Loaded

Now I have a small amont of smoke and leakage (very small) around the passenger side exhaust area towards the front of the car.

WTF did I do!

I screwed up on how to check the oil and well crap you know what I did. So now instead of drainin a littel I am just gonna change oil.

glenncof

I would just drain reservoir tank and refill to correct level (this is not so easy since it must be at operating temperature). You will need to have some idea how much to put back in.

BTW, on my '85 it is fine to fill to the FULL mark. <I have read where some people suggest not filling to Full but this may apply to earlier engine.>

On the '85 there is a breather hose from the reservoir to the air box. It enters before the filter so take a look at it.

Loaded

I went out and started it after letting it set after a long drive and for the first time a puff of smoke came out..........

Mike Murphy

Puff of smoke out the back on startup is considered by many to be "normal." Now, some cars do it a lot, some cars don't do it at all, but if you ask the experts, they will tell you that it is fine.

Secondly, if you want to change the oil, fine, but if you overfilled it, you can just drop the engine drain plug, which will reduce your oil level by about 1 quart. If you overfilled it, I hope it wasn't much more than that. If yes, then you will have to change the oil.

Finally, here's how to check your oil:

1.) Start and drive the car until it reaches full operating temperature (10-20 minutes of driving, or 194F (which is the second white mark on the oil temp gauge)
2.) Park the car on a level surface and pop the engine cover open
3.) With the engine running, pull out the dipstick and wipe. Reinsert it, pull it out, hold it level and read the reading.

Most people agree that the oil level should be right in the middle between the 2 marks, but as you see above, some people can fill it full, while others admit that the car smokes if they keep it at the full mark. It shouldn't be kept below the low mark.

If you've overfilled it, the car will either smoke all the time or smoke when you hit corner or steep inclines or brake hard.

pjc

I have a '76 and fill to the 'full mark' - it's a Sporto so needs plenty of oil. Never had any problems running it full on the dipstick.

PJC

Edgy01

The longer a 911 sits the longer the 'bit' of smoke will be coming out of the system at start up. These cars have a tendency to find their own happy level. If terrible excessive simply bleed some out of the reservoir or,--easier, and more controllable, the engine block. (From the engine it doesn't come out at the speed of heat).

Peter Zimmermann

Careful, if you only drain the engine you will lose about 3.5 quarts - more if the car has sat unused for a couple of days or longer.
Pete

veggiecar300

I just picked up my new 1984 911 two days ago.
On the 6 hour trip home I noticed that the fuel level was in the red (bottom). My mechanic warned me about that, so I immediately stopped and put three quarts in. I checked the dipstick first, and it showed ok - but my mechanic said that the oil meter was a better judge, since the oil travels to the front and back. Bad idea - I should have checked the level after the first quart, because when I started up again, the meter went straight to the top. So, apparantly the meter was just not registering.(?)

Should I drain something? If so where?

mo_gearhead

Veggie,
I think you will find that most owners will tell you to IGNORE the oil level gauge and depend on the dipstick to be accurate.

JackOlsen

Fausto, you might have some oil to clean up inside your breather lines and airbox.

Veggie, the oil level gauge will be all over the place when you're driving. It's only supposed to be consulted when the motor is running, the car is stopped on a level surface and the engine temp is in the 140-180 range (drive it for 20 minutes first). Fill it to the midway point between the two marks on the dipstick.

Don't check the oil with the engine not running or not warmed up. You will overfill it. You can drain it with either drain plug (it will be messy). Some people use a turkey baster to slowly take oil out of the tank.

theiceman

Okay first things first , your mechanic with all due respect is WRONG !!!

The dipstick should be your guide to oil level and nothing else. The guage is nice , and mine is very accurate but it should NEVER replace the dipstick .

You check the oil with the car hot, on level ground, and with the engine running at about a 950-1050 rpm idle. I think your mistake was checking it with the engine off.

With that information go check your oil level . if it is overfull get a suction device and suck some out of where you poured it in. If you look you will see a hose going from the top of your oil tank ( or the filler neck ) to the engine intake , in front of the engine out of site. IF you overfill oil can go down that pipe right into your intake and directlt into your combustion chambers. , you will think the world behind you just went BLUE.

My dipstick starts with 930 ( so I can fill to the max line ) . But as a rule have it half way between min and max , incidentally the diference between min and max is 2 quarts.

The other thing you can do is drain the oil from the crankcase, if I remember corectly that represents about 3.5 quarts.

remember that this car has two places to drain the oil , the crankase and the Tank.
Pick up a Bently and read it , you will learn tonnes along with this board ..

PS congrats on the purchase, post pics when you can on a new thread , lots of great guys here.

veggiecar300

Thanks for the help. The car was definitely hot - I was driving on the highway for about 5 hours when I saw the level on the meter on red and freaked out and put 3 more quarts in.

I haven't noticed any burning oil though, so - I'll just have to re-acess and get it hot and check it again.

Thanks for the help! Will post pics when I get a chance.

JackOlsen

Just to be clear: the car can't be moving at all when you check it. It has to be idling on a level surface, not rolling.

Never add more than a quart at a time, except when you're refilling it after a change. The system was originally spec'd to run on as little as 4 quarts of total oil (about 1/3 of what the system normally has in it) under 4000 rpm, so being a quart or two low is not a huge deal, unlike a wet sump engine.

Mike Murphy

And to add an interesting note: The reason why the oil must be checked at operating temperature is because oil expands and contracts (like many liquids) when the temperature changes. So you will notice the oil gauge will gradually increase (from red) as the engine warms up.

All you have to do now is check the oil with the dipstick and report back. If you are anywhere between the lines, then you are OK. In my experience, only add 1/2 quart at a time if you are in range. Turkey baster should do the trick if you are over.

You will know if you are over if you are leaving a trail of smoke to kill the mosquitoes everywhere you go

kplackmeyer

Sounds kinda tricky to do it while it's rolling....more of a 2 person job, I would think.