2009 C2S 109K miles

Just changed my oil and filter....... I just got back from an epic road trip where I was tempted by Sirens, had Scylla eat 6 of my men, even suitors were trying.....

Anywho...

My oil read two open bars under full line... I checked this twice when hot. I drained out just under 8 quarts...... I added exactly 8 quarts.... now my guage read at the lowest line, all mid bars open.

Wha?

My manual states capacity is "approximately 7.9 quarts with filter". Since I started doing my own oil changes 80K miles ago, about every 5-7K miles, I have this happen about half the time.... I run the car a day or two checking oil level and it usually measures higher the next day.... Another oddity, my car always takes about 1 quart more than spec. (I also seem to consistently burn about 1 quart every 5K miles.)

But..... why this difference? Others experience this?

BTW: wanna know what amazing discovery I found on my magnetic drain plug? Really? Ok, here goes: Nothing..... even the slight "grease" film is getting thinner to where I could see shine. If I have bore scoring, it ain't passing oil.

Peace
Bruce in Philly

 

have you been experimenting with the tilt of your cars oil change position again.......i remember you were very excited to do so.........................dude serious

 

Yes I did....... It is raining here in Philly so I did the change in my flat garage... used two jacks and lifted the rear just enough to get the catch pan under there and my wrench. Then I let it drain in the canted position.... (rear tires are off the cement about 1-2".... not high). Then after it started to drip, I lifted the driver side a bit more and dropped the passenger side and got a nice stream.... then I dropped the car flat off the jacks and got another stream.... then jacked it back up and installed the plug.

BTW, I only started dicking with tilting the car the last few changes.... the car always took about 1 quart more than spec..... I am pretty sure I had erroneous measurements before I started shakin' and bakin'.

I will not add oil until I get two more measurements... then add probably a quart..... Total oil will be the same as always... about 9 quarts.

Peace
Bruce in Philly

 

I wonder if Odysseus had the same issues with his vehicle on his journey back to Ithaca???

 

Just took another measurement after a twenty minute drive each way..... measures the same, at the bottom line.

I suspect I will just dump another quart in..... odd that it measured differently.

Peace
Bruce in Philly

 

Are you filling the filter holder ?

 

Neither did I. Nor did I burn oil and Blackstone said that my oil analysis' were perfect but I still had 3 pistons/cylinders scored. So you can have ZERO symptoms with problems festering under the hood.

 

Blackstone should be used for monitoring trends only. Take all those little comments with a grain of salt (as jkw911 will tell you...).

 

Is it possible that the oil level sensor is faulty?

 

It is important that when you compare oil level readings the car is in the same position and the oil is the same temperature.

Without an oil temp gage one can only guess but what I use with my Turbo is hot idle oil pressure. I know when the oil is "hot" the hot idle oil pressure will be at 2 bar or just below.

With my Boxster which has no oil pressure gage all I can do is check the oil first thing in the morning before I start the engine. The car has sat 12 hours or more since last being run and was shut off with the engine fully up to temperature. The only variability is the ambient temperature which does affect the oil level. Colder means the oil level is lower.

If I want to check the oil level with the Boxster engine up to temperature I do so after having driven the car long enough that I know the oil is fully up to temperature. Then say I stop for gas or on the way to work I stop to pick up something to eat and the engine is shut off for 5 minutes or so when I come back to the car I can then check the oil level and get a pretty reliable hot reading of the level.

The levelness of the car is important. With my Turbo if the car is too far out of level I can't take a reading. The On Board Computer refuses to initiate a reading. However, even if the car is not too far out of level that the reading is prohibited but still not level I know from experience/observation the reading can vary a bar possibly 2.

With the Boxster there is no car level nanny to block an oil level check but I know if the car is not level the reading will be affected.

As for an oil change it is important -- and I have stressed this many times -- the engine be up to temperature and the drain time be consistent. For the DFI engines the "standard" drain time is 1 hour.

If for some reason you can't or won't take the time to have the engine up to temperature prior to draining the oil the amount of oil drained will vary.

For instance if you start a cold engine engine to position the car then shut off the engine after just a minute or two of run time then drain the oil less oil will drain compared to if you run the engine long enough to get it hot before (or after) positioning the car and then draining the oil.

