theiceman

Okay lets change it up a bit and talk about Porsches ..

I was sitting in traffic today and started playing around with my instrument panel ( DD not Porsche ) and i brought up my oil monitor and it said I had 42% of useable life left in my oil

Got me thinking , what do you guys with the newer Porsches do ? i am sure they all have oil monitor technology these days. I like the idea of not changing it before its due from an environmental perspective, because the first R in the three Rs is reduce. When it comes to you guys and your newer cars , how do you use this technology ? do you use it at all ? or go by Mileage only and time ? if you use it, what % useful life left do you change it at ??

Just kinda wondering

Biscuits704

I only do about 3000km a year in the Porsche, so don't use the technology. An annual oil change and whatever else the maintenance schedule calls for at the same time.

I will be using it for my truck though. The phone app tells me that there's 81% life left in my oil as of right now, which is a nice little feature.
This will be a benefit for me, I don't drive that much and my previous DD I had to have religious 6mo oil changes to keep it in warranty (even though it was a PHEV, so oil degradation absolutely minimal in the summer).
Looking like with this approach I'll be yearly oil changes at most, and still keep it to the manufacturer's interval (they go by what oil life monitor says).

Edit: I should add that while my Porsche is "newer" (2016), it's out of warranty so don't need to worry about it.

reacp911

When porsche can charge $680 for a 718 oil change with the PCA discount, you know they're not going to let you drag out oil change intervals

theiceman

thats an awesome feature to have on an app, keep an eye on the spouses car maintenance that way too i imagine.

theiceman

yeah its a real dichotomy. corporate wants to show what they are doing to help the environment, dealership dont care, just want their $$$

gcurnew

No oil health monitor in my 992. It gets twice-yearly changes...once going into winter (October or so) and once going into summer driving season (June-ish). The dealer oil change here is $300 and change.

reacp911

Manufacturers recommend yearly oil changes based on a fallacy. They say you gotta change the oil because you must be making short trips, and therefore not getting the oil hot enough. Yeah, I could understand that if you made 500 trips a year of 6 km each. Fact is though, I do 30 trips of 100km or more each. I guarantee you I get the oil hot enough to boil off water and fuel. When I drain the oil with 3000 km it's still perfect

wildcat077

Instrument panel only oil level and life monitors are a real pain in the butt …
My son’s previous BMW 535IX didn’t have a dipstick and he had to rely on his on board computer to check the level and oil change interval, if you failed to reset it correctly it would give a dealer only computer reset message , luckily my friend’s shop was able to reset everything with his “ expensive “ SnapOn diagnostic tool.
The plastic oil level sensor cracked and leaked which led to a very expensive N55 engine rebuild … we flipped the car to a dealer for a WRX as soon as it was repaired , no more cars without a dipstick from now on !
Electronics is nice but when it fails it costs a fortune.
For what it’s worth , my F150 tells me the remaining oil life and you can easily reset it when you want, gotta love easy electronics and dipsticks !
Anyhow, regardless of mileage we change the oil on all our vehicles twice a year, and Pennzoil Ultra Platinum is always on sale at CDN Tire.

Cheers
Phil

theiceman

wow really ? im really surprised there is no oil health monitor on a Porsche as modern as the 992 , my 2021 Pacifica has it lol.

theiceman

exactly why i was wondering if guys used the oil health monitor. but apparently 992s dont even have it ?

I think we really know a blackstone would be the true test of how your oil is doing, but thought the oil life quality monitor was a cool feature.

theiceman

oil level indicator is a whole different nightmare .. at least in my Audi they left the dipstick tube with a plug in the top, it took me a whole day to find a dipstick and shove it in there lol.

reacp911

If anyone finds a way to see the actual oil of a 718 boxster, like you can with a dipstick, I'd like to hear it. When spending 680 for an oil change it would nice to be able to tell if they actually did it. Don't think I'm being paranoid. I have my reasons

I suppose I could ask them for the old oil back ( that's a joke, son)

theiceman

clear nail polish on the drain plug lol ..

reacp911

Good idea, but can you see the drain plug without removing the cover? my father used to do stuff like this when he stopped doing his own maintenance

rensoyka

from what I have read the oil life "monitor" simply uses an algorithm based on your driving via the DME data it interprets. there is no analysis of the oil quality or condition. don't know how accurate that would actually be other than letting you know that it's probably a waste to change it just based on time.