oil consumption of 997.2 S

[renos]

My car uses a lot of oil compared to any other car I have owned.

I've done 12.000kms now and I need to add oil every week in order to keep the level between min and max.

The official line from the dealer is that it will normalize in time as the engine is run in, which I don't see happening. Some other 997.2 owners have reported the same.

Any views amongst you?

Thanks!

[RFM]

997/2 and Cayenne with DFI engine use approx. the same quantity of oil as the Turbo engines, which is various with driving style and conditions, between 0.500 grams and 1.250 gram per 1.000 KM.

[renos]

997/2 and Cayenne with DFI engine use approx. the same quantity of oil as the Turbo engines, which is various with driving style and conditions, between 0.500 grams and 1.250 gram per 1.000 KM.

Thanks for your reply. This means that the high consumption won't go away as the engine is run in?

How much is 0.500 grams in terms of litres?

[RFM]

Sorry,my mistake, it must be 500 gram (0.500 Kg) which is aprox. a small pint (half litre)

[MWS]

My '09 C4S now has about 10,200 miles and it seems to have stopped using oil. Between 7,000 and 10,000 miles I did not have to add any oil. Between my new purchase and 7,000 miles, however, I had to add four liters of oil.

I drive about 600 miles each week and I try to only use brand-name gasoline containing additives that are advertised as helping to keep the engine clean. I stopped using cheaper gasoline hoping this would help resolve the oil consumption issue.

[japd99]

I have the first 2005 997 S that came to Florida and took delivery in Sep 04. For the first 2 years (approx 15K miles) it would burn a small amount of oil and on 2 occasions the car asked for more oil. Since then, I have put 10K miles on the car and no adding oil issues have occurred. The car did have a oil leak that was discovered at 15K miles and fixed under warranty but I doubt it was enough of a leak to create significant oil loss, therefore I believe that the car will burn oil until broken in. I did sometimes get white smoke upon starting the car when it was newer, particularly after being driven hard.

[andrewww]

I've used 2 litres of oil in first 4k miles too on my C2S, rate of burn does seem to be settling down, but at £18 a litre I hope so!

[shocky]

Doesn't sound right to me. I have an 08 997 iv'ed owned from new and never added any oil! Only drive about 4500mi. per year so I change the oil once a year. I did change it at 1500mi. after a correct break in. Of course, I believe the late 3.6 ( Middle 06 thru 08 ) is one of the best and sweetest engines of the 40 years and 10 Porshes I've owned.

John

[fast eddie]

Do not worry, I had to add oil at the rate of about 1qt. every 2000 mi or so for the first 8,000 mi. It has since settled down to about 1 qt. every 3,000 mi. With 0 w 40, which is about as thin as water, I'm not surprised or upset. Also with colder temps in winter it's logical consumption would be down. The only concern I have is what the valves look like, i.e. exhaust valves, in the 997-2 direct fuel injection manifolds.

We will see.

Ed

[MWS]

I'm at 17,000 miles and have only had to add 1 quart since the 10K service. Prior to then I added a quart every 2000 miles.

[J.Seven]

I´ve a 997.2 bought in August 09 and made 7500km since then. Zero oil consuption ever since day one.

J.Seven

[eva350]

I've used 2 litres of oil in first 4k miles too on my C2S, rate of burn does seem to be settling down, but at £18 a litre I hope so!

I've been burning oil like crazy too. A few quarts every 1000 miles or so. Dealer says this is normal in the first 6000 miles or so. Other blogs I read say that that it takes this much mileage for the rings to settle in. No other negative aspects observed. I just keep topping off oil whenever it gets low (before check engine oil light comes on). Performance is still great. I'm just worried that something may be wrong, but the 997.2 DFI engine seems to consume a lot of oil. BTW, I'm using the 0W viscosity.

[eva350]

I've come to the conclusion that oil burn in 997.2's is normal. Was surprised to read this in the manual "Engine oil consumption = up to 1.5 liters/1000 km (1.6 quarts/622 miles)"

Just worried about soot buildup on the tailpipes though. But as long as this is normal. Over 3000 miles, I have added about 5 quarts. hopefully this will decrease over time.

[PutPut6]

The official spec from Porsche is 500cm (half a liter) per 1,000 km

[ross74]

My '09 CS2 normalised as miles added up. Consumption dropped significantly

[wwest]

The DEFINITIVE answer(s)...

