So my car runs fine. It doesn’t leak oil. I imagine it gets burned away? I keep an eye on the gauge in the clear when you first turn the key but lately I have ignored it. So tonight I decided to really check out the oil situation. I was low. Lower than my comfort zone. It’s been about 1500 miles since my oil change.
So what’s the with the oil in our cars?
Do I have a problem or is it normal to burn off some oil?
I did some research and found some answers.
With a 20 year old car I figured a fresh thread wouldn’t hurt.
What have you experienced with your cars?
I drive my car hard. Especially in a second gear. That’s street speed for me. On the highway I tend to keep it around 80.
I think a conversation would be good for us 996 newbies.
Thanks in advance and I hope this thread doesn’t get torched by our obnoxious members.

 

Check your coolant reservoir , is there any oil in it ?

 

I have a similar issue. I seem to go through about 3/4 of a quart between oil changes, which is every ~6 months and equivalent to about 1,000 miles. My 2000 cab is a weekender, and not a daily. I have no leaks, no smoke at start up or during operation, and no cross contamination with coolant. I know it just can’t dissolve or evaporate, so it must be ever so slightly burned during combustion, that’s my thought.

I have a friend who bought a 996 in 2003, from a dealership that was brand new. He said his would see the exact same over the course of his 5 year ownership, before buying the next year model 911.

I've just lived with this issue since owning my 996 the last two years, and accepted it as “normal”.

 

Brian, when you say "I was low" on oil, what exactly do you mean? Are you basing it on the electronic oil level indicator? Or the dip stick reading?

It's pretty well known that these cars "burn" oil which is completely normal. Porsche has changed it's directives on this topic over the years, but I believe the current figure is up to 1.6 qt of oil for every 622 miles is normal.

Where is the oil level that's making you think the car is low? What brand and viscosity of oil do you use?

I'm running DT40 and for the last 1000 miles, I haven't consumed more than 1/4 of quart of oil. That's not bad.

Lastly, remember if you're using the digital oil level indicator on your dash, each bar is about .26 of a quart of oil. (see picture) Many people think each bar meant one quart of oil and they end up overfilling the car with oil. That's bad! Really bad. You can kill the engine from overfilling it with oil.

 

1.6 qt in 622 miles? Uh, I don’t think that’s normal A few ounces over 500 or 600 miles is absolutely “normal”. Each bar on the electronic meter is only an ounce or two - keep your oil level from the middle of the meter (4bars?) to the bottom. Over filling is worse for the engine than running it down to the bottom of the meter!

 

Way to go - end your post with an insult.
My 2004 AE with 35,000 miles never used any oil between 6 month changes - use Liquid Moly 5W-40.

 

Each bar is .26 or 1/4 of a quart of oil based on what's listed in my manual. Don't believe me? I'll scan it.

The 1.6 quart max is noted in a Porsche ATI. I'm not saying that's "normal" in our books, but it appears that Porsche sees 1.6 qt of oil consumed up to 622 miles completely normal. Yes, I agree, sounds ridiculous.

 

 

My car burns oil at a similar rate. Seems normal to me.

 

My '99 C2 has 96,xxx miles on it. No leaks. I check the oil dipstick weekly and maintain the level at the mid point. I do not rely on the bar indicator. I usually put in a few ounces evry 2 weeks.

 

Mine is a '99 996...over 110K miles...have had the car for 8 years and never had to "refill" the oil (never had a drop on the floor either)...I guess am just lucky.....I change the oil every 5K or every 6-7 months religiously (whether it hits the 5K miles or not)...just did an oil change yesterday, the magnetic oil plug was clean, so was the filter.

 

Mine (3.6) burns oil too. How much, I don't know (1st year of ownership) yet. I just did an oil change and am monitoring consumption now.
On a side note, JR recommends not topping off your oil until it reaches one bar.



PS,
I have "man *****" (the same size as my fist) and at 57, if I type it consider it the same as a face to face conversation!!

 

I have a JR engine (3.8L Stage II), use DT40, and he advised it will use a little more oil than factory due to design tolerances. He also advised Porsche says 1Liter/620-660 miles is ok. That does seem higher than i would have thought proper.

I started checking oil consumption earlier this year and so far over 2700 miles it used around 4 qts, ave 675 miles/qt. My air-cooled '83 911 did not use as much, it seems these engines tend to use more. But other local 996's use less, so i guess YMMV.

 

Me thinks my overall takeaway from this thread (not unlike so many others), is each engine will have its own operating and wear profile. Track your engine oil consumption, with all the most up-to-date methodology available to you. A baseline needs to be established for your individual operating environments, as they apply to each unique engine. Once a baseline is established, any deviation can be assessed accurately and best solutions devised. We must compare an engine at condition x to the same engine at condition y, or else we’re continually regurgitating the same incomplete info, hearsay and opinion over and over and over.

Opinions are ok, but facts are gold.

 

Mine AT least so far ,, uses about 1 quart every 3500 miles..

2003 C4 Cab, 115K miles,, the Original Owner did dealer oil changes every 5K and
drove the car 80 miles each way every day till he traded it in at 90K miles. The car had 2
other owners and the records I have show regular oil changes but not many miles..

YMMV is the rule.