Jeff N

I recently took delivery of a 993 that I purchased out of state. the car had a PPI at their local Porsche shop, whose paperwork showed all fluid levels ok. the car was shipped to my address and from that point I basically washed the car, took it for a brief ride (no plates, so couldn't go far)and put it away. Later that evening I started it up and was checking over the car, decided to pull the dipstick and to my surprise, there was no indication. I'm a prior SC owner and know how to check the oil, warm engine, level surface, etc. the car was cold when I checked the oil level, but not seeing anything mortified me and now I'm wondering is this normal(no indication with a cold engine), so, should I trust the porsche dealer, just let it warm up then check it, or should I flat bed it to a shop, drain the oil and verify quanity? Your rapid reponse would be greatly appreciated.

Jeff

Ray Calvo

You got oil pressure? Then let it warm up before checking level.

(Your old SC didn't indicate lack of oil level when cold? Surprised; they exhibited the same phenomena as I remember - from '76 and '84 911 experience.)

Jeff N

I do have good oil pressure. As far as the comparison to the SC, I never checked it when it was cold as I always had a good baseline for the oil quanity.

fbfisher

Good oil pressrure suggests you've got oil, does the pressure gage move with accelerator action - if so, that would suggest that the gage is working properly and can be believed.

From what I've noticed the way the dip stick is callabrated, it seems like half way is about a quart and therefore "none" may be about two quarts, which if true means that you still have plenty in there given that it holds quite a few more than that, 8-9 I think, check the owners manual.

Interested in what others have found.

graham_mitchell

Jeff,

I bought my first 993 not long ago and went through the same panic phase. It is quite understandable!

The engine holds a total of 11.5 liters (12.2 US quarts), and the difference between the minimum level and maximum level indicators on the dipstick is 1.7 liters (1.8 US quarts). (These figures in liters are from the owner's manual)

Therefore, the difference between a reading halfway between the min and max and somewhere a little below the minimum is around 1 liter (1 US quart).

As you probably know, oil expands when it heats. But how much? Is it possible that you have 10.5 liters in your engine when cold, and this expands to a perfectly normal level at operating temperature? Quite likely.

The following table is old and refers to SAE 30 oil (take from the Oil and Gas Journal - all I could find) but it should still be useful as a guide. The table gives the following Specific Gravity at temps(degrees F):

Temp SG
60 0.9
100 0.88
150 0.87
200 0.85
250 0.84
300 0.82

(If anyone can supply equivalent data for MobilOne that would be interesting)

As you can see, the expansion that occurs between 60F (-1 C) and 200F (93 C, and approx normal 993 operating temperature) is around 6% and would give rise to an oil level difference between hot and cold of around 0.7 liters (3/4 US quart). That could be enough to raise your oil level from off the dipstick scale to a safe level at normal operating temperature.

I thought you might be interested to see the calculation

Of course it IS possible that there is something more serious going on so I would still warm up the engine if I were you, but not drive it. As it warms up, check for leaks under the car. If nothing is coming out and you have good oil pressure, chances are that this procedure is safe.

Check again at full operating temperature and let us know what happens!

Good luck.

Graham

p.s. As an aside, it turned out that I DID have an oil leak, though it was hard to tell at first because the tray mounted under the engine was catching the oil! The main clue that something was not as it should be was the smell of burning oil.

sy308

This reminds me of the car that I once serviced. The owner brought it in and mentioned, nonchalantly, to check the oil. It was some kind of Pontiac. Dip stick was dry. It was probably running on one or two quarts. Never saw an engine drink that much. Moral of the story is that some people never check the oil. Caveat emptor.

Jeff N

thanks to all for the collective wisdom. I feel more comfortable starting the car and letting it warm up now and will let you know what my findings are.Also, very impressive Graham, I like the way you think.

Jeff

Speedraser

I've never pulled the dipstick when the engine was cold, but the oil level gauge in each of my 911s reads accurately. It shows nothing when the engine is cold unless the tank is so full that it reads at the top of the gauge when the engine is warm.