I had an independent shop work on my 2006 997S and they put 9.5 quarts in the engine during an oil change. The manual states 9.0 quarts with an oil and filter change. A few questions:

1) Is 9.5 quarts considered over-filling?
2) Will the digital gauge on the dash warn for an over-filled engine?
3) If not, is there any way to determine if the engine is over filled?
4) Is my engine in any danger?

Thanks!

 

Just remove the oil filter, and re-attach. This will remove about 1/2 per time. You DON'T want to be over-filled. There is no warning light on the dash. The digital readout will only show "full" not how many bars above the full mark.

 

+1 to above process to remove excess oil. 9.5 quarts is too much(unless they're just charging you extra and keeping that last quart for themselves). I've let my oil drain out overnight and could only get 8.75 quarts out on a full drain. I normally fill back with no more than 8.5 quarts. I prefer that the e-gauge read at least 1 bar below full. Note that the gauge may fluctuate and will read between full and 1 bar under when I do this. As a result being 2 bars down from full is ideal.

 

what is the downside risk with overfilling?

 

what is the downside risk to overfilling?

 

I am not an expert on this but I believe it can foul your intakes.

My 997.1 was slightly overfilled by a local Indy. It wasn't so bad as to foul the intakes though. Took it back and they drained a little bit out. It was fine.

 

My last oil change (3.6l 997.2) I drained the oil for 40 mins, filter off. Then new filter and new oil.. took about 8.something quarts, to get me to 1/2 way up the oil level bars (I prefer not to fill to 'full' to allow some room for variances in reading, slight incline in the garage floor, etc).

I'd think 9.5 is too much or not giving the oil enough time to get into the system before topping off again after they had 9 in... or they just mixed up 9 and 8.

 

I thought that the very top bar was considered over-full. You're oil level should be up to the arrow in the display.

 

True, but it only shows one bar over the arrow. So, in an over fill situation you don't know if you are 1 bar over or 10 bars over. Each bar is about 350 ml.

 

I'm with XR4Tim on this one, pretty sure the manual says the digital readout indicates an arrow 1 bar below the top of the screen. Said differently, it does show if it's overfilled...I've had to take mine back to the Indy to drain some before.

 

On typical engines, the lower rotating parts can contact the oil level and start to whip the oil and prevent good oil flow. You also run the good chance of blowing some seals. I'm not an expert on the layout and operation of these flat-6s but it's always best not to run the engine if the oil is overfilled.

 

You kill the engine.

 

You can get oil foaming in the crankcase if you significantly overfill, but I wouldn't be concerned with a half qrt overfill.

 

It takes quite a bit of extra oil to kill the engine. But an extra quart may get some into the cylinders, and it will smoke until it's all burned off. Overfilling can also blow seals, but I doubt 9½ quarts is enough to do that.

 

And I'd think if you're burning off that excess oil, it's brutal on your plugs and cats.