996 - whats a reasonable oil consumption?

[Rawhide]

I've got a 2002 996 C2. I did a trip to Chamonix (circa 1100 miles) and it used about 1l of oil.

I yesterday did a short amount of airfield time, sprints, slalom etc and when I got home and started the car again when it was cooled down it sounded rough. I check the oil using the electronic guage and it was showing one bar. I checked with the dipstick and it was showing about a 1/4 up.

I have added 0.75 of a litre of Mobil 1 and it's now up to about 1/2 on the digital meter. I've not checked the dipstick.

My car only has about 22k on the clock. I get the impression it's had a pampered life and I'm driving it harder than it's used to since I bought it. is this level of oil consumption ok?

The water levels are fine so I'm not worried about contamination and there's no obvious oil leaks anywhere from a quick inspection from the top of the engine.

The cars not due a service for a while so I'm reluctant to take it to Porsche.

[Vesuvius 996]

Sounds like a WHOLE lot to me.

Mine is a 65,000 miles 2000, and it uses a cupful in 12,000 miles if that.

Get it checked out. It might be that if the car has not been used much and oil seal could have perished.

Edited by Vesuvius 996 on Friday 20th April 13:11

[sleep envy]

have a look in the owners manual and see what expected use is before you start to phone the warranty people

[Rawhide]

Vesuvius 996 said:

Sounds like a WHOLE lot to me.

Mine is a 65,000 miles 2000, and it uses a cupful in 12,000 miles if that.

Thanks.. have you done any track time in those periods? My S2000 never drank a drop until I took it to the ring and it drank half a litre. This was not a problem as the engine was known to use a bit. However I am a bit alarmed with how much the porsche is drinking.

Edited by Rawhide on Friday 20th April 14:18

[Vesuvius 996]

Rawhide said:

Vesuvius 996 said:

Sounds like a WHOLE lot to me.

Mine is a 65,000 miles 2000, and it uses a cupful in 12,000 miles if that.

Thanks.. have you done any track time in those periods? My S2000 never drank a drop until I took it to the ring and it drank half a litre. This was not a problem as the engine was known to use a bit. However I am a bit alarmed with how much the porsche is drinking.

Edited by Rawhide on Friday 20th April 14:18

Mate, as the slaughterers on here will tell you, I'm a fat bald lawyer and my car's a purple automatic. So no track time...



Seriously, it sounds like it's leaking somewhere to me.

[rigsby]

Doesn't sound excessive to me. I do a lot of high speed trips to see g/f's folks in Austria and would use about the same. Sometimes take in the odd Ring visit. It likes oil when driven hard. My advice would be to check level manually and often.
Around town not really a measurable amount. I've done 50,000 miles in 3 years and no noticeable increase in consumption.
I would be concerned if it was increasing though.IMO these fabulous engines are unburstable and only improve with mileage!

[tracer.smart]

Rawhide said:

I've got a 2002 996 C2. I did a trip to Chamonix (circa 1100 miles) and it used about 1l of oil.

Did the same trip in December, and went to Switzerland via the Ring over Easter weekend. My 2000 model hasn't used a drop.

[flow99]

It's probably worth getting checked. I've done 78000 miles in my 02 996 C2, and usually only takes 1/2 litre between services, although the seal has gone twice in the five years. First time at 22000!
only joking, it was about 30000!

[16610LV]

...I think your 996's oil consumption is within spec, especially for fairly hard driving.

My '99 996 (106k miles) doesn't get driven that hard, and used a litre every 10k miles or so.

[johnfm]

They are designed to consume oil - is it 1l/1000 km or something? It is in the manual.

Either way, I wouldn't necessarily use the electronic guide as sole indicator - cross check with dipstick, especially before adding 0.75l, as an overfill is a pain in the ass.

[Vesuvius 996]

johnfm said:

They are designed to consume oil - is it 1l/1000 km or something? It is in the manual.

Either way, I wouldn't necessarily use the electronic guide as sole indicator - cross check with dipstick, especially before adding 0.75l, as an overfill is a pain in the ass.

Indeed, as any girl will tell you.

[1jeb]

Last summer I did a trip to Cologne from London and back. We were pushing it a bit and i used over half the oil. How hard were you driving?

[johnfm]

Vesuvius 996 said:

johnfm said:

They are designed to consume oil - is it 1l/1000 km or something? It is in the manual.

Either way, I wouldn't necessarily use the electronic guide as sole indicator - cross check with dipstick, especially before adding 0.75l, as an overfill is a pain in the ass.

Indeed, as any girl will tell you.

I was not referring to an OXO tower overfill....

[Rawhide]

1jeb said:

Last summer I did a trip to Cologne from London and back. We were pushing it a bit and i used over half the oil. How hard were you driving?

Thats sounds about right. I was driving at about 100mph average with a few blasts a bit higher speed.

However yesterday worries me a bit more. I was not particulary hard on the car. I let it have a good cool down between sessions etc.

I guess I'll monitor it for a while and see how I go.

[pgm]

I have lately been worried about oil consumption in my 02 3.6, car is hard driven and never any motorways etc.

I've had cylinder leakage test done (ranges between 8% and 12% over the 6) and taken advice from 3 independants, the advice being whilst it's a bit on the high side, not to be overly concerned and monitor accurately.

I use 1l per 850 miles at the moment, manual says maximum is 1.5l per 1000km which equates to 2l per 850 miles roughly so I'm only using half what Porsche say is OK.

Not particularly worried any more, I'll just drive till it's bust

[dmcrobin]

Porsche actually say upto a litre every 1000 miles is acceptable, but it does tend to apply to new cars and as they settle in it tends to drop - sounds like it needs checking - just make sure you dip the oil with the engine at running temperature.

[sherman klump]

Well i must be driving like a gaylord then because mine hasnt used any in 2000 miles.
And i check it on the digital reading every time i start it.
I'll start going over 4000 revs occaisonally and see if that helps.