So coming from a (997) 911 the oil monitor system is way different.
I noticed on the Pana that I can check level with car running at 80MPH as well as in park. Strange? or doing something wrong?

 

Yes, it is different. With the Panamera, the engine needs to be running. If you open the hood, you have to drive 10+ miles before the oil monitor is active again.

 

911 had to be running too but at idle. The Pana also gave me a reading at 80 mph.

 

http://www.porsche.com/all/media/pdf...amera_PCNA.pdf

page 121 FYI

Book says at idle or at speed.... interesting.

 

My 2015 PGTS manual states to check the oil warm, after 2 minutes, with the engine off, and the car on level ground. Perhaps the instructions differ for different years or engines.

 

But actually it makes more sense to measure oil level when engine is running and driving. That is the condition the engine is in most of the times :-)

 

WRONG.

When you want an accurate measurement of something, you conduct your measurement under steady state repeatable conditions.

If you're looking to measure something that is dynamic and changing constantly, you measure under those conditions and pay very close attention to your sampling rate and measure over a period of time so you can see the changes and analyze enough data points to answer the question you've posed.

Measuring oil level while driving with a device that samples once and reports is pointless. The volume of oil is sloshing around under g loads and is churned by the crankshaft. The oil in a dry sump is been pumped away and replenished constantly. You'd never get a precise single answer.

Sometime during the 997 production run, Porsche changed to measuring withe the engine off and later with the 997.2 reverted back to their historical method of measuring with the engine warm and idling on level ground.

My 2015 PGTS using the typical method for a wet sump engine to measure warm oil on level ground after the engine has been stopped for 2 minutes. This allows for the oil to be draining back into the sump for measurement.

 

WRONG....

Sample rate is relative high here I guess in order to take the points you so fine measure into considation.

 

Take a glass and have someone pour some water into it. Without looking at the glass first, begin sloshing the water around in the glass. Now watch it for 30 seconds or 30 minutes. Watch it constantly. Watch it very, very carefully. Now tell me, how much water was poured into the glass. Now stop swirling the glass, let it come to rest, and let the water seek its steady state condition or level. Now with one glance you can tell how much water is in the glass.

It's the same with your oil level.

 

Unless you you take that know problem into account when designing the sump and the way it measure the oil level

Not often you drive around in circles for a long time

 

For over 100 years, a simple dipstick was all that was necessary to determine the amount of oil in an engine. Then the average person somehow grew unable or unwilling to use such a simple device. So now we throw some electronics at it and there isn't agreement on how it works. For me, a dipstick would be perfect. But after over 40 years as a Mechanical Engineer, it's all I really need.

My last Audi A6 had an electronic sensor to measure the oil level, but the engine was built with a tube for a dipstick and to suck the oil out at oil changes. For about $25, I purchased the dipstick and never bothered with the electronic sensor again. You could check with the sensor 3 times and get 2 different results. Now that's what they call accuracy.

 

I wish we had a dipstick... I like to check the condition of oil on my cars.

 

I bought a dipstick.



For my 2014 Panamera

 

Hey atwong. Did you just purchase the dipstick from porsche directly? I have a 2016 hybrid and won't need to do my first oil change since owning the car until December, but like the idea of relying on the dipstick for this...

edit: nevermind. saw in another thread that you purchased through audi. thanks

 

At the end of the day, just do what the owner manual says and you will be just fine.
We are not talking mixing chemicals on molecular level here. We do not need to know how many mols of oil are in the engine. Level of approximation is built into the process by designers, so just go with the flow: Top up oil, drive for more than 8 miles, use cluster to give you info on oil level. Simple. Dont complicate it. Young kids will get confused and we will have anarchy, cats living with dogs. Total doom.