ryangambrill

I just checked the oil level again. The car is cold and has not been driven in a few hours.

The on board computer - bottom bar is now solid and not flashing.

The dip stick - wet with oil at the 1/2 way mark between the min and max according to the owners manual.

Is this sound normal?

I am thinking that I should drive the car tomorrow and check the oil level again once the car is at normal opp temp. Then report back if there is a discrepancy between the oil gauge and dipstick.

Jon996

I can't say it's normal, but it is close to the same as mine. My electronic measures quite a bit lower than the dipstick. Also, completely cold (overnight) will be the lowest measurement, and for me 30 minutes is about the highest. Fair amount of expansion when warm!

redridge

fwiw... the bars will indicate only the last quart or so (the min/max range in the dipstick)

Edgy01

What year did Porsche abandon the dipstick?

ivangene

WHAT - they are abandoning me????


OH.... hahahaha

gota911

Porsche eliminated the dipstick in the 997 cars.

Edgy01

What year did they start adding the electronic measurement? Was it something that augmented the old mechanical dipstick?

sjfehr

My 04 986S has a dipstick, electronic measurement *and* a spare tire!

Though, oddly, I have to put it on a lift to check the transmission fluid. What's up with dat?

Edgy01

Thanks. I was curious as to when they phased out the old-style dipstick. I guess they started putting the elec. ones in by MY04 and then removed the sticks on the 997. We have no spares either,--but with the reliability of tires and less chance of taking a nail hit these days they really aren't needed (knock on wood). The biggest issue there is where to store the take-off.

ivangene

is it a Tip ?

sjfehr

Yes, although checking fluid levels in the manual transmissions is pretty much the same. Slightly less asinine design, though.

Just checked the Bentley manual- 97-04 Boxsters all have electronic oil measurement and a dipstick. And really dumb procedures for checking and changing transmission fluid.

CosmosC4S

Mine's a 02 and I have both the on-dash gauge and the dipstick.
I don't trust the electronic gauge, I only use it as an alert should the oil level ever drops, and I have not checked the oil in a while, which it has never happened before, my car doesn't consume oil at all, surprisingly. I'm old school, what I see is what I believe...good old trusted dipstick. Why would they even do away with that???

Btw, on numerous occasions I have had the on-dash gauge show a slightly lower reading then the dipstick. It's always lower though, never higher. That's why some people overfill their oil during oil changes, including dealership technicians, those who don't check the dipstick. I had that happen once, a whole quart! Went back to the technician, and the guy told me he was positive the electronic gauge showed exactly full. Well, guess what...the real-world dipstick showed above max.

redridge

^^^ well... that will be a pretty long tranny dipstick considering the tranny is in front of the rear wheel and the engine lid is so small.... the tranny is burried down there.\


What is the procedure for checking tranny fluid anyway?

sjfehr

It's simple! You put the car on the lift, remove the fill plug, and use a special Porsche-brand calibrated allen wrench into the hole. Just like my Toyota! Oh, wait...



The tip is really fun: the fill plug is on the BOTTOM of the transmission, right beside the drain plug. You check by removing the fill plug and seeing if anything drips out. (I'm not joking.) If nothing drops out, you pump fluid up until it overflows and starts pouring out the fill hole. And this is the Boxster- the trunk is sitting right on top of the transmission (complete with a slight hump to clear it), so if they put a little access port under the carpet, they could have used a 12" dipstick for it. It would not have been bad at all to put a transmission dipstick right beside the oil dipstick, it would be probably 30" long.

Are 996 transmission procedures similar?

redridge

OK... Im familiar with sticking finger(s) in hole(s)... prefer the dipstick method though.