I really hate my first thread to be a "is this normal" type thread, but I guess that's the way it goes some times.

The car is a 997.2 Turbo S. The driver's side outlet hose is dry as a bone, but the passenger side (US car) is pretty heavily oiled. I'd estimate it at 1/4 cup or a bit more. I didn't let the intercooler drain in the video, there's at least another 1/8 cup in there, as it's loaded with oil as well.

The car is a CPO, 22K miles, with 2k miles since I bought it. Exhaust was replaced by dealer before sale, so had there been oil at that point, it should have been noticed or cleared. So it's likely to have accumulated at some point in the past 2K miles.

I expect a bit of blow-by, but not this amount of oil and a saturated hose and intercooler. I can't imagine the MAF, throttle body, or boost sensors are much good when coated with a heavy layer of oil. Not to mention adding oil to valves on a DFI engine without any fuel to clean them.

So folks, is this amount of oil "normal"? It possible I'm overly concerned. Some folks I've talked to have said yes, others no. I know S54 and S65 BMW motors and their issues quite well, but I'm new to Porsche and to turbos.

 

That seems like an awful lot of oil. Since it is CPO'd I would get it checked.....That is more than I would expect to see.

DC

 

That is a good amount of blow-by and something you should keep an eye on. If you are technically inclined to do so, I would suggest pulling the passenger intercooler and rinsing it out with gasoline. All that oil on the fins would lower the efficiency of the cooling.

 

+1

I can only imagine your not getting full octane either. As the oil gets into the combustion chamber via air it will lower your octane considerably causing knock ect.

 

Thanks! It's getting checked today. I guess that it won't be considered a problem, because the car is in throwing any codes, yet. (I have a Durametric tool.) But fingers crossed.

Good point. I suspected that a coating of oil would impede heat transfer and efficiency.

Car does seem a bit slow compared to a 997.2 Turbo 6MT I drove. But that's hard to gauge via the butt-dyno! My impression might have been accurate if my car were pulling timing.

Thanks for the input and help guys!

 

I would have to say not normal.. I had a very light coating on the driver side when I pulled it all apart for my plug job last winter..

Problem is like you said, without codes the dealer will probably say all is normal..

Good luck..

 

Double check to make sure the car was not overfilled with oil. On the 997.2's the passenger side turbocharger outlet will accumulate excess oil that overflows when the car is overfilled. Maybe do a fresh oil change, put on a few miles, then check again.

We see a lot of customer (and unfortunately sometimes shops) that will read the oil level in the dash, and when they see it says "fill", they'll automatically start with a full quart. I recommend 1/4 quart increments, and never go to the top line in the digital gauge, to make sure you don't overfill.

 

Sounds like a bad turbocharger seal

 

No codes, so they cleaned it up a bit and the recommendation was to keep an eye on it. Which is easy enough to do. If there's more oil I'll push to find a cause.

Great info Tom! I do my own changes, and don't go to the top line, fill a little at a time. It's possible that when the car was serviced (prior to me owning) 3k miles ago it was overfilled. Easy enough to do a change, I'll see what the level is and go from there. Can't recall offhand if it's at the top or next line down. If I don't see any additional oil mystery solved!

Yep. On the other hand I'm going to give Tom's suggestion a shot since it's easy enough to do, and since unless I can pull codes it's not easy to get action (but I'll push if there's more oil after Tom's recommendation). It should be easy enough to rule out the simple cause. If that's it, I'll clean out the intercooler and plumbing and button it back up. I was hoping to install my Europipe and (fingers crossed) if I see no new oil it's easy enough to do that work while in there for the exhaust.

 

No worries. Hopefully this is the case with your car. And like you said, simple enough to cross off the list.

Hopefully one of the other more serious possibilities is not happening. (fingers crossed for you)

 

I have the same problem. 2007 997.1 with 50k miles. Noticed it 2 years ago when I bought the car. I have been waiting for this kind of thread to start. Atleast 1/2 a cup driver side then when I upgraded my intercoolers. Upgraded my turbo so doubt the seal. I checked the hose 1 month ago and no oil since I noticed it 2 yrs ago. But I was still skeptic so removed all the spark plugs (and changed it) and saw the plug on cylinder 3 with black sooth and more oil inside the cylinder (using a scope) which it totally different from the other spark plugs and cylinder. With durametric, you can see cylinder roughness and my cylinder 3 is running rough conpared to all others. I do not have any CEL. My car runs strong. I also change my own oil but I cant say the previous owner did not overfill. I hope you find an answer since it will help me guide on what to do next. Hopefully not an engine rebuild. 😩

 

hi. same here.. i have the same issue. no oil on the driver side intercooler hose but have it in the passenger side hose. took it to a bay area dealer and they said it's fine and normal blow-by. car is a 11 TTS with 32k miles. found this out when i changed the exhaust out to europipe. i'll just keep an eye on it i guess for any codes. let me know if you hear anything new... thanks a lot.

 

Wow, same issue, same way of finding it with an exhaust change! Crazy.

I've changed the oil per Tom's recommendation, and only filled to the halfway mark. I have not seen any more oil, but due to work/travel, I've only put a hundred miles on the car.

Have you had the car since new? Original owner? (I'm not, bought it at 22K miles) If there's a chance the oil was overfilled, either during ownership, or prior, then the oil overfill consideration may be in play. I had a 997.2 CS, 6K miles, delivered from an Audi dealership in AZ. Perfect car, but the oil was so overfilled that I got an overfill warning after driving it about 10 miles after delivery. Changed the oil on that car as well, issue resolved. I think it's pretty easy to see how this could happen. Yet another reason for me to not trust anyone else to work on my cars!

I'll keep the thread updated as I monitor. Please do that same if you don't mind. Maybe we'll meet up on a drive at some point--I'm in the Sierra foothills east of Sacramento, but do a lot of Norcal drives.

 

hi. thanks for the tips! i'll check the oil level again and will not top it off and let it be between the lines. is that how you currently have it?

it's cpo from your area and i just added about 300 miles on it i got it a few months ago. you might have seen this car before from rocklin. it's the polar silver tts they had. anyways, thanks and i'll keep an eye on the oil and maybe take a look at it again.....

hope to meet you in one of the meets. what color did you get?
love these cars! crazy fast though and may get you in trouble quick....

 

Hi, yes, oil is right between the lines. I don't recall that TTS at Rocklin, unless it's the vert? Then yes, I know that car. Mine is from another NorCal dealer, but I'm just south of Placerville. I end up at EuroSunday a lot and on RAD Drives.

The car is crazy fast, but I'm pretty good at staying out of trouble. Spending a lot of time at Thunderhill in my E36 M3 helps with that!