Oil consumption - how much
 

A fiend of mine is looking for a 997 and one of the issues that came up was oil consumption.


Does your car burn oil and how much.

There has been alot of speculation as to why or why not?

- how the engine was assembled
- break in period
- type of driving
- over revs

I have a 2009 (997.2)

So far I have 5,000 miles on my car. About 90% of my driving is @ 70mph highway. I have had zero oil consumption.

I ran my DME - 0 over revs.

Honestly, this poll / question has been asked a dozen times if not more. Try the search function to find past results - more than you'll want. My 2007 997S consumed no oil, my 2007 GT3 none, and my 2009 C2S none as well (Maybe 1/2 quart between oil changes every spring - so 3 seasons every year with 50/50 street and DE).

I have a 2008S with 4500 miles on the car. I purchased it from a dealer with about 60 miles one year ago. I had them do a DME and there was only one brief rev to the limiter. I broke the car in by the recommendations listed in the manual........used long trips to minimize cold starts during the break in, kept the revs below 3000 before getting up to temp and kept the revs below 4000 until reaching 2000 miles. I changed the oil at 2100 miles. Today, I still keep the revs below 3000 until reaching operating ( oil) temp. I always reach operating temp when I drive ( no short trips). I also drive the car moderately for the last 5 minutes before shutdown.

The oil level went down one bar ( 0.4L) after the first 500 miles and went down another bar ( for a total of 0.8L after the car reached 1500 miles. Like I said, I changed the oil at 2100 mile and now, my cars still shows all bars ( full) for the last 2400 miles. I guess I can say that my car uses less than 1 quart per 6000 miles. Others have had very different experiences and I believe Porsche feels that 1 quart per 600miles is OK. In general, higher engine speeds will increase oil consumption while driving.

My 997S.2 has not burned any oil in 2800 miles. Maybe I am just lucky. Here is an article that may be totally unrelated courtesy of the PCA.
http://yel.pca.org/tech_porsche_engine_break-in.php

Some cars use oil and others do not. Nobody knows the exact stats and the reasons for one behavior vs the other.

My 2009 997.2 burns 1 qt every 1600 miles or so.

You are obviously not driving your cars hard enough. One quart ever 2,000 miles.

My 997.1 C4S went through one year with NO oil consumption (never topped up), that included 2 DE days, 2 road trips of 500 miles+, city/highway driving with frequent 5-6K RPM ranges.

You got the unlucky batch of 997.2!

Have a 2006 and put on 4.5k since the last oil change and the indicator still reads full.

Nah, the guys that burn 1 qt every 700 miles got the unlucky batch.

Mine burns about a quart every 6 or 7 hundred miles.. I've got 3500 miles on the car (09 S). I think it's starting to improve but if it don't it'll be OK with me... It is what it is...

Mine too

Yeah I drive it every weekend Thur-Fri and maybe the weekend. 5k miles and got her this Jan. Most of it was due to recent move from MD to Tx. Should I drive it more? Local Dealer said if it wasn't more than 1qt every 500miles then I am good when I asked.

One thing that may help oil consumption on certain cars, not all, is to avoid short trips where the oil does not get to full op temp and the engine does not get a full temp cycle. Driving longer stints, say a minimum of 10 miles, is better for the engine anyway.