sandwedge

Light comes on while driving so I check it at the next stop. Down to one bar at the bottom. I drive home - skeptical - and check it again. Same reading. Add one quart and check it again. Same reading and the caution on the dash remains on. Now I drive to the dealership and pick up three quarts of oil. One quart goes in and the next check reads full. Two quarts brings it from what appeared almost empty to all bars filled? I say appeared almost empty since the first quart added didn't even bring it out of the bottom bar. For the record, checked it about two weeks ago and got a 3/4 full reading. And no.....no oil on the garage floor.

The old dipstick method didn't seem to bother anyone in the least so I can't understand why it's so important for Porsche to protect the electronic method that seem to bring few if any benefits.

Mike in CA

It's supposed to be approx. 1.3 quarts from the bottom line to the full mark. If you added 2 quarts to get to the full mark then one of two scenarios is likely; your engine oil level was actually below the bottom range of the gauge and required to 2 whole quarts to get to full, or you overfilled slightly. Oh, third possiblity, your gauge is misreading. How you went from 3/4 full to the oil warning coming on is another question altogether.....

okbarnett

Thats pretty bad thing to do. If you read the manual, it says to only add 1/4 qt at a time. To add that much oil has probibly over filled it. Which is bad news. I think the dealer should have a look and check the sensor. See if its correct and maybe drain it a nd refill with the correct amount.

USMC_DS1

if you DIY... drain the oil and measure how much comes out. That will at least tell you if you had too much oil in the engine or if it consumed oil somehow. Not sure about the 997.2 but it takes 9 quarts exactly to fill my 997.1S after a complete drain... my e-gauge will show full afterwards.

sandwedge

If it takes 1.3 quarts to get from the bottom line to the full mark, why didn't the first quart even register then since it should have brought it to within 0.3 quarts short of full? That's my first question. I have others which I'll save for the dealer where I'm going next week anyway for a new fuel pump.

Mike in CA

I don't have a definitive answer to your question, I just know what the manual says about the difference between the minimum and maximum marks on the guage. It's theoretically possible that you were so low that you were actually well below the minimum level shown on the gauge (which would explain why your warning light came on) and one quart barely brought you up to the bottom bar. Short of a malfunctioning gauge, I don't know what else to suggest.

gota911

Jason,

That sucks! Please let us know the outcome of your visit to the dealer.

Edgy01

You need to stay on top of this better than that. How often do you check your oil?

I check mine before each initial engine start of the day and during trips, at the gas station just after filling up. Basically, I check it all the time. With that, I can do some trending in my head.

For you to suddenly discover the light on warning you is a little late. I add oil one quart at a time--roughly from when the gauge is at the bottom line. That takes me back to the top.

sandwedge

Once a week or every other week has served me just fine for a long time. If it reads one bar from full I really can't see any compelling reason to check it the next day unless the rear of the car is covered with oil.

Can't be done with the .2 cars. Oil has to be at operating temp or 140 degrees I believe.

Macster

Waiting until the rear of the car is covered with oil is too late. The oil level sensor/display is there so the owner/driver of the car doesn't have to spot signs of an oil leak to know it is time to check the oil level.

For one Porsche I check the oil level before the 1st trip of the day and often times at the start of subsequent trips when the engine and oil are hot/up to operating temperature.

For the other Porsche since I can't check the oil level until the engine is up to temp I instead check the oil level the last thing at night when I park the car after arriving at my final destination for the day.

On the road, then, and once the engine is up to temp I check the oil level sometimes while sitting at a stop light. For instance today on the way to work I checked the oil level at a light and then again just before I shut the engine off after arriving at the office.

For both cars when I'm on the road I always check the oil at every gas stop.

Oil is too critical a fluid to allow its level to get low enough that the warning light on the dash is triggered.

Sincerely,

Macster.

sandwedge

With all respect, I think you misread what I said. If I checked the oil level yesterday and it was one bar from full, I probably won't check it again today unless I get a warning light OR evidence of a leak. Call me reckless but if I get neither I will assume that 8 or 9 quarts haven't evaporated overnight.

Carrera Mike

Sandwedge, your oil gage might need recalibration.

Macster

Don't think I misread what you said.

My simple point is that with the very convenient way to check the oil level there's no reason to risk the engine by waiting until the oil level is so low as to cause the light to come on.

It is I think a good habit to develop and that is the habit of checking the oll level often. Absent a habit then the risk is that the oil doesn't get checked until the light is on.

Sincerely,

Macster.

CodeRed

If the car takes 9 qts, is the low light reading really all that bad? Seems like it comes on way before it is a really bad situation...just a quart or so low.

simsgw

I have to agree with Macster. If my "check oil" message ever appears I will have screwed up. That warning message is based on a separate measuring system that recognizes the engine isn't getting enough oil during operation. It is separate from the sensor whose measurement is used to create the bars.

If you're conservative about driving until you shut down and add oil, the warning message won't mean your engine is damaged, but it does mean you should have been checking "the bars" more frequently.

Incidentally, just to be clear, this is one of those directional things and not described as well as we might like in the owner's manual. Going downward, the distance is 1.3 quarts, but going up is anybody's guess.

The amount of oil decreases by 1.3 quarts between a reading that shows all the heavy bars and the first time you get a reading that shows only the bottom skinny bar. The first time. And only then if you took the reading just as the bottom thick bar would have turned off. After that, you're flying blind. No guarantee how much additional oil will disappear before the engine is in distress and the "check oil" message appears. Besides using separate sensors, the second measurement depends to some extent on operating conditions I'm sure. It might come on right away in high rpm operations at a track with high side loading, but it might not come on for a week in piddling around town. That single skinny bar will be all you see for that length of time. You have no measurement of that additional oil consumed or lost, so the amount of oil that has to be added to get back all the thick bars is not known.

At some point, that skinny bottom bar starts flashing though. I've never seen it, so I"m not sure. Does it flash as soon as all the thick bars are gone? Or does it wait until the second sensor reports an urgent need to add oil?

Gary