KaiB

Yep

Quadcammer

Can't really say I agree with you there. My oil is dark just like any car. I think its less to do with filtration and more to do with 13 quarts capacity.

nevertheless, if i had to, white paper towel shows the oil just fine.

justin993

Quad - I wonder if it has to do with the turbos? I think the oil in most NA cars stays pretty clean.
I've wiped the stick on a paper towel many times and it dries relatively clean (not arguing for or against oil changes). My car has about 70k on the clock and I'll run up to about 6k on the oil.

I own a good deal of heavy equipment and trucks - so I'm used to seeing black oil and the oil in the 993 looks very clean.

cgfen

• slowly pull the stick through a light colored paper towel or shop rag
• carefully note where the rag gets "oily"
• that's your answer.

Mike J

Checking the oil on my Turbo is a pain - the oil is very hard to see on the stick. What I do is pull the dipstick out, and lay the twisted section along one of my fingers - if you pull the stick away a bit, you will see the oil left on your finger that shows you where it ended ...

I rarely see a 993 with the oil dirty enough so it clearly shows itself on a dipstick due to its color...

Cheers,

Mike

Garth S

My car also refuses to discolour its oil ..... it's either that, or failing eyesight: my failsafe trick is to pinch a small scrap of tissue under my thumb nail, and slide it down the twist section slowly .... it will visibly wick oil at first contact.

I've thought that if the critical zone of the 'twist' were acid etched, it would better diffuse light through the held oil ..... any ideas?

geolab

Any fingers left ?
Don't know about the turbo, but in summer here, the dipstick is burning hot.

ABCar

Us mortals in NA cars always have clean oil...hard to read but yes, placing it on a rag or towel is the best method.

Quadcammer

Next time one of y'all does an oil change, can you pour a little of the old oil into a glass container and take a pic.

I'm intrigued by this oil that never gets dirty.

ABCar

^I got a good buzz last oil change

Mike J

I am not saying it does not look "dirty", ie non clear when it gets dumped or poured into a glass container, but it's not "dirty" enough to show easily on a dipstick when it's spread very thin. For the oil to be that visibile that it shows up dark on the dipstick, it would be very dark in a container. I find that with most cars, even with "dirty" oil on a change, the level on the dipstick is hard to read. Also, on most cars that I change oil on (and that is a pool of 10+ cars), you usually can see through the oil stream when the oil is dumped from the main tank.

If you are saying your oil is so dark that its totally visible on your dipstick, that is a lot darker than the majority of the cars I have seen.

Why don't you take a picture of your dipstick showing the oil level and post it, and I will do my car as well, and we can compare...

Cheers,

Mike

996scott

I need to try the towel trick because i too can hardly see the oil on the dip stick. My oil stays very clean as most have stated. I change my oil once a year and I typically only have a bout 3-4K miles on it.

996scott

That just sounds wrong!

ehanauer

Thanks for the hints about the paper towel. That works for me now, and eliminates guesswork. The gauge is all over the place.

EMBPilot

You'll have ur chance