Oil Level Woes
 

Hey all, first post as a new 986 owner! I bought an '02 S just two days ago and am extremely excited as it's my first Porsche and first true performance car.

I'm having a little trouble finding a reliable baseline oil level.

Upon picking up the car, I noticed that the startup oil level report (key in accessory position) was showing one bar above full. I didn't think too much about it, but did take note in case I noticed any symptoms later on. A day later, I started my 350 mile return journey home.

About 150 miles into my return journey I got gas and the startup oil level report was showing three bars below full. This confused me/kinda freaked me out and I grabbed some oil and added an 1/8th of a quart (trying to go slow and not overfill). I rechecked the oil level using the startup oil report and it showed full to the top arrow. I assumed it was good to go, but was perplexed by the erratic nature of the startup oil level report.

After returning home, I wanted to check the oil again to establish a baseline and I have been having a hard time getting a reliable readout. I have tried the oil dipstick (both semi-cold and warm engine) and the results didn't inspire confidence...one side of the dipstick has oil to the top of the tip (indicating too full) and the other side only has oil to the full mark and not beyond (indicating level ok). See attached pics.

The car is essentially on level ground (the rear might be an inch or two lower than the front, but I assume that shouldn't affect the readouts too much)

Additionally, I checked the startup oil level report once and it returned perfectly full. 20 mins later, I checked again and it showed one bar below full.

I am seeing a small bit of white smoke while idling with larger puffs (but nothing crazy) occurring with revs. See attached pic for rev smoke.

From reading other forum posts, I know an overfill can cause this symptom. Overfill can also ruin the AOS which has the same symptoms. I tried removing the oil cap with the engine running to test the vacuum variance and I felt a small amount of vacuum, but it wasn't difficult to remove the oil cap which would indicate AOS is ok. I know this is subjective and can be hard to judge.

I'm thinking I should first try removing the oil filter housing and draining a bit of oil that way to see if that remedies the white smoke and also returns a different oil reading on the dipstick and startup oil level report (would help me learn baseline levels). From there, I would probably need to look closer at AOS.

Any thoughts greatly appreciated!

I concur that you should remove some oil and via the oil filter housing is the easiest way... and you can check the oil filter while you at it. From what I understand over filling is not a good thing, as you say.
Good luck on finding a static oil level. I find that it moves around within a couple of bars on the cluster indicator. The best reading is after the car has sat overnight, but I find some mornings it will be up a bit and sometimes down. After sitting over night, as long as it never goes above the top arrow and isn't more than about 3 bars lower I'm happy.
Of course when the engine has been run it takes time for the oil to drain into the sump, so the reading will be lower. I am glad to have a dipstick but find it is less accurate than the cluster indicator. I check it from time to time to keep the cluster indicator honest.

Almost every time I do an oil change and it looks correct when I fill it, I find that the next day it is overfilled. Removing the filter housing and draining it once (or twice) is an easy way to remedy it.
Regarding smoke; these are flat engines and some oil may seep into the cylinder when it sits. I often get a puff of smoke on startup when a Boxster has sat for a couple weeks or if it was only run for a short time and shut back off the last time it ran.

For specifics on correct oil level (or many technically specific questions) try searching the forum with a search engine adding "JFP" into your search terms. Example: site:986forum.com oil level JFP

We like to set the cars to two to three bars down from the full mark cold when we change oil (and we prefill filters). We have found that cars that run that way tend not to have AOS failures as much as those run at the full mark, and they almost never show the famous Boxster start up "puff" of smoke.

Several years ago, Porsche released a TSB suggesting lowering the oil level to protect the AOS in these cars, and they even released a new dip stick for the early cars that also showed a lower-full level mark.

Thanks for all the insight guys! I'll go ahead and start with removing the oil filter housing to lower the oil level a bit.

I have a hunch the AOS is probably gonna need replacing. I don't know how long it takes for the AOS to be impacted from overfill, but if this is the first time it's happened (and I don't think that it is), then there are already 1k miles on the car with overfill. We shall see.

Thanks again everyone!

Eski, perhaps this would be a great first step to have accurate readings, the dipstick (even at the dealer) 'should' not cost that much.. :)

Part number in this post

https://www.renntech.org/topic/57817-dipstick-wont-seat/