tomekz

Had a weird oil level issue today. When I change my oil I always leave it two bars level below the top indicator. So exactly 8 qt of oil. Last oil change was about 50 days ago, driving today on the highway, the excessive oil level warning comes on. Looked at the level indicator, and it showed green all the way to the top. Odd. Drove it for another 15 miles or so, got off at an exit and stopped at a gas station to fill up the car. When I started the car again, now it's showing one green bar from the top - so still technically higher where I had it but good.. Drove it another 5 miles. Parked the car for one hour. After about an hour later drove it home on the highway for 30 or so miles. Still showing one bar from the top.
Odd. Anyone else seen something like that. It's a 2014 S with 39k miles.

saabin

I always leave mine a little less than halfway.. not sure which bar that is on the gauge..

I had some oddities when I first got my car and had the overfill warning a few times.. it seems it’s temperature dependent and would always read higher when the oil was really hot ( after a spirited run, for example)

once I started only filling to just under half way on the gauge I never had any more issues in over 40k miles of driving.

tomekz

I have been filling up the car with oil exactly the same way for 3 years and watch it every time I drive the car. Never once has that level changed until last night.

dps214

I don't think this is the source of your issue, but I'm struggling to understand why you'd voluntarily run the car a quart low on oil. Also it's not exactly a prescribed amount that comes out when you drain the oil, blindly filling a preset amount ignoring what came out seems like a bad idea.

That all said your real problem sounds like either a bad level sensor or just some kind of random bad reading that one time.

Kitc2246

It is too easy to overfill the P cars with the electronic dip stick. Not allowing enough time for a full drain is the common mistake. The long drain time and fill process is one reason shops charge a lot to change Porsche oil. As you indicated the top bar is overfilled. Too much oil can be a bad thing. Overwhelming the AOS is one. Removing the extra oil is not simple. You can't siphon. Removing the drain plug, especially when hot, is dangerous and potentially a real mess. Removing the oil filter cannister multiple times can be done. A complete drain into a clean container and refill is probably the safest method.

Had a previous car overfilled by two quarters one time. Finally had Jiffy Lube drain oil into graduated container, took photo, refilled to right level, took picture back to shop. Told them they were completely incompetent. I had given them the right amount of oil. Managed to add an additional two quarts and then wanted to argue about it.

tomekz

Not exactly sure why it would be a quart low when I have it to the mark as shown in the photo: putting in 8qt.. Doesn't the manual say 7.5L which is 7.9 qt. ????? I have done a little over 8 qt before and the car told me it was excessive. my understanding is that anywhere between the two marks is good anyway.

tomekz

I did not overfill the oil. 8qts isn't going to do that. I always use 8qt more or less. I have driven the car more than a few hundred miles since the last oil change without any change in oil level and I watch it every time I get into the car and it's always been filled so the top too marks are not green.

'

ICNU

The photo you have posted is the perfect 100% fill. The top bar isn't supposed to be green, and each bar is around .43 L if I recall from the manual, so its not going to instantly destroy anything even if at the bottom bar. Two bars down like you describe doing is actually only 75% filled, so there shouldn't have been any oil overfill warning of any kind, and I vote fake incorrect reading for whatever temporary reason.

I would do a 1 hour drain on mine (warm oil), and it was always a perfect fill every time with exactly 8 litres which is about 8.45 quarts

tomekz

my point was that I always filled it to the black lines I marked. never had an issue. last night it went to all green bars and gave me a warning, after stopping the car it went one bar down, but is still one bar higher than I had it and always fill to. guess I will monitor it for a while. porsche says the oil capacity is 7.5L which is 7.9 qts.

okie981

Well.....not to be alarmist, but if you are sure you've done it exactly the same as previous times, and this time it increased after you did the change but was initially what you expected, there are bad things that can increase the oil level such as internal cooland leaks or fuel injector leaks, both possibly capable of causing the oil level to gradually increase.

tomekz

that's what I am thinking too. Though probably unlikely as I just had an oil analysis done by Lake Speed at SpeedDiagnostix and no issues were found (less than two months ago). Odd that it was all the way to the top but after turning the car off at the gas station and turning it back on, it dropped one level.

hoping it's just a sensor issue.

tomekz

checked the level of the coolant, and it's definitely not it. Not a drop is missing and since the oil level went up by two bars on the gauge that would mean about 1/2 qt of oil at least. Don't think gas is getting there at that level either. At this point most likely sensor issue. Will drive it maybe this weekend and see if things change and hook up the PIWIS 3 and double check things. Though, I would think the level on the gauge and the PIWIS would be read from the same sensor.

Thacker

My understanding is that on many cars, oil level never changes between changes not because the engine does not consume oil, but because one of the natural byproducts of gasoline combustion is water, which can then make its way into the engine oil and keep the oil level the same, or even higher...

Do you do a lot of short distance driving where the engine oil never reaches 212 F/100 C?

tomekz

No, I do not drive short distances, every time I take the car out I do at least 30+ miles. I owned the car for 3 years, not once did it have any issues with the level changing, even when I first got the car and actually did a bunch of short trips without knowing that it was not that good for these cars. This was the first time ever that it change at all.

slivel

I've had my car for over 9 years now and have always done my own oil changes. I overfilled once. It was the first oil change and my method was jacking up only the rear end of the car. I put the specified quantity of oil in and it was overfilled. Ever since that time I raise the car to level (I have a Quick Jack) and I've never had another problem with overfill. I attributed my over fill with lack of full drain with just the back of the car in the air. What is your method of oil drain?