I just finished my first HPDE with the 996 Turbo. I was all smiles after a great track weekend, but as I pulled out of the paddock a warning light flashed on to check the oil level. I performed the measurement and it showed only 1 bar of oil. I went to talk to another 996TT guy who was there and he said his car uses oil at the track, but not enough that he has to add oil.

The car just had an oil change before the event. I added 1qt which got it right about in the middle of the bars, and then topped it off with another qt which filled it. I hope I didn't overfill it, but if so it would've only been by ~1/4qt. I've only had the car since the end of April (~2,000) miles and have not noticed it previously using oil, but didn't have a reason to check it either.

So my question is, do these cars burn substantially more oil on the track than on the street? Is 1.5-2qt's for a weekend HPDE the norm, or far above it? The engine pulled hard all weekend, and pulled strong the whole way home, but the amount of oil consumption concerned me.

My last car (e46 M3) never used oil on the track or the street so this is new for me. It's worth noting that the turbo is dry and doesn't leak any oil at all. I apologize if this has been covered at length. I searched but only found reference to 997 oil consumption on track. TIA!

 

For what it's worth my mechanic used Mobil 1 15w-50. I think stock is 0w-40.

 

I run Mobil 1 5w50. My engine has about 100 hard track hours on it and uses virtually zero oil on or off the track. After about 4 track days totaling 16 sessions of 25 min each, I might loose one bar of oil on the indicator which amounts to about 1/4 of a quart. I let the car idle for about 10 minutes after each session prior to shutdown. I always keep my oil level at the upper mark or one notch below on the display. My car has also never smoked on start up as many others have complained about. Some of these engines burn oil, some don't. I think Porsche says 1 liter per 1000 miles is acceptable. Yes, 1.5-2.0 quarts of oil consumption for track weekend in which you'll do 8x25min sessions is way excessive... That amounts to about 150 driven miles..

 

I'd know dat dog anywhere......it's Paddock Pooch!

Not to start an oil war but at least check out the Joe Gibbs products. I switched from Mobil 1 after I had the opportunity to, (cough, cough), rebuild my motor several years ago. I think it is the superior product for high stress use. There's also a track specific product that can be linked to thru the link below.

http://lnengineering.com/products/lu...12-quarts.html

 

Paddock Pooch!!

Weather is looking great for next weekend Dean. You gonna make it down the mountain for one last hurrah?

[url=https://flic.kr/p/piE8u7]

 

Looks like this level of usage is normal for your engine.

However, consider this: Maybe you've been kind of tootling around town in the car and as a result the oil gets loaded with unburned fuel and water (combustion byproduct). The engine has been consuming oil all this time but the fluids I named above replace the oil and keep the level stable.

Then you hit the track with the car. The oil get plenty hot and stays hot. The unburned fuel and water boil away.

The oil level drops all the sudden and it looks like the oil got consumed on the track when in fact it was consumed over time since the last oil change or the last time you topped up the oil.

Not a fan of 15w-50. It is not an approved oil. I would suggest you consider running Mobil 1 5w-50. It is an approved oil and has the "50" for high temperature protection and "5w" to ensure good oil flow at cold start and at other times. The Turbo engine has VarioCam Plus which is a fancy hydraulic system that uses engine oil to control intake valve timing adjustment and intake valve low/high lift selection. Porsche doesn't recognize any "10w" or "15w" oil as being suitable for use in these engines and part of that is because of the needs of that VarioCam Plus hardware.

(BTW, I looked into a Dodge Challenger R/T and with engines that come with MDS (Multi-Displacement System) and Dodge insists the engine should only be filled with 5w-20 oil.)

 

Is dat Obama?

 

Indeed!

 

I do a fair amount of HPDE events (5-7 annually). Typically after a weekend event, I will be down 1/2 Quart. Next time make sure to keep an accurate eye thoughout the event after each session. I tend to check each time right before I head on the track & make sure you're on a level surface. Seems like each car is a bit different on consumption in talking to other TT at events.