Oil overfilled?
 

Hey everyone,
I bought a 2008 base Cayman last week and I just noticed that the oil check is reading all the way full above the top bar. This has me worried and I am now trying to figure out if I have a real problem on my hands. I have taken a video of the exhaust after startup which you can view here:
There is quite a bit of white smoke, which could just be due to a sort of cold start (it is about 45 degrees here currently) but there is also a bit of grumbling/bubbling happening in the exhaust sound. I've already driven it about 300 miles and I am worried that this oil problem could have caused damage.

If anyone has some advice on how I should proceed with fixing this problem that would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
James

It looks like mostly condensation to me.

Does it smell like oil?
Is there soot on the exhaust?

When you say above the top bar, what do you mean?

If you are really worried, drain some out...maybe a quart or so and WAIT. Ping the oil gauge, assuming you know how to see where you are at.

If it were me, if you don't know when the oil was last changed, I'd just go ahead and change it.

From the manner in which it is dispersing, that looks more like exhaust condensation that oil smoke. Normal for the high humidity and cool temps we're experiencing in the Southeast right now.

That said, from the drive-out plate on your car, it looks as if you purchased your Cayman from a Chrysler-Jeep dealership, whose service department may or may not have known what they were doing with the oil capacity of a Porsche (I'm thinking not).

If you cannot confirm a proper oil service from prior records and didn't have a PPI that gave you an "All Clear" on the car, then I'd get it to a good Porsche shop, let them take a look at it and establish a baseline for your ownership of the car.

What you're seeing is just condensate. Perfectly normal.


But I would go to may favorite garage and drop about 1 quart. Then you can slowly top it back to the correct level. Overfilling the crankcase can cause some problems.

Not oil smoke. I agree that draining some oil is probably the safest thing. Make sure you understand the actual oil level first though. I would check it both cold and once the engine as been warmed up before I would do anything.

If you're going to DIY it, I suggest that instead of screwing around with cold readings, hot readings and then attempting to drain a quart at the time until it's right, that you simply do an oil change. Drain it completely, install new filters and then fill it one quart shy of what the manual says it should have. Then, check the oil level per the manual and fill it further if necessary. That way, you know it's correct and don't have to worry about it. That knowledge alone would be worth the time and the cost of the oil, etc.

If purchased at a dealer (looks like it from the temp plate) there has to be at least a 30 day warranty on it right? Take it right back and have them check it. Or if you don't trust them have a local Porsche knowledgable independent shop look it over. When in doubt explore. I would hate for you to write it off as condensation smoke from cold air if there is a major problem.

^^ Dealership I purchased my CPO Cayman S from also intentionally underfills the car and then slowly fills it back up to the marker below the top marker. They never fill it to the top bar. The oil level gauge usually reads the fourth bar out of five -- and occasionally the third bar out of five -- but it is never below the third bar. (And seems to burn very little oil between 5k changes if any.) They've confirmed this is a great way to approach an oil change, and also discussed the bad (if not catastrophic) things that can happen if you grossly overfill with oil.

Update: I finally got it looked at by a recommended technician in my area, and he said that the oil was almost a full quart overfilled and that some of it was being burnt with visible white smoke coming out the exhaust. Not sure if my video really caught that. Luckily he said he didn't think any major damage had been done and that I should just keep a lookout for white smoke in the future because this could have caused a lot of strain on my air oil separator. It seems to be running clean now that the problem was fixed.

I also had them change the spark plugs and coils because I am at 80,000 miles and there is no record of that being done at the recommended 72k. Very happy with the car now, it sounds smoother especially getting into the higher revs.

Moral of the story: don't trust the Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge dealer when it comes to Porsche maintenance.

Thanks for the responses, everyone.

Glad you got it resolved.

+1

Over the years, I have probably overfilled twice at least.
The unfortunate thing about "draining a quart" is that it's impossible to do via the drain plug -- you get all 8qts shooting out in about 10secs -- impossible to stop the flow quick enough.
I have also tried to snake down a tube to suck up a quart, but for some reason I recall difficulty (can't remember why).

What methods do people use/recommend?

You can pull the filter and lose about a quart

I overfilled the PS fluid once. Went to the FLAPS and got a "turkey baster" type tube that went far enough into the reservoir to suck it out. That fluid is really tricky in a Cayman to fill or check.