Oil consumption (or lack of...)
 

I've got about 3K on a new engine and something wierd happened this weekend. I'm expecting "greater oil consumption than usual" with a new motor. After reading about how consumption seems even more than usual when driving on long trips at high speeds due to evaporation of dissolved fuel and moisture, I wasn't surprised that after a 400 mile drive I showed low by one mark on the readout. SO, I check the oil level after the car has been sitting for two days after the 400 mile drive back and now it reads full! What gives? :confused:

The digital readout isn't perfect so it's not uncommon to get a slight variation. One bar represents very little, little more than a few tablespoons of oil. The first time you checked it perhaps all the oil wasn't drained back in the sump yet so it read a tad lower. Either way it's nothing to be alarmed about and is actually normal and common. Don't obsess either about keeping at the fill line, just topping it off once it gets below halfway on the readout is fine.

I can confirm that it's not unusual for the dash display to vary by a bar between hot and cold.

As far as oil consumption, my Boxster used no noticeable amount of oil between 22K (when I bought it) and 27K (when I did my first oil change)...

Cool. Thanks. Crisis averted!