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Engine oil level after a service

Sulz

Well-known member
Joined
13 Feb 2015
Messages
163
I have a 991 with the digital dipstick. The car has just come back from a major service but the engine oil reads as half (two out of the four green bars).

Shoudn't this be on four? I was given a litre bottle of engine oil too from the OPC.

I'm a little worried in case they haven't changed the engine oil.
 
Take it back and tell them.
 
Half should be fine. My local dealer has a habit of over filling the oil which increases the oil pressure to blow oil seals and therefore generate extra work / warranty claims

I never run my car on anything over half
 
Always just under top limit. These cars need that amount to function at their optimum. There's a lot of parts that function off that oil pressure like lifters.
 
Read here for an idea of why top level is important: 911uk.com/viewtopic.php?t=64973
 
Winny911 said:
Half should be fine. My local dealer has a habit of over filling the oil which increases the oil pressure to blow oil seals and therefore generate extra work / warranty claims

I never run my car on anything over half

I'm not following how "filled" poses a problem? (or are you suggesting the oil level sensor could be faulty?)

In any case, presumably the OP paid for all those litres of oil :dontknow:

Perhaps the OPC could just credit £20 back on his card and everyone's a winner :thumbs:

Just as an aside, in general, it is probably best to have as much margin of error as possible, not half of it (especially bearing in mind the Carrera engines since 996 have all been wet sumps, with minimal high-G protection).

Any minor overfills should burn off in a flat engine very quickly (although you are right to point out overfilled should be avoided)
 
Will give the OPC a shout tomorrow and see what they plan to do.
 
I can see what your saying re the oil level but in theory max oil level = max pressure which puts a grater strain on the seals but they should not blow as the oil pressure will be intolerance

Min level = min pressure which runs the risk of starving things but this shouldn't happen either as again the oil pressure is still in tolerance

This is the reason I keep my oil level half way on the dip stick. As I believe this is the happy medium to avoid starving the engine of oil whilst at the same reducing stress on the system

Also if these engines were supposed to be run a one particular value (be that max / mid / min) then the dip stick on only have one line on it and not a max - min range. If they were really that critical then they would have an oil pressure alleviation system to smooth out any over / under pressures in the same way hydraulic systems have work.

At the end of the day it's just a hotted-up beetle engin with max min tolerances albeit the tolerances have got tighter over the years

I appear to have gone off one one which was not my intention , each to their own maintenance method and all that just wanted to throw my thoughts out there.
 
Winny911 said:
Half should be fine. My local dealer has a habit of over filling the oil which increases the oil pressure to blow oil seals and therefore generate extra work / warranty claims

I never run my car on anything over half


I am sure most people have the odd less than desirable 'habit' however nail biting / nose picking is on a different level to attempting to blow up someones engine in the hope of generating some work! Presumably you have had first hand experience of this?

Surely this would more often than not back fire and result in a claim against the garage that conducted the oil change. If I collected my car after an oil change and checked the level and it was way over / pouring out black smoke I would be asking some serious questions and if something popped as a result there is no way I would be handing over my hard earned in exchange for any subsequent remedial work. I guess it is slightly different for you 991 guys as yours will still be under Porsche warranty. Surely they would have to explain to Porsche the events leading up to the failure?
 
On topic. As you say OP give them a call. Regardless of some peoples personal preference I have never taken any vehicle for an oil change and it come back not filled to the max line so it does not feel quite right.
 
Winny911 said:
I can see what your saying re the oil level but in theory max oil level = max pressure which puts a grater strain on the seals but they should not blow as the oil pressure will be intolerance

Min level = min pressure which runs the risk of starving things but this shouldn't happen either as again the oil pressure is still in tolerance

This is the reason I keep my oil level half way on the dip stick. As I believe this is the happy medium to avoid starving the engine of oil whilst at the same reducing stress on the system

Also if these engines were supposed to be run a one particular value (be that max / mid / min) then the dip stick on only have one line on it and not a max - min range. If they were really that critical then they would have an oil pressure alleviation system to smooth out any over / under pressures in the same way hydraulic systems have work.

At the end of the day it's just a hotted-up beetle engin with max min tolerances albeit the tolerances have got tighter over the years

I appear to have gone off one one which was not my intention , each to their own maintenance method and all that just wanted to throw my thoughts out there.

As oil may only be used up (not created) during use, some sort of "symmetric" argument is not valid.
 
+1!!!!!!!
 
+1!!!!!!!

Also, I'd have something to say if I bought a pint and the glass was only half full.
 
911tom said:
Presumably you have had first hand experience of this?

Yes on 3 occasions same car same garage and every time they say oh well it's only a little bit over it won't matter... Yeah right pull the other one ;)

but it's a case of the car being more valuable with the supplying dealer service stamps so I still use them just to get a stamp then it goes back to my own workshop for a proper service
 
GT4 said:
Winny911 said:
As oil may only be used up (not created) during use, some sort of "symmetric" argument is not valid.

Of course oil can't be created and I never said it could be.

What I actually said was that if it was critical to have an exact pressure then there would be an oil pressure alleviation system. Basically this works as an external reservoir to store excess oil when the pressure is to high and returns it to the engine when the pressure is to low.

In simple terms this works the same way as a header tank on a car radiator cooling system when the temperature gets too hot the pressure increases and the engine coolent is pushed into the header tank when the engine cools the pressure drops and coolent returns to the radiator.

My point was actually that the Porsche engine is designed to work over a range of pressures hence the max min thing on the dip stick and that the optimum pressure would therefore be directly I between the max and min and that if it was essential to keep the oil at max then they would not have created a min reading. They would have increased the tolerance and it would say keep it on max in the owners manual.
 

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