per216

I recently bought a 997 with 1300mi on it from a P-dealer and the first day I drove it myself (after bringing it home a week earlier) and letting the computer measure the oil level, it only had one blinking bar--I added a qt of oil which brought the level to one bar short of the max-line.

I guess I'm a little concerned that the car may have some damage from not having had enough oil in it--should I be concerned? There were no oil puddles under the car from having been sitting for a week. Thanks in advance, Paul

BOUCS5

these cars go through a quart of oil every 800-1000 miles, so they probaly didnt top it off before you left, no problem though they come with about 10 quarts in them so no damage should have been done.

mooty

monitor the oil gauge dilegently.
if the bottom bar is blinking you are below levvel but you only had to add 1qt to get it up to noram, so you should be fine. these engine carries 7-8 qt, lacking 1 qt is ok (but dont keep doing it)

btw, each bar is .4L or .4qt.

MMD

You're fine. There's some sort of "drop dead" warning about too-low oil level. I forgot what that warning consists of (check manual). Anyway, you would have been told by bells, whistles and flashing lights if you didn't have enough oil in engine.

OCBen

Actually, I believe it's just the flashing of the bottom segment.

From Page 102 of the '05 Manual:

– If the segment flashes, the oil level has
dropped to below the minimum mark.

- Add engine oil immediately.

MMD

My Boxster has the little oil can red light on the dash when sh*t is about to hit the fan. The 997 has this "abort-abort-abort" warning:

OCBen

I wonder what exactly is the message the on-board computer displays. I'm guessing it's not:

"Dude...I hate to break it to you, but I have some news for you.

Followed by:

"Maybe I'm overreacting here, but am I the only one here paying attention???"

Then:

"HEY ****HEAD, I'M TALKING TO YOU! … AND IF YOU DON'T SHUT DOWN THIS ENGINE RIGHT NOW, I'LL DO IT FOR YOU!!!!"

A la HAL from 2001 - A Space Odyssey

gota911

That's a good one, Ben!

MMD

LOL. Yeah right. I betcha the exact phrasing of the warning is different for the various countries the car will be shipped to. Canada: "please stop engine: you've no oil." USA: "Hey! Driver!, Notice anything UNUSUAL?"

Of course if you have SChrono, you can make up your own personalized (Exclusive) message and you can choose the option to have the airbags automatically deploy just before, or at the monent the engine seizes wether or not PSM is engaged.

9Eleven

What cars are these? My Gt3 has 3500 miles and never a drop. I changed it a 1000 miles, no oil use. Now with 3500 miles, no oil use. Am I just lucky or what?

TT Gasman

My 996 goes thru about 250cc of oil per year, that's normal. But this type of high oil consuption is common but not normal.

jcnesq

I went through about a half quart in the first 3,800 miles and added another half about 3-4K later - that's normal. OTOH I wouldn't be alarmed that the level was a quart low but if it keeps burning that much oil, its not right.

My view is that most dealers treat these cars simply as commodities and its almost laughable that they didn't top it off before selling it, but still not surprising.

Stephenkng

Can't agree more. Mine was one bar down at delivery

npp

GEEZ --
3600 miles on my 06 997 S coupe and I haven't added a drop of oil -- the level is still normal.
Should I be worried?
NPP

MMD

I'd say yes. It's an engine from a different world that doesn't eat oil when new.

This is all I found in manual related to your situation.