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Hi Linderpat, yes, my car is a 997.2 and it looks like oil measurement is different between the two Porsche types. My owner's manual states that to measure the oil, the engine must be warmed up and the car must be on a level surface with the engine idling. In my car's computer screen, black indicates oil and white means no oil. I have verified this on my car by removing oil and having the white appear above the black segment. Hopefully your car's computer is different and you are not low on oil. Also, a previous commenter was right in saying the computer will tell you if the oil is over filled (according to the owner's manual). However, my car does not do this and it was definitely overfilled by the person I bought it from. I am sorry if I gave you info that was not correct for your car. We actually do not have the same engine in our Porsches. My 993 had a very precise oil measure gauge on the dash but it also had a dipstick. So on your car it would seem that if you do not see both black and white in various amounts at the same time then you are either overfilled or low on oil. Please let up know how you resolve this.
Dennis, regarding your overfill comment: You are assuming, that any oil level above the maximum should trigger the "Check Oil" warning. This is not so. Porsche notes, in my 2009 (997.2) manual, that the overfill warning will display when "oil level is well above the maximum mark". We of course don't know what that is. I do my own oil changes and a few times, overfilled above the max line. I always knew I was close so I didn't care... then in a few weeks or so, it was at the full line. I believe the folks here are way to hysterical about this. Yes, overfilling is bad, but what is overfilling? Porsche clearly feels it is "well above the maximum mark". I feel that given our cars are meant to handle the lateral and other g-forces of track use, bumpy roads, steep inclines etc..... that the designers allowed for quite a margin for overfill. If you are not tracking or living on a mountain side, I suspect you can overfill this car by quite a bit without foaming the oil or sucking it up through the ventilation system. But that is my opinion.
My manual shows WHITE as fill. See below from my 2009 manual.
Peace
Bruce in Philly
Last edited by Bruce In Philly; 11-26-2018 at 02:03 PM.
To settle this, I took my car back to the dealer this morning. White on the display indicates the oil level. My car shows all white, indicating slight overfill, not no oil. There is a warning message for overfill and low oil... it may simply be "check oil". The dealer removed about one pint of oil, so it now shows like what Bruce posted. They also verified overfill is bad as it can cause too much crankcase pressure and may damage the AOS. I should add that I checked the invoice and it shows 9 qts, but the dealer said they bill by the quart, so that number isn't exact.
Hi Linderpat, yes, my car is a 997.2 and it looks like oil measurement is different between the two Porsche types. My owner's manual states that to measure the oil, the engine must be warmed up and the car must be on a level surface with the engine idling. ... Hopefully your car's computer is different and you are not low on oil. ... I am sorry if I gave you info that was not correct for your car..... Please let up know how you resolve this.
Fascinating - I am learning more about these special cars each day; rennlist is an amazing resource. I will say, it seems counterintuitive to measure oil level with a running engine, but the modern designs seem to keep advancing the ball. My oil level is fine, as it is measured cold, with the engine off, but also on a level surface like any other car. I have the white bar showing level, as per the pictures Bruce posted above. I'm good to go - I do my own changes and am very careful about not overfilling.
Bruce, I went out to the garage to measure my oil to see if I had lost my mind regarding black vs. white graph lines and of course the computer said "cannot measure without warm engine", so that will have to wait. Maybe we are discussing green apples vs. red apples. I have noted that my owner's manual (same as yours) was the opposite of my actual car's computer. I am mainly dealing with the carbon issue that my car has. I know that older cars of mine if over filled with oil will pump it out somewhere. If I can rule out over filling as the source of the carbon then I will have to borescope the cylinders for scoring. To be continued.
11-26-2018, 12:55 PM
