997 2005-2012 911 C2, C2S, C4, C4S, GTS, Targa and Cabriolet Model Discussion.

What is "normal" oil consumption?

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Old 11-05-2018, 10:12 AM
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What is "normal" oil consumption?

Ok I know this is a loaded questions and the answer is "it depends" but putting that reply aside for the moment lets make the following assumptions:

- 2009 99.2 all service always done
- 3500 miles driven
- Daily commute is 20 miles within speed limits in automatic mode of the PDK
- occasionally will see 1-2 times a week in sport mode manual reving to 7K
- Have had opportunities to run in sport plus mode with manual shifting for 350 miles

How much oil should I expect to have burned?

I checked my oil level and was down 1.5 qts and I think that is a bit excessive.

Does anyone have any similar experience with oil consumption?

thanks
Bill
 
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Old 11-05-2018, 11:37 AM
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Well, let me try. Porsche A.G says that one can consume 1 qt for every 800 miles, IIRC.
I have the same car as you and I find that the oil level can be down 2 or more bars after
about 3500 miles. I once queried the zone rep at my local dealership about this and what he told
me was a bit startling: do not add any oil unless you get the notice to do so. Ok I can buy this to a point.
I think that the recommendation of no-add is to prevent over filling. I still add, but the engine only takes
a maximum of 1/2 qt to have all bars filled. Go figure.
 
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Old 11-05-2018, 11:52 AM
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Originally Posted by ogun228
Well, let me try. Porsche A.G says that one can consume 1 qt for every 800 miles, IIRC.
I have the same car as you and I find that the oil level can be down 2 or more bars after
about 3500 miles. I once queried the zone rep at my local dealership about this and what he told
me was a bit startling: do not add any oil unless you get the notice to do so. Ok I can buy this to a point.
I think that the recommendation of no-add is to prevent over filling. I still add, but the engine only takes
a maximum of 1/2 qt to have all bars filled. Go figure.
ok thank you so much for the confirmation. Im ok with it if others are seeing the same result, just a bit gun shy from a privious car I have owned in the past.

and by notice to do so Im assuming wait until the oil light comes on? That somewhat makes me feel better b/c I just thought to check the oil on a whim and I have seen different results from a cold start and waiting a minute, to driving a 1/2 hr and running the oil level again which to me indicates that checking the oil levels is abit sporatic in the result

 
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Old 11-06-2018, 06:51 AM
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What's acceptable to Porsche, what's acceptable to us, and what's normal are 2 different things. I'd say what's acceptable to us and what's normal are the same thing, and under normal street use conditions, that's about 1 quart every 5,000 miles. Anything higher I think is excessive and I can't remember anyone posting with much higher consumption than that that didn't eventually discover a problem, whether it was just a bad AOS or something more major like scored bores.
 
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Old 11-06-2018, 09:43 PM
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FWIW - I've had my 06 C2S since Jan 2018 with 71K miles. Did an early oil change as the level was always at the very very top of the measurement and was concerned of an overfill situation. Oil filter inspection was clean without any noticeable debris.

After oil change the gauge reads one segment below top as shown below.




After 3000 miles it's reading the same measurement with an occasional jump up to the top line which I guess is related to ambient temps and how long the car sits. Driving is normal in town with occasional spirited runs and highway cruising. I have not needed to add oil so far.
 
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Old 11-07-2018, 02:39 PM
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Originally Posted by ogun228
Well, let me try. Porsche A.G says that one can consume 1 qt for every 800 miles, IIRC.
I have the same car as you and I find that the oil level can be down 2 or more bars after
about 3500 miles. I once queried the zone rep at my local dealership about this and what he told
me was a bit startling: do not add any oil unless you get the notice to do so. Ok I can buy this to a point.
I think that the recommendation of no-add is to prevent over filling. I still add, but the engine only takes
a maximum of 1/2 qt to have all bars filled. Go figure.
I believe the correct number is 1.6 qts every 622 miles (1,5L/1000kms) before Porsche considers it a problem. Ridiculous but thats the way it is.

And each bar is 0.4L so all 3 bars is 1.2L total not 0.5 qts to fill it. There is no issue with filling it a BIT to keep it at the 1st line down. I do not wait for the warning light but no big issue if you do.

