C4S oil use

[de36band]

Hello,

I have a C4S that I have had to add about a quart of oil over less than 3000 miles. How much oil use is normal? I have never added oil to my Audis. This car is my first Porsche and with all the electronic monitoring of oil level, I figured these engines must burn more oil than more conventional German engines found in your typical sedan. However my friend who has a C2 claims he never adds oil. Should I be worried? No drops have been found on the garage floor.

[Eddy]

Hi,

You did not mention how many miles you have on the counter. My C4S needed around 1 liter from 0 - 5000 km, later from 5000 to 20000 km, i had to add another half a liter. From 20000 to 40000 ( which is on the counter now ) i added about half a liter. Seems that oil burning decreases after the engine starts to get some miles ...

Best regards,

Eddy

[JP66]

I have 2500 miles on my C4S, and I've had to add about 1 qt so far. I believe this is a standard issue for the first few thousand miles...

[WARDHOG]

I have almost 21K on my 03 and it still sucks down oil. If you take it on a long road trip, it stops sucking down oil for awhile. I guess driving short distances seems to cause the high oil consumption. I took mine in to the dealer to have it checked and had to bring it every week to have them check the oil level and mileage to verify the amount of oil consumption for about four weeks. The rule of thumb is, if you car uses a quart every 600 miles or less, they'll get serious with it because you have a problem. Mine was around 750 miles. Just keep an eye on it and keep plenty of oil in stock. :(

[de36band]

Thanks everyone. my car only has about 2500 miles so it is still a new engine. From what I hear above, I do not need to worry unless the oil consumption gets worse.

Doug

[djantlive]

Keep in mind that the oil level only needs to be at the middle of the electronic gauge.

Oil consumption of new engine is OK. The factory fill 0-40w is pretty lightweight. If after breakin you are still burning oil, it may be due to bad breakin or engine sealing.

[Orient Express]

If these engines are broken in well, they can get to the point where they use no oil at all. I went from a quart every 5K miles to no oil between 15K mile changes. Mine is a C2 with 40K miles on the clock.

[Scouser]

Keep in mind that the oil level only needs to be at the middle of the electronic gauge.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I am confused at this comment. My tech engineer last week told me that because the engine is flat it's bad to let it starve of oil, hence always ensure it is at least one below max on the eletronic guage when measure hot on a flat surface but after it settles for 30 minutes. He said that maxing the elec guage is no harm and

also if anything it ensures proper compression with a full 9 qts in the engine.

This came about because my car started very noisily on a cold morning last week. It sounded like a bag of nails in the engine and the engine coughed and spluttered. It was rectified with a new oil separator. But he said that these cars rev high at start and settle shortly after with an aim to get the oil around the extremely engine quickly. If your down by 2 qts because it may starve the engine at start up.....the very time the most damage is done to the engine.

So what is the correct ammount of oil for our cars. Should it be middle of elec guage or the top, or should it be one below the top? Totally confused.

[C4S Surgeon]

Like WD, mine usues a qt every 1000 mi like clockwork, long trips hardly any, track a qt. have the dealer document the loss on the svc record.

[elfer4s]

Keep in mind that the oil level only needs to be at the middle of the electronic gauge.

Oil consumption of new engine is OK.  The factory fill 0-40w is pretty lightweight.  If after breakin you are still burning oil, it may be due to bad breakin or engine sealing.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The 0W (zero W) designation means that the oil has the viscosity of a 0W oil at 32 oF (which is what you might want starting the engine if you lived in a cool or cold climate). Pretty lightweight.

The 40 weight is a measure of the viscosity of the oil measured at 210 oF (in theory, normal engine oil operating temperature. Not as thick as a 50 weight, but pretty thick.

Clear up some confusion?

Carl

[Richard Hamilton]

If these engines are broken in well, they can get to the point where they use no oil at all.  I went from a quart every 5K miles to no oil between 15K mile changes.  Mine is a C2 with 40K miles on the clock.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

15000 miles is a long time between changes. UK service schedule is an oil change at 12000 mile intervals, but I change mine at 6000. I have never added any oil between changes, and the car has done 64000 now. I use 5W-40.