Does have oil or not?

[Paul Ferradas]

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[William930t]

Nice t-look carrera!

The oil level gauge is NOT known to be very accurate. Instead, go out and drive the car until fully warmed, at least 20 minutes. Then find some place level, hopefully your garage, and check your oil with the engine running. It has been discussed, and agreed that the oil level should be in between the two marks on the dipstick.

[Early_S_Man]

Paul,

Some oil may have burned off, but you will probably also find oil in the air fliter box that needs to be cleaned up.

First of all, the dipstick or oil level gauge are only looking at the topmost two quarts of oil capacity in the tank. You didn't mention any lack of oil pressure, so I think it is safe to say you haven't damaged the engine. There are probably still 8 - 10 quarts in the system, even if there is no oil visible on the dipstick.

I suggest warming up the engine on a gentle drive until at least 180°F on the gauge, then check the level again on the dipstick with the engine idling and sitting on level ground. Add oil a cup or 8 oz. at a time until you get a reading showing on the dipstick, and continue adding 3 more cups [24 oz.] and verify the the dipstick level is showing 1/4 - 1/3 of the way between the upper and lower marks on the dipstick. A spirited drive should bring the temp up to the 190°F - 200°F level ... then recheck the oil level on the dipstick. It should have expanded somewhat -- level will be slightly higher than immediately after the oil was added. If the level is 1/3 to 2/3 of the way from low to high mark on the dipstick, then no more oil is needed. Nominal recommended running oil level is halfway up from the low mark on the dipstick.

BTW, congrats on the purchase! Nice color!

[Emission]

Hopefully you have the correct dipstick... unfortunately, if you do... then you have very little oil in the tank... and a bad gauge.

Did the PPI mention the oil level? When was it last changed?

BTW, your car looks awesome! You do know about those wheels... right?

[Oh Haha]

WHOA, that is a sweet 911!!! You must post more pictures of her.

As to the oil issue. If there is no oil on the distick after two times checking, I would not drive it again until you add some. If it was overfilled, you would still have some in the tank. This is what you check, the amount of oil in the tank itself. Add one quart and see if the level reads on the dipstick. Add one more until you get the level at least to the first mark. Ideally, it should be between the marks. Even if the guage is shot, the dipstick tells the true story. The guage is pretty easy to fix.


BTW-I see I'm not the only one that paints without covering the garage floor first. Welcome to Pelican!!!!

[Paul Ferradas]

Hey guys, thanks for all the suggestions. It turns out that my 400 mile drive DID consume some oil. And atleast 2 quarts going off the previos post about th topmost 2 quarts of oil being indicated by the dipstick and guage.

I added 3 quarts of Mobile 1 oil , (recommended oil of choice) and the oil level appeared on the dipstick! Woo Hoo. Oopps I filled it to the higher mark, I'll know for next time to only fill it about 2/3's.

I guess my next task is to take it to the mechanic to find out what's causing the white smoke while the car is warming up. A friend seems to think that I might need new valve guides. He says that he thinks it's unburt oil entering the combustion chamber from the valves? Something like that.

Ok, I don't know about the rims, what's the story? I hope it's a positive one!

I'm a pro-photographer on the weekends. I mostly shoot glamour Maxim style images but I have shot a couple of cars so I will post my car pictures with some nice ladies pretty soon.

If you would like to see what I do just check out my page here:

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=15822054


Thanks for all the advise guys. This is a great place for someone like me that is not to familiar with the technical side of the Porsche but I'm willing and wanting to learn and do as much maintenance on my car that I possibly can.

Thanks,

Paul

[Emission]

Originally posted by Paul Ferradas

Ok, I don't know about the rims, what's the story? I hope it's a positive one!

The rims are just trash... I will take them off your hands for $100 tomorrow.





Honestly... those are very nice, very high quality (and expensive) RUF wheels. You got lucky as there are many Carreras driving around with crap aftermarket wheels. Check out RUF here:

www.ruf-automobile.de/

They look great on your car!

[the]

Nice looking car, awesome color?

Is that a factory Turbolook, or an aftermarket conversion?

[Emission]

Paul,

Mind telling us how much you paid for the car? I want to know how the market is doing...

- Mike

P.S. - Impressive photography on your MySpace site!

[Paul Ferradas]

Mike!! I read the first sentence and you scared me!!! My blood pressure went up. Then I read on and relaxed again. phewww, don't scare me like that

It's an aftermarket conversion.

I paid 24,500 for it, it has 74k miles on it and interior and body is out a 9 out of 10, very well kept 88'

[Danny_Ocean]

So....anyone besides me concerned (for Paul) about burning 2 qts. in 400 miles?!? Did the previous owner intentionally over-fill?

[rdrr]

There's no mention of the dipstick being checked before the 400 mile trip, so the oil may have been very low to begin with.

Paul, it would probably be a good idea to log your oil usage over the next thousand miles or so.

Nice car by the way!

[Bearded Viking]

Got caught up on Paul's myspace page....but yeah Danny_Ocean, that's a good amount oil used in 400 miles.

What was reported on the PPI inspection? Only the CV boots?

Did the previous owner keep good maintenance records?

My car burnt alot of oil before the valve guides where replaced @ 60K. I would get a puff of smoke on startup too. Not anymore...

[Bearded Viking]

BTW, fantastic looking P-car. Maybe I'll see you on 101 or 280!

[Danny_Ocean]

Originally posted by rdrr
There's no mention of the dipstick being checked before the 400 mile trip, so the oil may have been very low to begin with.

The noticed that the Oil quanity guage was pegged full. They mention possible a bad guage. They also noted that the oil was overfilled. The owner of the car also added that he might have overfilled the oil causing the guage to peg.

[Paul Ferradas]

That's a good point Danny. Yo got me thinking now. And I just don't get a puff of smoke. It smokes like a chimney for a while.

[Danny_Ocean]

Originally posted by Bearded Viking
Got caught up on Paul's myspace page....

Ummm....yeah. I now have a new hero! Someone who gets paid to take pics of hot, barely dressed babes. When I tried it, they called it "stalking". Life isn't fair...

[Danny_Ocean]

Originally posted by Paul Ferradas
That's a good point Danny. Yo got me thinking now. And I just don't get a puff of smoke. It smokes like a chimney for a while.

Is it a bluish-tinted smoke that hangs in the air or a white "whispy" smoke that disappates quickly? I can't imagine that much condensation being present in the exhaust system on a cold-morning startup.

[rdrr]

Point taken Danny_Ocean, but it sounds like a) a bad gauge and b) the POs word. Did Paul check the dipstick himself? If not, we don't really know how much oil was in the car before the 400 mile trip.

[Danny_Ocean]

Originally posted by rdrr
Point taken Danny_Ocean, but it sounds like a) a bad gauge and b) the POs word. Did Paul check the dipstick himself? If not, we don't really know how much oil was in the car before the 400 mile trip.

The Porsche dealer conducting the PPI indicated the tank was over-filled... did someone drain the tank to -2 quarts prior to delivery? I highly doubt it.