There are literally a hundred threads about this on Rennlist if you have a couple of days to go through them. Some guys burn a ton of oil, some dont (or they claim). Consider yourself lucky with the consumption you have
 
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Old 11-08-2018, 10:59 PM
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Originally Posted by 911URGE
FWIW - I've had my 06 C2S since Jan 2018 with 71K miles. Did an early oil change as the level was always at the very very top of the measurement and was concerned of an overfill situation. Oil filter inspection was clean without any noticeable debris.

After oil change the gauge reads one segment below top as shown below.




After 3000 miles it's reading the same measurement with an occasional jump up to the top line which I guess is related to ambient temps and how long the car sits. Driving is normal in town with occasional spirited runs and highway cruising. I have not needed to add oil so far.
I'm just curious if everyone here is using Mobil1 oil?
 
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Old 11-09-2018, 04:35 AM
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Originally Posted by erayd8
I'm just curious if everyone here is using Mobil1 oil?
Sweet, an oil thread. I've not seen one of those before.

I use Driven DT40 in my two .1s
 
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Old 11-09-2018, 10:27 PM
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Originally Posted by Petza914
What's acceptable to Porsche, what's acceptable to us, and what's normal are 2 different things. I'd say what's acceptable to us and what's normal are the same thing, and under normal street use conditions, that's about 1 quart every 5,000 miles. Anything higher I think is excessive and I can't remember anyone posting with much higher consumption than that that didn't eventually discover a problem, whether it was just a bad AOS or something more major like scored bores.
My -06 C4S burned no oil or a small enough amount that I never had to add a drop between oil changes. The -09 C4S went through about a quart every 1,500 miles. Put 43,000 miles on it with that consumption and never had a problem. I still keep in touch with the guy who bought it from me and still no issues at almost 75,000 miles with the same oil consumption. Current GTS.......guessing a quart every 3,000 miles or maybe 4,000. Small enough amount where I don't keep records. Btw.....my dealer says a quart every 800 miles is acceptable. Any more than that is not.
 
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Old 11-09-2018, 10:44 PM
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Originally Posted by sandwedge
My -06 C4S burned no oil or a small enough amount that I never had to add a drop between oil changes. The -09 C4S went through about a quart every 1,500 miles. Put 43,000 miles on it with that consumption and never had a problem. I still keep in touch with the guy who bought it from me and still no issues at almost 75,000 miles with the same oil consumption. Current GTS.......guessing a quart every 3,000 miles or maybe 4,000. Small enough amount where I don't keep records. Btw.....my dealer says a quart every 800 miles is acceptable. Any more than that is not.
Good additional data points - thanks. The dealer may think a quart every 800 miles is acceptable, but I personally don't. These are supposed to be precision machines with exacting tolerances, and a quart every 800 miles is what a 200,000 mile old engine with low compression or bad heads should be eating up, not a highly maintained, precision motor. I'm glad neither of my cars burns this kind of oil. Heck even my 17 year old GMC pickup with 175,000 miles on it only uses 1 quart every 5,000 miles and that vehicle gets driven 8-10 times per day by my wife and I for kid shuttling, lunch, errands, dinner, etc.
 
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Old 11-10-2018, 10:35 PM
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Originally Posted by Petza914
Good additional data points - thanks. The dealer may think a quart every 800 miles is acceptable, but I personally don't. These are supposed to be precision machines with exacting tolerances, and a quart every 800 miles is what a 200,000 mile old engine with low compression or bad heads should be eating up, not a highly maintained, precision motor. I'm glad neither of my cars burns this kind of oil. Heck even my 17 year old GMC pickup with 175,000 miles on it only uses 1 quart every 5,000 miles and that vehicle gets driven 8-10 times per day by my wife and I for kid shuttling, lunch, errands, dinner, etc.

I agree. But it's not uncommon. For example, Rennlist member Edgy01 took Euro delivery of a brand new -06 C2S and that car has burned a quart/1,000 miles since brand new.

I'm really surprised that the oil isn't checked more frequently by all. It couldn't be any easier. (I suppose that's why Porsche designed the electronic sensor for that).

My car has been using oil at the rate of 1 quart per 1000 miles from day one. I'm on my 64th quart of oil---I mean, I'm at about 64,000 miles! I could almost do without an odometer, it's that consistent. https://rennlist.com/forums/997-foru...nsumption.html
 

Last edited by sandwedge; 11-10-2018 at 10:41 PM.
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