My 997.2 C2S has now done just over 2,000 miles and has needed around 2l of oil in 4 months of ownership. I took the first 1,500 miles pretty easy and even now rarely take her above 4.5K rpm.

My dealer tells me that 1.5 litres of oil in every 1000 miles is within acceptable tolerance and not to worry. Having had a number of 911's before that barely drank anything between services I am a little wary of my dealers response.

Perhaps I've just been lucky in the past - any advice or experiences to share ?

 

Nope. This is common. Have seen a number of threads with 997.2 owners complaining of high oil usage.

And, top this, Porsche spec is 1.6 quarts per 622 miles (for the 997 M96 motor)

Keep an eye on your rear bumper and exhaust tips for heavy soot build-up.

 

If that is the process for getting a good reading on the oil level, how the heck are we owners ever supposed to know what the oil level really is? The recommended process in the manual is for me to check the oil level with the OBC when I fill up with gas (because the engine will likely be at operating temp and on a level surface). But it does not take 10 minutes to fill up the tank.. so I'll be taking a reading after 5 minutes of the car sitting.

 

Gundo,
Can you say a bit more about the condition of soot build-up in tail pipes?

Thanks!

 

1000 miles so far on my 2009 C4S. Drove it like I stole it (after engine is warmed up). No oil usage yet.

Having been a mechanic in a former life (and graduate of Nashville Auto-Diesel College) I remain convinced that a new vehicle driven with gusto is the best possible break-in.

Ginger, babying break-in, is counterproductive to an engine achieving it's best performance. Avoid lugging in a low gear at low rpm's, vary engine loads, with hard roll-on throttle to just under redline is optimal.

 

4300 miles on my '09 C2S and I have used a total of one qt of oil. Followed the break-in to the letter the first 1000 miles even to the point of leaving the PDK in auto mode. The second 1000 miles I would up the RPM's after the oil temp was in the normal zone. Much of my driving is highway in this car. Did one stint of over 800 miles in a day and still only 1 qt in a total of 4300 miles. By the way the day I did over 800 miles (mostly freeway and 70-75 with some construction zones of 60 and then the small amount of off highway for food and fuel) I averaged between 30 and 32 MPG. there were a few spirited accelerations for traffic merging. Very happy with the car so far even with the power steering leak at 4200 that turned out to be an "O" ring issue.

 

I have to agree with savyboy. Everyone that I've talked to about this issue with a technical background has agreed that the break-in procedure prescribed in the manual is completely unnecessary.

The engine is ready to be driven hard and varying the rpm's is the key.

I have a 09 C4S with over a 1000 miles. I've haven't gone crazy with it, but the car has been near redline on a few occasions. It was one of the C4S launch cars and I know that it underwent a few aggressive starts with PDK launch control. No oil yet or excessive soot.

Not to say that these issues are related to how you break the car in. With a new transmission and a new DFI engine there are a lot of variables.

 

Yes on 997.2 oil usage here.
2500 miles and nearly 3 qts of oil has been added. It drops 1 gauge segment (.42 gts) between every 1 to 2 gas fill ups.
First new car I've owned that used any oil.

 

Maybe the 997.2 is an exception but I followed the break in recommendations on my 997.1 and have had to add 1/2 quart of oil in 40,000 miles. The car runs better than ever and is extremely fast and responsive.

I never put a clear bra on the car and the hood is nearly in showroom condition.

I still have the amber side markers on the car and surprisingly, in spite of that, the performance has not suffered.

So stuff it

 

Sounds like I'm not alone at least.

 

No wonder Porsche has increased it's equity stake in Exxon/Mobil.


For those of you who burn oil, move to a better viscosity oil. The rate of your oil burning is directly related to the viscosity of the oil. I have been preaching about this for years. If you would simply read your manual, you would see that even Porsche acknowledges this fact.

 

Not true. I use M1 0w40 in both my 986 and 996 and I have never had to add oil to the 986 between changes and I rarely add oil to the 996 between changes.

No two motors (in the same model car) are exactly alike and it's silly to think that all oil usage can be directly attributable to a particular weight of oil.

Additionally all 997's have Variocam plus (your early 996 does not) which uses oil to actuate this function. For proper variocam plus functionality Porsche and many Porsche experts recommend oils off of their approved list.

 

My 06 and 07 C2S hardly burnt any oil...street or track days.

My 2009 C2S burns oil like a 2-stroke! However it is not more thant the 1.6qt every 600 miles PCNA says is normal.

I have had 3 oil changes with in 5000 miles from an indy shop and the deal and have been on the dealers oil monitor program. they all used Mobil 1 0w-40.

My next oil change I will switch to 5w-40...oil weight is OK per the manual and see if that changes anything. I can;t find Mobil 1 in this weight but I found Castrol Syntech 5w-40.

Also a word on exhaust soot....I have been having a lot of black exhaust soot. I went to a track day this last weekend and the exhaust tips turned to a white/grayish powder look....hummmm interesting!

 

What's not true?

 

1999Porsche911, Ray is saying that oil weight does not cause oil burning and that you have to use an approved oil weight in the 997.1 and 997.2 cars for the Vario-Cam to work properly.