wayne325

Gonzilla,

Your car is obviously overfilled. Can you drain it out yourself? If so, why not just do an oil
change, then you start from 0. If not, I'd drain 2 quarts maybe and then let the engine idle for
half an hour, then refill it SLOWLY until the LEVEL gauge reads halfway between full and empty.
Again, the car must be LEVEL and the oil must be HOT.

The car takes around 11 quarts of oil. I'd wager it's fine with 7 or 8 quarts in it. It's not like
you have to start out within a cup to begin with. You know you're in the right ballpark when
you're filling it with the engone off and it takes 2 or 3 minutes to get a quart down it's
gullet.

It's kind of a weird thing. Once you've done this 4 or 5 times you know what to expect,
but the first time it's really confusing because it's really not like filling up any other car I've
ever worked on. Heck it's a 911. It's supposed to be weird.

W.

gonzilla

I've heard differing reports. Here's what Steve Weiner said earlier iin the thread:

"Indeed, too much oil is a bad thing,.........excess oil in the tank is drawn into the intake system and gets burned. That aggravates the propensity for the air injection passages to get clogged and contaminates the catalytic converters." Would this possibly have something to do with the contamination of the SAI check valve or the ISV valve???

Also, even if Steve is wrong, it's still not cool to have oil spewing all over my engine compartment. It stinks and it's a PITA to clean up. Plus it gets all over the driveway, the street, etc. And creates a huge mess.

I'm having a problem with the oil reading as well. The car was warm (temp reading was at 8:30), it had been idling for a few minutes. Started adding oil slowly and letting it suck in. Checked the dipstick after every gulp. When I finally stopped, my oil level gauge is not reading full like it has before. It was between 3 and 4 o'clock. The dipstick read about 3/4 full. I didn't expect to have oil spewing all over the place. Whatever, I've learned my lesson. Wish me better luck next time.

gonzilla

Used the tried and true turkey baster method. Cleared out about 1/3 of a quart. Now it reads halfway on the dipstick and just above the red on the gauge at idle.

wayne325

I kinda meant can you get the car in the air and pull the bung? THen you will get oil spewing
out faster than you've ever seen it come from a car..... If you use a clean container, why not
just put that same oil back in (it was just changed a week or so ago wasn't it)? Or if you think
it's too silly putting used oil back into a Porsche, just top up with new oil.

All you have to do is raise the car a bit on the right side, get the rear wheel off, remove the
fender liner and the plastic running board a bit at the back, and that will give you access to
the bung. Half an hour tops for all that and no special tools required.

Just be ready with a container, do it cold, and be prepared to put the bung back in after you've
drained a quart or so. Be warned - if you do it hot and you're getting burned and you can't get
the bung back in, its going to spew 2 gallons of oil on your garage floor in about 10 seconds.
This part is really easy for anyone who is at all handy around the house.

Good luck.

W.

wayne325

Gonzilla...

"idling for a few minutes" may be your prolem ??? Does "a few" mean 5? If so that's not
enough. Either drive it at least 10 miles and then idle for 5 minutes, or start it up from cold
and let it idle for 20 minutes. The trick is that the oil valve has to be open, sending oil to the
oil cooler for this to work properly. One more thing - the car must be level. Otherwise you
get bad readings. I don't bother with the dipstick, but I've learned how to use the gauge.
You can see the gauge thru the rear window go up while you slowly add oil whenit's at the
right place. It only takes about half a quart to go from empty on the gauge to full....
W.

gonzilla

Nah, I was driving around for a while and the car was to temp (about 8:30 on the gauge), then it was idling for a few minutes (maybe not long enough?). It was on level ground, the whole bit. I did it by the book! My biggest problem is the discrepency between the dipstick, the gauge and the reality. The dipstick and the gauge read "give me more", the reality was "I'm done, no more!" Anyway, it's all cleaned up apart from the driveway. I'll chalk it up to an instance of the car reminding me who's boss. Thanks for the info.

Gweedo

One clarification please. Do you have the car running when you check the dipstick too? Every car I have owned has the dipstick checked with the engine cold and off.

Thanks!

jimbo3

Gweedo- YES!! Check the oil level with the engine running and fully warmed up.

Regards
Jim

wayne325

Rules for a 911 oil check:

HOT
LEVEL
RUNNING

JasonAndreas

The thermostat opens up at 83C/181F and the mark on the gauge is at 90C/194F. You don't want the level to be any higher than halfway with the temperatuare at that mark.

gonzilla

Jason,

OK, thanks! That makes a lot of sense now. I can see how the gauge can be really misleading. I think I may have sucked out a little too much oil trying to alleviate the problem. I'm gonna still try to experiment, but this time I'm gonna be REALLY careful not to overfill. If the car is at that temp and idling, does that logic follow to the dipstick as well? For instance, should it be only halfway up the stick and not all the way full?

Also, does anyone know how much of a difference there is between full on the gauge and the red zone on the gauge? Is it a quart? Half a quart? It seems to be a relatively small amount, as far as I can tell.

wayne325

The gauge pics are perfect. It's hot enough and the level is right in the middle. Pressure's a
bit on the low side though :-).
On the level gauge, it's about half a quart from the bottom to the top.
W.

gonzilla

Why does the oil level gauge account for such a small amount? It's like the gas gauge only accounting for 1/2 a gallon.

JasonAndreas

The dipstick and the oil level sender are right next to each other in the oil tank so the readings should be about the same if the oil temperature is at ~194F.

As long as eventually there is some movement in the gauge (at idle & at temperature) you don't need to worry about getting it just right. The main concern is leaving enough room for the oil to expand in the tank and not into your intake as the temperature rises.

Tom C.

As WAYNE325 stated the 993 is a dry sump system . . . so if you are overfilled with oil, just remove the crankcase drain plug and it will dump about 1.5 quarts of oil. Then replace the plug and refill with the proper amout of oil.

Yup, I've done this myself a few times and it's so simple you would think porsche designed this on purpose for those of us who fail to read directions.

Cheers