(At the dealer the tech positions the car over the lift but then lets the engine idle 10 or more minutes before he shuts off the engine and lifts the car and open the drain plugs.)

If you want a more consistent drain with varying levels of engine temperature my advice would be to let the oil drain overnight, 12 hours. The excessively long drain time gives the cold oil time to drain and the amount of oil drained hot or cold then would be very close to the same.

 

Ok. I'll chime in. Just did oil change and measured everything exactly. I mean exactly. Wife and kids were out of town so no one except the dog could make fun of me.

Got home from work and checked oil with engine hot. Was completely full.

Several hours later changed the oil. Mind you I drained the oil for over 30 min with car level and car at an angle. Sucked all the oil out of the filter housing with a syringe. Drained the filter.

I added back 8 qts of oil. Exactly.

Measured what I took out and got 7 quarts exactly. Ok, maybe an extra ounce. But no spill. Not a drop. So I was within an ounce or two of exactly how much oil cane out.

So checked oil next day after work - engine warm, etc. and I was I bar over.

I drained out 6 ounces of oil (yes I measured it, and I did it by lettering a little past the plug without removing it). It took 10-15 min to get 6 ounces and then after drive I measured it and it was full.

BTW - 2009 Carrera 4

Point is that in MY car, 7 quarts to 7 quarts 10 ounces in completely full.

 

What's a quart?

 

So..... more data......

Summary: I am taking my car to dealer for the next oil change in 5K miles (I do it every 5K) to check the health of the sender unit (or whatever Porsche calls it... probably "Technik Oilick MachoMeterhchk" or something like that). I am not getting any deep codes as seen by my Durametric.

Yesterday I did another measure.... not fully hot .... bout 175F.... and now got a NEW measurement, flashing under fill. Great....

So I added just over 1 quart which I suspected I would have to do..... took it for another spin about 175F and this time got.... wait for it.... one bar OVER!!! crap.... Did another measure later after drinking beers at a bar...... cam home and got the same reading....

This AM, I figured I would try and suck out some juice via the fill tube (a blatant act of Hooverism)... don't know if this would work, but worth a try..... but took it for another spin beforehand and now measures EXACTLY full. Sheesh! So I am going to leave it alone.

Actually, I am not too worried about this and can accept the maybe fact that our measuring systems just are not that accurate... think about it..... it is measuring very small increments of fluid that are spread out over the large surface area of our oil pan..... QUESTION: for one bar of measurement, how much change must there be in oil height in the pan? Think about it... it has to be tiny.

Marc may be on to something about temperatures...... however I think it may be something similar that is actually causing my reading variances.......... settle time.

Settle time: With the 997.2, you need about 1 minute of idle at temps over about 100F (??) before measuring. I do a little trick with this time..... I coast down my curvy driveway and bump into my garage. I have this all perfectly timed... enter my driveway, push the door button.... coast...... get the speed just perfect... bump into the garage... just under the moving door..... then check the oil. I now have about 30 seconds on the meter...... SO..... maybe given the shaking of the car, I am not letting the oil settle out fully.

To Marc's point, my temperatures at measurement are all over the place from over 200 to maybe 130F.

What disappointments me is the ultra sensitivity of this stupid thing.... hell, we are just measuring oil level... does it have to be this complex? Cripes!

Overall I am not worried that I am putting in erroneous levels as I measure what comes out to what I put in. I do, however, put more oil in that stated capacity by about .9 quart more than stated. Further, our car's oiling system is designed to handle lateral forces over 1G (others correct me if wrong)... that is a ton of sloshing around therefore I can't believe say, a 1/2 quart over under normal driving will do anything bad to the car. Heck, back in circa 2000-2008 (?), dealers routinely overfilled these things (oh wait... engines were blowing up crazy back then).

So, I probably have nothing to worry about given I am so darn careful.... but I haven't been to the Proctologist ...er um ... dealer.... in five or so years.... so what the heck.... time for a nice bending over sans grease. Stay tuned in 5K miles or so.

Peace
Bruce in Philly

 

LOL, I bet he'd fight the Cyclops for a dipstick!! Love my car, hate that stupid oil measurement thing...

 

Just changed my oil. 8.5 L to full 09 c2s