Engine overfilled to "154%"
 

Reading through the service records on my recently acquired 997.2TT, there was a note about a bad oil level sensor, and the previous owner kept topping off the oil. Dealer noted that they corrected it and oil was at "154%" when they fixed the sensor. Now, the engine holds 9 quarts and I don't think you could overfill it by 5 quarts, but I could be wrong. Anyone know how to interpret this note?

Anyway, that was several years ago when the car was still under warranty and I presume any oil pressure issues from overfill would have shown up in subsequent notes or from driving the car, but I'd like some reassurance from folks in the know.

-n.

if it did not blow out a seal by now you will be fine.

"At 154%": Never heard of the oil level being described like that before.

You are in Palo Alto. Zip up 101 to Redwood City and Carlsen Porsche and ask the service manager what it might mean.

I agree with extanker.

I would add that if the engine is not manifesting any signs of trouble I'd put the episode out of my mind.

Sheesh! I never heard of that.

The issue with overfilling, is that the crankshaft dips into the oil and froths/foams it. These bubbles get sucked through past the air/buble filters and the engine does not get proper oiling. A bad thing.

154% ! I would expect the engine to seize up or something..... I mean where is all that oil going? It would back up behind the pistons and slosh like hell. Wow. Very interesting.

Peace
Bruce in Philly

14 quarts in a 9 quart motor, I would have expected it to go Kaboom!!! Since it didn't consider yourself lucky.

Since the dipstick only measure the top 1.2 litres of oil maybe he was only .7 litres overfilled?

Please post a pic of your 997 dip stick.

wait, what? there's a dipstick? I must be looking at the wrong place. Do you mean the electronic dipstick on the dash?

The OP has a 997.2 Turbo, which is a dry sump system. The scavenge pumps keep the oil level in the crankcase very low even if the engine (oil tank) is overfilled.

The OP still dodged a bullet I think. There is a risk to the engine in that with too much oil the tank gets too full and this interferes with the removal of oil vapor from the crankcase fumes. The fumes routed to the intake are heavy with oil vapor and this results in liquid oil gathering on the intake manifold walls. If this becomes too much the engine can suffer from hydraulic lock up.

In severe cases there is the risk liquid oil would simply be passed through the vapor separation system and fed directly into the engine intake manifold. Normally this path is intended to carry only vapor and not too much of that, but with a severely overfilled engine at some point the engine can inhale oil, rather than just a small amount of oil vapor.

Nope, not going to warm it up just for you.


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Yeah, I think I'm lucky. I have a scheduled service at Modderman, and I'll ask them to be sure. You consider the 9A1 a dry sump system?

This is not a correct statement. 997.2 Turbo is not a dry sump system. 997.1 Turbo is dry sump, just not 997.2 turbo.

As for the original OP. If you don't get oil leak already, just get the correct amount of oil in there and forget about it.

Oh boy here we go again

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Thanks for posting your fake dip stick pic. Wish my 997 had a REAL dip stick like my 993. Proven on 993 to only use dip stick at half and not rely on gauge or you will overfill. Unfortunately no choice on 997.