chronon

I have a 2001 996TT and the car has been eating ~1qt every 450-500 miles. The car is CPO so want to know what you think are possible causes AND indicated actions by the dealer. I know these cars eat oil but according to the porsche shop manuals the Maximimum allowable oil consumption is 1qt/600 miles. I want to make sure this is fixed before CPO expires in 6 months so would appreciate any help/thoughts. Thanks in advance!

Chuck Jones

There are a number of threads here and on Six Speed about the oil consumption rates of the the 996TT. There's more or less concurrence that these cars are known to "eat" oil at a higher rate than most cars....but one quart every 450 miles seems high even for a car that is known to consume oil. Most of the folks will tell you that they add a quart about every 1000-2000 miles. (A very few claim that they use NO oil in 5000 miles ????) I add a quart about every 1500 miles. If I've been driving hard, then the consumption rate goes up according to how long you pushed it hard.

I also know that Porsche dealerships will frequently try to assuage a buyer's anxiety by saying that oil consumption in these cars is "normal"....but I don't believe that your consumption rate is normal.

If they CPO'd it, they usually have a procedure they go through in order to offer the CPO...whether that involves a compression or leakdown test I don't know...but you should probably ask that they perform one. I personally wouldn't settle for a "that's normal" excuse....but that's just my personal opinion.

adam_

They have NO procedure to do a CPO that evaluates engine health/oil use/compression.

Here is what I'd do:

1. Ensure I have a nice, friendly Porsche SA. Drop a $50 tip here and there, whatever.

2. Make sure there are NO, engine mods. Period

3. Bring it in with concerns over abnormal oil use. Have documented oil use. Dates, amoutns filled. MAKE SURE they tyoe into the work order your estimate of use (1 quart per 450 miles). You want this in writing on their work order prior to the CPO expiration

4. Don't take no for an answer. If they want, do consumption tests (you bring it to them for all oil fills). Let them do a leakdown.

Be cognizant that the dealer is NOT "porsche"..you want to enlist them in the battle to get porsche to act.

GL

A

chronon

and they had me do an engine consumption test. Basically had to do an oil change and every time the car needs oil I need to take it back to the dealer. I already took it once and the consumption was 500 mi (I documented all with pics). Next week I am going in again and the consumption will be under 500 mi (the service manager added the quart of mobil 1 himself). NET I think this week will be the decisive one (determine what action needed/next steps) so looking for any ideas you may have! Hopefully Porsche comes through and does the right thing.
Thanks

wross996tt

Curious as to your driving habits....how hard do you push her (the car that is)? Do you cool down after a drive?

chronon

here and there but nothing that I would say is out of the ordinary. I have a short commute so most of my trips are ~10 miles or so. I do not follow any cool down procedure. For additional background, I bought the car almost a year ago with 63k miles. It was CPO from a guy that only kept it for about 6 months so unfortunately I do not have any of the maintenance records but the porsche CPO gave me peace of mind. By the way car is bone stock.


Adam - excellent point on mentioning that the dealer is someone I have to get on my side (and that they are not "Porsche" per se).
Thanks

jimq

my 03 with 65K is about a quart every 1400-1500 miles.

wross996tt

So the problem is you don't know the history. The short trips do not help you with oil consumption. ALWAYS cool down your car 60-120 seconds. Do you notice any smoke on start-up?

chronon

Or potential solutions? I know that the fan comes on automatically after the car is off to cool it down so why would you need to cool it yourself for 2 mins?

Dock

The idle run time is to allow the turbos to spin down while still having oil flow to them.

jcb-memphis

Oil in the turbos cooks, kills the turbos...the fan is not going to help that....everyone on these boards that knows a lot about these cars recommends cooling the car down. The magic number if you drove hard seems to be 2 minutes. The "I didn't drive hard" number is a little more vague. I have chosen 1 minute just to pick a number. It is most difficult when you go to get gas.....but I do it every single time.

You NEED to cool these cars down, unless you don't care about the cost of replacing the turbos.


Jeff

TT Surgeon

Always cool it down, even though they say you don't have to on newer turbos...I still do. Might try a heavier wt oil.

chronon

Got it - will always cool it down from now on. So back to the OIL consumption, hypotheses & fixes anyone?

Statman - to answer your question, i havent noticed any smoke at start-up (at least not large amounts...)

Dock

How are you measuring the amount of oil you add? Do you let he oil level drop low enough to add an entire quart of oil, or do you add a little along the way?

My oil consumption is lowest when I drive all "short trips"...it gets as low as about 1000-1100 miles between quarts in this case. If I take long road trips, I get 1700-2000 miles between quarts.

chronon

I am letting it drop to the bottom (where there is one bar left) and then I add a full quart which brings it up 4 lines. The dealer told me last time that maybe the oil sensor could be the issue since 1qt should go higher than 4 bars (???) but according to all I have read each bar equals 1/4qt. Since I started the oil consumption test after brand new oil change at the dealer it has been extremely consistent with one bar gone ~120 miles or so.