12:1 compression ratio with DFI, higher compression results in more blow-by.

Notice the complaints about higher oil consumption for new, non-broken-in engines...?

Higher DFI compression over "normal", historical normal, results in more blow-by during the compression stroke. Rings must more fully seat before oil consumption declines.

PCV passes the crankcase blow-by oil "mist" to the intake, some of the "mist" deposits on HOT intake valve backside and congeals there. Part of the mist enters the cylinder along with the "air" charge, no fuel yet for the mist to intermix/atomize with, so the mist simple deposits on the rising piston head.

Increased compression with DFI requires improved pistion/ring/cylinder wall sealing or else you end up with congealed oil deposits on the intake valves and soot on the tail pipe.

Porsche says oil consumption should decline substantionally once the engine is fully broken in, 3000, 4000 miles, my assumption is that means once the rings are more thoroughly seated.

[jtsmith18]

I took delivery of a 2011 C2S 8 days ago and just finished a trip from Vancouver BC down the pacific coast to Napa Valley and then to Palm Desert CA. Oil level still reads full at 2000 miles of break-in at varying engine speeds. Have not added any oil yet. JT

[unclejosh]

I like what wwest said, also : break in you car aggressively and you will be rewarded with low oil consumption over the mid and long term.

How?

1. Warm up the oil before getting on the gas
2. The age old recommendation: don't drone at constant revs or pussyfoot around with the car - the internal surfaces need a bit of a challenge to mate properly.
   
3. Exercise the revs up and down by upshifting and downshifting - find some twisty roads and have at it
4. OK to exceed the break-in rev limit by 2-3 K RPM for very short bursts

I did this with my 997.1 C4S - ate 1 qt in first 1000 miles, then only 2 quarts in the next 54 K miles.

I did first oil change at 5000 K, then every 10 K.

The motor became a free revving sweetheart after about 10 K

Edited February 20, 2011 by unclejosh

[CaptnCrash]

We have 2000 miles on a 2011 911-tt. It has used zero oil since day 1. It's a 6MT so it's easy to vary the rpm's. We drove it home 250 miles from the dealership, highway speeds varying between 5th and 6th gear and stopping a couple times for gas.

Wife uses it for a DD now and it takes the occasional 200 mile weekend trip.

Dealer told us stay below the 4k rpm limit for 350 miles and vary the rpms then have at it.

--CC

[KiwiCanuck]

I like what wwest said, also : break in you car aggressively and you will be rewarded with low oil consumption over the mid and long term.

How?

1. Warm up the oil before getting on the gas
2. The age old recommendation: don't drone at constant revs or pussyfoot around with the car - the internal surfaces need a bit of a challenge to mate properly.
   
3. Exercise the revs up and down by upshifting and downshifting - find some twisty roads and have at it
4. OK to exceed the break-in rev limit by 2-3 K RPM for very short bursts

I did this with my 997.1 C4S - ate 1 qt in first 1000 miles, then only 2 quarts in the next 54 K miles.

I did first oil change at 5000 K, then every 10 K.

The motor became a free revving sweetheart after about 10 K

Thanks much unclejosh,

At last you provide an excellent response to "my thread" [it's back there] on how to run-in the DFI engine. Very succinct :

"How?

Warm up the oil before getting on the gas

The age old recommendation: don't drone at constant revs or pussyfoot around with the car - the internal surfaces need a bit of a challenge to mate properly.

Exercise the revs up and down by upshifting and downshifting - find some twisty roads and have at it

OK to exceed the break-in rev limit by 2-3 K RPM for very short bursts"

Much appreciated...Oh! How did you arrive at this insight, which does depart from the tedium and drone of the Driver's Manual?

Cheers,

KiwiCanuck

[gregorc73]

Just hit 2,980klms & have used 400ml of oil, (same size as a small can of tomatoes), can't say i have been over gentle on the running in but mainly shortest runs of 50klms up to 550 klms.

[YasirAlbehzad]

I had to add 3 liters of 0w40 oil and it reached the level below maximum, the mileage is 50k and it was indicating low oil pressure before the top up... In the manual it was mentioned that the difference between minimum and maximum is 1.4 liters!!! so it is either the car was really getting out of oil or the owner manual is wrong....

It is a 997.2 C2S

Edited May 23, 2011 by YasirAlbehzad