Porsche 25th

My new to me Cayenne (see:https://rennlist.com/forums/porsche-...-it-again.html ) has about 15k thousand miles on it including the 2000 I have driven over the last 4 months.

I check my fluids and tire pressures weekly on all my cars. The last two weeks the "electronic dip stick" has read something to the effect: oil level not available at this time. I have and it states this may happen but does not offer any reasons why it happens. The oil pressure and temps are normal while driving. Can anyone enlighten me as to what is going on? TIA

RESP

I can't tell you why, and unfortunately the Porsche service advisors at our dealership here can't tell us either.

Have had our 2012 V6 with electronic dipstick since new.
We now have over 92,000 km on her.
I check the oil level at least twice a week.
The "information not available" at this time message came up more often when she was newer. Still see the message from time to time, but not based on any repeatable basis.
Cold, hot, short trip, long trip, just serviced, due for service, 100'% oil level last reading, down one quart last reading...
Every once in a while the message comes back, without warning, and then disappears.

Porsche 25th

Thanks. It's back working normally but I am still curious as to what causes the reading to be unavailable.

gnat

I got that once in my diesel (of course not too long after I changed my oil). There was a procedure on how to use the gauge in the manual that I had never had to follow before, but when I did it worked fine.

It says get the engine to operating temp, park on a level surface, turn off the car, wait roughly 2 minutes, then check the oil.

Before and after that event I could check the oil on the fly. No idea why it did it or why it's been happy to just tell me in all other cases.

wwilliams88

To revisit this, the oil level measurement is reset whenever you open the hood. It won't be available until you drive 30 miles or perform the procedure noted by gnat above. The oil level is an average value obtained after 30 miles. Opening the hood resets the sensor. More info is available in the 2011 Technik Introduction Cayenne/S/Turbo. The section on the oil measurement is duplicated below:

"Determination of oil level

Oil level measurement is performed while driving, over 30 miles (50 km), as well as with warm engine (oil temperature > 149° F./65° C.) and horizontally parked vehicle (engine off > 120 sec.) and ignition on.

Determination for topping up oil

The oil level is reset after the hood is opened. The oil level can be measured immediately if the hood is closed. Required: Oil temperature > 149° F. (65° C.) and engine is off for longer than 120 sec. If the preconditions are not met, the following message appears in the multi-function display:

“Oil level available only after short time/distance”.

If the vehicle is driven off immediately after opening the hood without the conditions being met, it is necessary either to drive for a minimum of 30 miles (50 km) or the vehicle must stopped with the engine off for 2 min with an oil temperature of> 149° F. (65° C.) in order to call up the oil level in the multi-function display.

The quantity difference between the minimum and maximum markings is approx. 1 liter. One segment on the display corresponds to a top-up quantity of 0.25 liters. If the oil-level indicator fails, the message “Failure Oil level measurement” appears on the multi-function display. Further operation-specific information is provided in the Owner’s Manual.

Oil level sensor

The oil level sensor is a PULS (Packaged Ultrasonic Level Sensor) sensor. Among other things, the advantage of this sensor is that it can detect both a minimum and maximum oil level as well as overfilling. It works according to the principle of ultrasonic measurement.

The ultrasonic sensor is a continually operating sensor system for detection of the engine oil level. The determined fill-level data is supplied via a pulse-width modulated signal.

The displayed oil level is calculated from a long-term mean value. The mean value is calculated over 30 miles (50 km) and 3,600 measured values. When the mean value has been calculated, the last mean value is stored and mean value calculation starts all over again.

Only measured values that were obtained within certain temperature, engine speed, vehicle speed and lateral acceleration thresholds (enabling signal from DME) are used for calculating mean values. The last mean value is always displayed in the Oil menu; oil level display is always possible except for after opening the hood.

Porsche 25th

Thank you for that detailed information! That answers my question. BTW, I open my hood every week and only drive 12 miles to work.

wwilliams88

That would do it

bick51

2016 Porsche Cayenne 958 Base V6 - you can put a real dip stick in this enginel
When I changed the oil for the first time, it took forever for the oil level display to become 'available' again. So I started looking for an alternative.
If you look at the engine , driver's side, middle of the plastic manifold cover, there is a plastic peg facing straight up, about 1 1/4" - about 2 1/2" total length when you yank it out.
Sure looks like a dip stick should go there.

VW sold a V6 Touareg in 2016, and guess what? It came with a dipstick. Looking through online parts for that model will show the dip stick 'Locking Pin', VW part No. 079115418B,
and VW part No. 03H115607B, a real dip stick!!
I ordered mine from the nearby VW dealer, who shipped it to me with no shipping cost, for $29. Amazon has the part for <$20.

Mine is reading exactly on the high water mark after I put in t6 1/2 qts of oil.

deilenberger

Bick - a number of people have made this modification - but don't leave the dipstick installed - they just put it in when they're changing the oil.

I'm moving this thread over to the 958 subforum since that's where it belongs.