Thank you. My car is a .1 (05). I'm aware of the oil checking routine. It is logical and better than the system in my BMW. The hypersensitivity in respect to uneven ground had me thinking that the sensor in my car was bad. From what I'm reading it sounds like that's how they all are. It makes is especially challenging to get an accurate reading at the track.

 

Doesn't the .1 require you check the oil level cold with engine off vs. hot with engine idling (as in the .2)?

 

Oh, then I want to add more confusion.

The 997.1 is even more sensitive. This comes from my ownership of a 996 with a dip stick and the computer and from what I recall from this forum and the 996 forum. The oil in a .1 can be checked warm or cold. And the level will vary based on engine temp (oil expands when hot), length of time of rest after stopping (the longer rested the more oil gets back in the pan), and whether the car is level.

The recommendations I followed (mose formt he 996 forum) were to check the oil the same way every time and use that as your level. The best time was in the AM after resting all night before you leave for you days journeys. Oil is cold, but all is back in the pain.

With my 996 I could get an almost full level in the AM, stop for gas before the car was warm, check the oil after fill up and it would read several bars down.

 

+1

Yes, this is the best protocol. I'll add that even if you get a reading that's a line down one morning - don't react to that by adding oil. Check it again the next day. Once you get 2 or 3 mornings in a row that show the same thing, add 0.25 quarts - not more and check it again the next 2 mornings. If it still reads one line down, add another 0.25 quarts. I know the distance between the lines on the gauge is 0.4 Liters, but you can be just low enough to have the gauge read a line down when it's not 0.4 L low, and overfilling is much worse than running slightly lower than full. Overfull can prematurely damage the AOS. Unless you're on a long road trip, or you have a serious issue with your motor, taking 2-3 days of measurements before reacting won't do you any harm.

If on a long road trip where there is a chance you've burned off some oil, and the car has sat all night and is level, I'd cycle the key for the oil level measuremnt 3 or 4 times, taking multiple readings that morning before heading out again for the day. If one reading is different than the other 3, you can pretty much ignore that one reading. I've done this and had a reading that showed 2 bars down with the other 3 showing at the top line with the arrow.

The electronic dipstick just isn't a great system, but it's all we've got so we need to make the best of it and be smarter than it when it messes up.

 

Both the 997.1 and .2 tell you to check the level when it's warmed up, not cold. It's in the manual all you have to do is read it. On the .1 you warm it up then turn enginr off, sit a minute or two then check it. On the .2 you do it with car warmed up but engine idling. Not turned off. All in the owners manual.

 

For a .1, this goes against Jake Raby's advice as depending on the weight of oil you're running, what temperature you let it get to, how long you let it drain back down before, checking, etc, etc, etc there are too many variables in play to achieve any consistency. Check it in the morning before you first start the car and don't check it again until the next morning, or do what makes you happy, but the manual also recommended 20,000 mile oil change intervals....I'll stick with logic and Jake on this one.

 

tell you what, take a cold reading in the morning and a hot one when you get home at the end of the day. Take the average of them

 

Try to take a trading on a .2 and you get an error message: engine not warm. I have two very level spots at home. Learned that on the Cayman. Works on the .2. All that said, still wish it had a dip stick.

 

So the 997 gt3 cup cars have a dipstick. The 996 guys have retrofitted the manual dipstick by updating the filler tube.

My assumption is this will work on .1 cars with m96/97 blocks. Not sure on .2 9a1 blocks

https://rennlist.com/forums/996-turb...onversion.html

https://rennlist.com/forums/997-gt2-...und-maybe.html

Would be awesome if someone could try this