Low Oil level? - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

WoBoxster · 06-10-2005, 02:21 PM

I noticed that other day after i filled up my car with gas the oil Gauge showed that i had low oil. After a few min it went away. When i got home i pulled out my dip stick and they oil level was fine. Today i filled up again and right after i filled up it said i had low oil again. Then a few min later it went away. Anyone know what might be wrong?

Brucelee · 06-10-2005, 07:19 PM

This is driven by a sensor. Seems that might be bad. To me, if the dipstick says OK, the heck with the sensor!

RandallNeighbour · 06-10-2005, 07:27 PM

I have found my digital oil level display to show I was a bar above low when I left the gas station, and then just a bar below the full line when I rechecked it at home.

You gotta try it a couple of times to get a good reading evidently. I dunno.

Adam · 06-11-2005, 04:25 PM

The best way to get an accurate reading with the digi dipstick is to check the car when the engine is stone cold before it has been started for the day. It takes some time for all the oil to drain back to the crankcase so checking the car after is has been driven does not give the most accurate/consistent readings.

deliriousga · 06-23-2005, 07:33 PM

Like Adam said, stone cold is best time to check when it's all down in the pan. If you use a higher weight oil it takes much longer than a gas stop to drain back down to the pan.

When we changed to 15W50 and it shows 2 bars low after a fill-up with cleaning the windows (about 10 minutes). Freaked my wife out because she didn't know I had changed the oil weight. Flip the key when it's cold and it's all bars on the digital guage and full on the stick.

Brucelee · 06-24-2005, 05:55 AM

Good tip. BTW-unless you are racing, you likely don't need that 15-50 even in summer. It won't hurt mind you but you will lose MPG and actually generate more engine heat.

Quote:

Originally Posted by deliriousga

Like Adam said, stone cold is best time to check when it's all down in the pan. If you use a higher weight oil it takes much longer than a gas stop to drain back down to the pan.

When we changed to 15W50 and it shows 2 bars low after a fill-up with cleaning the windows (about 10 minutes). Freaked my wife out because she didn't know I had changed the oil weight. Flip the key when it's cold and it's all bars on the digital guage and full on the stick.