the engine up to some minimum temperature (170F IIRC), and allowing the oil to drain a specific amount of time. Used to be 20 minutes or maybe 30 minutes, but the DFI engines have a one hour drain time.

There is an overnight drain time too.

Depending upon the drain time and engine a specific amount of oil is added to the engine. This amount is I've been told tied to the car's VIN. The owners manual may not have the right quantity.

Then the oil level is checked using the electronic oil level system. The reading should agree with what the factory calls out in the workshop manual. For instance for my Turbo the factory guideline is the oil level should be at the max. line, not above, nor below.

By following the proper oil drain/refill procedure the electronic oil level system is checked for proper operation.

It is risky to use the system to "measure" the amount of oil to put in the engine for if the system is not working right the engine could end up with wrong amount of oil. Too much is bad enough but too little can be a catastrophe.

PhilNotHill

The oil level was OK when we put the car away for the winter.

We put on 5k miles per year.

Warranty requires we change oil every 10k miles or annually. Warranty expires March 2015. So far the car has needed no warranty work.

The car was delivered in March and so we change the oil every March when we take out of storage. Never thought of changing the oil twice a year. we change the oil annually on all our cars.

Audi S4 is annually or 10k miles. 5k first service.
Ferrari 458 Spider is 12.5k miles or annually. 7 years free maintenance.

Best

Macster

It is best to change the oil *before* putting the car away for the season. This way the oil is as fresh as it can be and contains minimal acid.

If you put the car away at the end of the driving season with used oil in the engine the engine sits with acidic oil over the off season.

I won't bore you with why this is not good.

My advice would be to get the oil change schedule switched, have an "extra" change done, so you end up putting the car away with fresh oil. Ideally you get the oil/filter service done, drive the car around just enough to confirm all is well, then park the car for the season.

My info is the electronic oil level system when it goes bad is just stops generating a reading. The wire breaks, I guess.

However, after taking one of these oil level sensors apart I can see where it could fail another way -- the wire comes loose and moves around in the oil -- which could deliver I think an erratic reading depending upon how much of the wire was submerged in the oil.

Regardless, it is very important at oil change time the proper procedure be followed to confirm the oil level system is operating correctly and delivers the expected reading under controlled conditions.

If the electronic oil level system is operating correctly the OK oil level when the car was put away for the off season vs. the too high oil level when it was brought back into service for the driving season was the oil level check before the car was put away was not done properly. The car was not level, or the oil was not up to temperature when it was shut off thus the reading was less than the actual amount of oil in the engine.

I have noticed with my Boxster that if I do not run the engine until it is fully up to temperature and go to check the oil even if the engine has been shut off long enough the count down timer starts at 5 seconds, the level will not be the same as if I had run the engine to temperature then shut off engine and taken a reading some time later. The difference in the oil level reading can be 2 bars on the display.

If the oil change was not done properly you really do not know anything about the electronic oil level system and if this was used to "measure" the amount of oil being added to the engine the engine could have too much oil or not enough oil.

PhilNotHill

Makes sense.

Thanks