captain911

Hello All,

My 2012 CTT had the oil changed 7 months ago at 65,XXX and now has 71,XXX.

It has reached the lowest oil level per the setting (Oil Level Minimum Reached) so I will need to add oil.

The oil separator WC was completed in 2015 at 35,XXX miles.

Is anyone else seeing the oil level drop this rapidly within 6,000 miles or so? My driving is not super spirited and my wife has not admitted to any major spirited driving.

The vehicle is still under the CPO but wanted to get the thoughts of those on this forum before dropping it off. Just wondering if there is anything the dealer should be looking at specifically.

Also, I could not find in the manual what the amount of oil is between the top green oil level and the yellow minimum oil level in the settings on the multi-purpose display. Would be interested to know that.

Thanks.

Tim

kennyt

I have 2013 CTT and after 7.5k miles (~12 months) I still have 1 bar left before hitting the minimum level. I did the oil change and found out that there was oil leak around the filter housing.
I think your oil consumption is a bit excessive. The amount of oil between the Max and Min is exactly 1 litre (I carefully measured it in when I did my last oil change).

captain911

Thanks kennyt.

Appreciate the insight on your CTT.

deilenberger

1 liter of oil in 6,000 miles is not excessive on a turbo. Some are better, some are worse, but your's is in the right ballpark.

BenCD

Here were my experiences with the last 4 vehicles I had including this 2016 Cayenne diesel.

2008 Corvette. Got it with 9,000 miles. It burned/used oil to the tune of about a quart every 1,000 miles for the first few thousand miles I had it. Because I drove that car hard as it was so much fun, after about 5,000 miles it stopped using any oil. I went another 60,000 miles with NO oil loss. WOT as much as possible, just because.

2009 G8 GXP. Got it with 6,000 miles. Same as the Vette, for the first few thousand miles it used oil but after I put my foot into it enough, the oil loss/burning had stopped completely. I went another 34,000 miles with no oil loss. Same thing, WOT as much as possible, why not? with a 6.2L V8 RWD motor. It was a blast, a four door 430-HP sedan. Wife hated the car though.

2012 Touareg TDI. Got it with 13,000 miles. Same thing, it used/burned oil. As I had used it to tow a 7,000 boat, after a few thousand miles, it stopped losing oil.

Same with the Cayenne. It used oil up until about 5,000 miles ago but only about a bar or three every 5,000 miles. Now, after a LOT of towing, mostly in the winter with the enclosed 7x14+V snowmobile/snowbike trailer, the oil level remains full for an entire OCI.

I believe that driving harder and towing helps the motor wear in correctly and really seats the rings and stops the oil loss, at least in my cases/experience.

Some don't drive hard and some think that they do. Some don't tow or carry heavy loads. I think my three previous vehicles had seen very light use from the previous owners. I have/had also seen from working at a massive dealership, that all the vehicles would be left to idle for very long periods of time, especially in the winter when the vehilces needed to be moved in order for the lot to be plowed or if a salesman knew a customer was going for a test drive, the vehicle would be left to idle for upwards of 30 minutes to an hour so it would be either nice and cold or nice and warm depending. Idling is not good for gas motors.

Allow me to operate your vehicle and I will get it back to you repaired for only the cost of fuel.

kennyt

Thanks BenCD. This is something different than one would expect (drive harder results in more oil loss). I'll try this for the next 6k miles and see if the oil loss is improving.

BenCD

Perhaps in a more worn-out motor, driving harder would have the engine losing/burning more oil, but as the Porsche engines are designed by the hand of . . . . they should be performing a lot better, especially when oil use is not a known issue with the engine(s).

Put it in Sport mode and get on it as much as you can. I know I have for thousands of miles in some really fun vehicles and the oil consumption all but went away. Even in my current Cayenne Diesel, with some 45,000 miles on the motor, the oil use has stopped and I have about 1,500 miles till the next oil change and I pull a 3,500-4,000 lb enclosed trailer most every weekend.

At least the (possible) solution is free. Free and fun, just with some more fuel usage but we are Porsche owners, who cares what fuel costs.

All a dealership will do is say that the oil use is "normal."

hotrod2448

RED HORSE

I've never had a Porsche (had 6 counting air cooled one) that didn't use a little oil.

I've never had a Japanese car that used any oil.

Also had an Audi S8 that got driven a little on the aggressive side and it used a little oil.

My conclusion is German engine designers attend different universities than Japanese engine designers.

captain911

Thanks for all the replies. They are greatly appreciated.

BenCD - I will be taking your advice and utilizing sport mode quite a bit more. And have wifey use sport mode too.

hotrod2448 - No smoke or any other issues that I can see while accelerating or decelerating.

deilenberger - Thanks for easing my concern.

Now off for some spirited driving!

kennyt

My previous vehicles X5M (twin turbo V8) required oil top off when I drove aggressively in M mode but the 328ci and M3 with inline 6 engine didn't use a drop of oil. None of my Honda's burned oil.

DrBillyD

I seem to remember that there's a 1 liter difference between all green bars and no green bars in oil level gauge, but could easily be mistaken by that.

I noticed that if I try to keep the gauge at all green (i.e. completely full), it'll creep down one bar after about 1K miles. So, being the mildly OCD type, I'd routinely top it off. Once I forgot to check the gauge and about 3K miles had gone by and when I checked the gauge, it was still at one green bar below full. Decided to let it go for another 2K miles (until next oil change) and it didn't budge. So now I just leave the oil gauge at one green bar down and it doesn't budge.

Once I needed acceleration to merge and floored it. Noticed a puff of white in the rear view mirror when I did that, but have never noticed it before nor since. Have heard that oil can accumulate in lower part(s) of intake system so wondered if extra boost had "flushed" some pooled oil when I floored it.

The above is all on a 2014 CTTS with about 40K miles. Haven't had any oil issues otherwise.

Also have a 2015 Boxster GTS with about 20K miles and it'll use about 0.5 L over 5K miles or so, which doesn't seem excessive to me. BTW, 0.5L in the Boxster was about 2 bars below full, which might be where I'm getting the 1L diff between all green/no green on the oil level gauge. However, I'm no mechanic and you'd be unwise to take my opinion and experience as gospel.