JONES199

Is there a better way to ensure your oil level is OK, an improved sender perhaps, something that makes the needle on the dash send more meaningful info. My needle only moves to 9 oclock after car is really hot a pointed on a bit of a downslope. Everytime the the oil is checked on the dipstick it's just fine. Is there a way to make the needle move; just for piece of mind?

Geoffrey

I have found the oil level indicators in the 964/993 instrument cluster to be accurate.

Indycam

If you want to see if the needle is ok or not , suck 1 qt out of the oil tank , get the motor real hot , then add some oil back and watch what the needle does . Add a bit more and watch what the needle does .
Its not much oil from bottom of the gauge to the top .

As long as the needle goes up into the low end of the ok range when the motor is good and hot and the car is idleing on flat ground , I am happy . When the needle just gets to the bottom of ok , I add a jot of oil to get the needle back into the ok range .

JasonAndreas

How hot is really hot?



What side of the dipstick are you looking at?

YES

C4Russ

I check my gauge at every oil change against the dipstick. I've had the car two years now and I feel my guage is completely adequate for between oil changes reference.

My gauge is sensitive to about a 1/2 quart. Between the time the needle comes off the rest and the mid-point of the guage, I'll about that 1/2 quart. I figure that if the needle lifts up at all while at a warm idle, I'm good to go but it's time to top off. I use about 1/2 quart between 3000 mile intervals with Mobil 1.

YMMV. I suggest that you ensure that your car's dipstick and gauge are relative to one another and that you understand what the gauge is telling you. They are very individualistic cars as some here say they don't trust the gauge at all. However, I don't know if this mistrust is practical experience or hearsay talking to them.

MisterRisky

My mistrust is totally based on hearsay and Adrian's stated mistrust in his book. In practice mine seems pretty close, but I am still checking it at almost every gas fill.

-JD

TR6

I use the gauge exclusively. I can never seem to get clear results with the dipstick. Too hard to read. My goal is to get the gauge reading anywhere in the bottom 1/4 to 1/2 mark. I don't want to go above 1/2. Its too easy to go from there to being overfilled. I only add perhaps a quarter of a quart at a time. Sometimes even less increments. My gauge seems to respond pretty acurately once the engine reaches temperature and has been idling for several minutes on level ground. These cars really do have a large amount of oil in them. Unless you lose a LOT of oil, they won't run low enough to be a danger.

edited to correct typo. Note to self: increment isn't spelled 'incremement'...

Smokin

My gauge is DOB (Dead On *****) accurate! At my last oil change a little over a month ago I did as Greg suggested... Adding a little over a 1/4 quart at a time until I reached a hair over 1/2 way on the dipstick. The gauge reflected EXACTLY the same as the dipstick.. And I do mean exactly. As stated... Measure oil level with the engine hot, thermostat open and on level ground. (If your oil cooling fans are on, which you can hear under the front fender, your thermostat is open.)

jjbunn

On mine the gauge shows fine detail that the dipstick doesn't: I've seen it between "3" and "1" in between occasional top ups, but have never seen the dipstick showing anything other than half way between the marks.

garrett376

Jason you need a new gauge face!!!

JONES199

Sorry I guess "really hot" is a relative term. I need to take it out long for until my temp guage gets past 8 to almost 9 oclock, not a place it gets too very often. I should state that oil pressure is good and a check of the dipstick has always showns fine.

Indycam

In hawaii , years ago , I got stuck on a freeway behind a fatal car crash . It was stop and no go for hours and hours . That cooked my motor . As the motor got hoter and hoter and hoter , the oil level gauge went up and up and up . It went up into the overfill level .
I pulled over and went for a hike , when the trafic started to go again , I hiked back to my cooled off car.
The oil level was down to normal .

dfinnegan

How high did the temp gauge go?
Was the oiler cooler fan on?
What was the outside temp?

Just curious to know what these air cooled engines can take. I was recently in 90F traffic and got to the first fan level (~9pm on the temp gauge), but not much more before it started falling back close to the 8pm line.

Last year I reached 10pm on the temp gauge on the same trip into NYC in similar temps, but I have since replaced my thermostat insert as it failed early this spring. Actually, I think it failed last October, but the winter temps made it difficult to tell for sure.

garrett376

Last weekend, in 100 degree heat, while racing, my oil temp stayed just below the 10 o'clock position for the entire race (30 minute and 45 minute sprint races). No issues, no pinging, and plenty of power!!!

TR6

My oil temp goes up higher than normal on a hot track day too (DE) but is still in the acceptable range.