Yes my 2009 was a new vehicle. I did proper break in...no track until after 2500 miles. I did an oil change at 1500 then right before my track events. It burned oil right from the start...I thought it was a 2 stroke! LOL...drank the oil at an alarming rate. Porsche said normal they really couldn't care less.

 

Fascinating....... what can cause such large variances in car-to-car production?

I purchased my 2009 C2S with 26K miles on it.... while I never thought it "burned oil", it did consistently burn less and less for... I don't remember... say until about 40K miles, way longer than I expect a car to "break in"..... where it now consumes about 1 quart per 5K miles at 110K miles.

Peace
Bruce in Philly

 

my indy said 40k was the "break in" for the DFI engine, not sure if that is really correct?

 

If so, I don't think your indy really knows what he's talking about....lol

To be clear, we are talking about an engine break-in period from new.

 

Had this done at the dealer. They even went as far as taping the oil cap shut with a post it saying, "do not touch". At the end of the day the finding was it burns a lot of oil, but is within spec. 2009 Carrera S.

I contemplated paying out of pocket for Borescoping etc at Indy. I recently decided not to pursue further besides the fact my CPO ends at the end of May 2017. (knocks on wood)

 

My 2009S, bought new, was a bit of a burner- 1 Qt. per 800 miles during a careful break-in (I was worried they would read out the rpms if I really got on it and there was a major engine problem.) After break-in I would always make sure the oil temp got to about 210 before I brought over 4,000 RPM. The car has never been tracked, but has been driven hard.

Anyway, I kept careful track of the oil consumption, watching it drop each year to where it is today, at 39,000 miles-about 1/2 Qt. per 4,000 miles. One change is that the car is seldom used for short trips.

I have been told that the newer S cars have very hard rings that take longer to set (please excuse me if that is the wrong term), but that does not explain similar cars where the sole owner reports no significant oil consumption from the first year it was driven.

It is interesting that when the new engines are tested, they are brought to redline and, as I remember the cars used at the Porsche Driver's School are driven hard right from the start, just warmed up by the instructors before the students get in. I spoke to one the mechanics when I was there, and he said they changed the oil often, as I remember when they do the tires at about 1,200 miles, and there was little oil consumption for the year they kept the cars. Perhaps the trick is to ignore the break-in and drive it hard after the oil temp is up...

Anyway, it is nice to see my 997.2 get better, it that respect, with age.

 

Out of curiosity, are you planning on keeping it after the CPO ends?

Thanks to all again. I guess it's hit or miss. I still can't get my head around this being ok, but the car runs well. It definitely ticks a bit at idle, but no knocking like I've heard on some of the bore scoring clips I've heard. Fingers crossed.

 

I get the oil level low alert every 600 to 800 miles (I'm keeping track). I do a lot of stop and go city driving, suburban NYC and NYC itself mixed with stints of 200 to 300 miles of straight highway driving every month. My adviser keeps telling me this is normal (Going in this Thursday to swap out the snow tires). I just had my 1 year anniversary with this, my first 911 (09, C2S, manual, bought it with 23K on the clock). I love the car, but must admit I'm still not used to this oil burn scenario. My BMWs never burned oil like this. I have 1 year left on my CPO, so I'll keep bringing it up etc. I'm not sure if I should press the issue, I see conflicting info, it's normal, it's not. I must admit I'm a little confused, is it normal, or not. Car does not burn smoke nor otherwise feel or smell weird etc. I told myself I'll see how it goes through this summer and decide whether or not to press the issue with my dealer this fall.

 

I've had my 2009 C4S since October and I've added zero oil, that's right nothing. That's about 5 k miles and one oil change in December. I check it each time I drive it on weekends and it's always full.

 

Yes this was my dream car and I plan to keep it for a long long time. The car runs great, only problem I notice is a notchy shift into first and second gear when cold. I used to have a Lexus GS (Some VIP influenced mods) with DFI engine and that's just the nature of those engines, they tick.

I had the car on the battery tender all winter, until I finally went for a ride last weekend. For the most part, I drive the car on the weekends on canyon runs. Besides that I drive ~20 (stop and go + highway) miles to work on Fridays in nice weather. If I drive I make sure to get oil temp up to proper operating temperature 175 degrees, no quick runs to the store. (Yes I know I need to drive it more)

I'm no expert, but if I were you I would at least get the oil consumption test. If they find something off, they can officially proceed to the next steps to see if AOS failing, or bore scoring etc. Since they found my oil consumption within spec (I forget the actual # of miles but I think ~700-775miles, they could not proceed with anything further. That test is free and shouldn't cost a penny at dealership.

 

Thanks for making us feel like our cars are flawed. This thread is for oil consumption sympathizers.

 

I think there is a support group for that.

 

Mine is a daily driver, that could be the difference. I'm going to ask for an oil consumption test this Thursday. I'll keep (all of) you apprised.

 

Hard to say when break in ends. 40K miles is a bit far fetched to be sure but who knows?

I have info that lab and field tests have found engine break in to continue for some time after the nominal break in period is over and done with. I don't recall any real specifics other than the break in can continue for "thousands" of miles after nominal break in miles.

For most if not all of us break in is over with at the end of break in period.

Well, check that. If an owner drives his new car too gently break in might be delayed some. The engine needs load (load not RPMs) -- after it is warmed up -- to help with break in. If the car is babied the engine won't get exposed to nearly as much load and break in even at the end of the nominal break in period may not be that far advanced.

 

For our Porsches my theory is the biggest factor in car to car oil consumption differences is not the engine to engine differences but the differences between AOSs.

Even what appears to be a perfectly functioning AOS allows some oil vapor through under various circumstances. We see evidence of this when upon the occasional cold start the engine smokes.

If the AOS allows excessive vapor to pass through at other times we'd never know it because there would be no oil smoke. But we would see the oil level going down over time.

An engine that burns oil is a bit of a pain to be sure. This is minimized to some extent by how easy it is to keep track of the oil level and then one is just faced with the occasional topping up say when filling the gas tank.

One can take comfort in that almost certainly it is not the engine per se that is at fault but the damned AOS. While I wouldn't go so far as to recommend a premature AOS replacement for an "oil burner" one can look forward to the possibility if he keeps the car long enough and it needs a new AOS -- and based on my experience it will (my Boxster is on its 3rd replacement AOS) -- maybe he'll get one installed that is better at removing oil vapor and the heavier than "normal" oll consumption will be a thing of the past.