996 3.6l Oil Consumption

[paulus]

As a relative newby to Porsche ownership (6 months of great enjoyment so far), can anyone give me their ideas of typical oil consumption ?
I've done aprox 3,500 miles since getting the car & its needed almost 3 pints of Mobil 1 since then. It is what I would call low mileage (33,000 miles) & it was given a good bill of health via a service & 111 point by an OPC prior to sale & provision of a Porsche warranty.
The manual suggests oil consumption of upto 2.4litres (4.2 pints) / 1000 miles - but this seemed so high I didn't believe it could be typical !

I've been used to BMW M3's previously - where oil use between services was almost negligible.

Does the Porsche flat 6 typically use oil like this or do I perhaps have a problem ?
As further info, the car doesn't smoke at all when driving, but occasionally smokes for 2~3 seconds when starting cold in the morning (garaged). It has no RMS or other visible external oil leakage.
The oil use seems to be only linked to mileage rather than driving style.
The car is a 2004 C2 Anniversary model with the standard 345bhp engine

Thanks for the help,

Paul

 

[Grant]

Smoke on cold start up is common, so don't worry, only if you notice it under load or when warmed up & running/revving engine!

The short answer is the consumption varies & some 996s do use a lot of oil without any particular issues.

There are claims that a hard run in period can improve the cars performance but may also increase its oil consumption, not sure if thats true, but my first 996 was a 98 car & it used plenty of oil without any problems with engine reliabilty.

At least the gauge makes it easy to check, bottom line if concerned, take to the dealer for a check over, but sounds within tolerances!!

Edited to add... nice choice that engine certainly isn't standard!

 

[paulus]

Grant,

thanks for the quick reply !
While looking through the forum just I found another post about oil consumption that I'd somehow missed before - generally indicating very low consumption - but with some cars with higher consumption without concerns.

It appears I don't need to worry, but just accept it as a very minor penalty for having so much fun !

PS The 345 bhp engine is standard in the Anniversary model - major reason I chose it ! It certainly make my old E36 M3 seem slow !

Paul

 

[adrian996]

Hi Paul. My 2003/03 996 C2 used to use much more oil before I changed from Mobil 1 (0/40) to a 10/40 oil. Now she seems to use less. IMHO, I feel that the 0/40 is just too thin for our climate. Adrian.

 

[NXI20]

A leakdown test will confirm if there is significant ring wear. If you're not seeing smoke, it's likely to be rings.

By contrast, my 62K miler uses no oil at all in between 6K changes. I agree with Adrian that 0W/40 is a bit too thin, so I'm using Fuch Supersyn 5W/40. The car seems to thrive on it.

 

[robbosliding]

Paulus,

You like I raised this question, my 15,000 MY02 C4S when bought has consistently used around a litre of mobil 1 every thousand miles with all types of driving, now at 19000 miles it shows no sign of changing. I learnt on this forum that it can be down to the extreme hardness of the piston rings which can take much longer to "run in". There is alledgedly even benefit to this (my wallet does'nt think so!). I'm confident you have nothing to worry about, logic would say its keeping your oil fresh and clean too.

 

[adrian996]

Hi Matthew. I think you've answered the question yourself; the very fact that you're always topping up with oil means that you're also constantly renewing it - so it's nice and clean. However I, like you, can live without having to do this all the time though! Adrian.

 

[beavercraig]

My 996tt uses about a litre every 1200 miles or so! It also smokes abit when started from cold! Don't worry every 911 I have had including a 997 does this. It is a pain though. Porsche do a nice little velcro case that holds a litre bottle with nice paper funnels. You just stick it to the inner boot wall. I keep it for emergencies or long trips.