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Oil Level on 991.1 Post Oil Change - Fault?

Mad Mark911

Well-known member
Joined
16 Dec 2011
Messages
186
Hi guys,

Just had my car delivered back from the OPC after an Oil Change and I took it for a lovely 70 mile dash with plenty of throttle and some high rev use. Upon arriving home, I was more than a little surprised to see the oil level warning pop up to say it was on minimum. Rather odd. So did the 'stealership not put enough oil in?


On their advice I added 0.5 litres of Mobil 1 to test the level sensor hasn't gone AWOL (because it couldn't be the technician, sir. It's checked twice, sir). Hey presto, it pops up to two bars. This tells me that the oil sensor is working just fine and they didn't put enough oil in.



I'm concerned that they want to come and collect the car to check it out rather than giving me some oil and admitting their fault. Or are they worried it's leaking oil? Has anyone else had this?
 
Certainly seems they got it wrong. I've never seen my oil level that low.

They don't fill it to the top bar because, as I understand it, the oil will expand when hot and thereby increase volume - especially if you do any track work.
 
Assuming there's no evidence of a leak, I'd say pound to a penny they've just not added sufficient oil. Mistakes happen, we're all human, but if they have dropped the ball then I'd expect them to own up.

Thankfully there's a large volume of oil and it's all fresh, so no harm should be done.

I'd let them collect it to 'check it out' but want to get to the bottom of the situation and expect a call from the service manager.

Hope it's sorted to your satisfaction.
 
Thanks Guys. My biggest concern is that with me only putting in half a litre, that they under filled it by nearly 2 litres (the manual says that's min to max)! Oh and they charged me for 8 litres at £17.05 per litre (or £136.40)..... When the manual says 7.5 litres is the max! :nooo:
 
Hmm, being asked to pay for 8 litres, when the car can't take more than 7.5, that's cheeky, to say the least...esp as it would appear they may have only added 5.5 :eek:

Interested to hear what they have to say in the end.

Best of luck :thumb:
 
Do they not give you the 1L bottle of oil in the frunk anymore :dont know:

:thumb:
 
HSC911 said:
Do they not give you the 1L bottle of oil in the frunk anymore :dont know:

:thumb:

I've just got a 991 and no come to think of it.... :dont know:

OP, as already intimated. They dropped a bollock. School boy error. It happens I guess. Could have been worse, could have been overfilled....
 
Norfolk & Idea said:
HSC911 said:
Do they not give you the 1L bottle of oil in the frunk anymore :dont know:

:thumb:

I've just got a 991 and no come to think of it.... :dont know:

OP, as already intimated. They dropped a bollock. School boy error. It happens I guess. Could have been worse, could have been overfilled....

Well I have checked the frunk and there is no 1 litre bottle (in the nice Porsche branded black bag with the gloves and the absorbent tissue), so it appears not. This would have been helpful when they asked me to top it up too.

They've asked me about smoke and oil leaks too (there are neither), so while they are telling me that they are worried about the sensor and overfilling, I think they are still looking for other explanations. Pinched Oil Seal or Oil Filter not on tight enough would be my guess ..
 
If they filled it to capacity during the service and there was a leak afterwards, then it would have had to leak c2 litres between collection and when you added 500ml to determine whether the sensor was faulty. I know you had a 70 mile drive but the amount of oil being expelled would be fairly obvious.

It seems most likely that they just didn't fill it with enough.

FWIW mine didn't come with the spare litre of oil and I had to but it and the soft pouch myself.
 
911Time said:
If they filled it to capacity during the service and there was a leak afterwards, then it would have had to leak c2 litres between collection and when you added 500ml to determine whether the sensor was faulty. I know you had a 70 mile drive but the amount of oil being expelled would be fairly obvious.

It seems most likely that they just didn't fill it with enough.

FWIW mine didn't come with the spare litre of oil and I had to but it and the soft pouch myself.

That's what I'm thinking. In fact I believed that from the start.
 
I think if it were me, I'd let them have it back 'just to check it over' (though I think that's more about them being seen to do the right thing, than any genuine concern there's any sort of problem).

I'd be asking why I was overcharged for the oil and ask for 2 litres FOC to keep on one side - as good will and 'just in case'...

:thumb:
 
911Time said:
I think if it were me, I'd let them have it back 'just to check it over' (though I think that's more about them being seen to do the right thing, than any genuine concern there's any sort of problem).

I'd be asking why I was overcharged for the oil and ask for 2 litres FOC to keep on one side - as good will and 'just in case'...

:thumb:

Spot on and that's what I've done, because I have used my last half litre of "top up oil" just to check their mistake .... :wack:
 
Sounds like a plan :thumb: Will be interesting to hear what they say when you collect.

Like I said earlier, we all know mistakes can happen but when they do why not just own up, or at least entertain the possibility that someone 'may' have dropped the ball.

Some years back we had my partner's car serviced by a local independent - I'd always looked after the car in the past but wasn't up to it physically at the time. I knew the car back to front, so wasn't expecting any surprises. When my partner collected it and returned home, she said the brakes felt unsafe and were making a noise.

I took it for a test drive but only drove a few feet before realising there was something very seriously wrong. Took it very carefully back to the garage the following morning and told them the rear drum brakes hadn't been adjusted correctly and there was something loose in the drum.

They denied that could happen, 'matter of safety', 'always checked' etc - utter BS.

When I collected it that evening, I was told they couldn't find anything wrong however when I drove the car, the pedal was much firmer and the handbrake only came up 3 notches (both clear signs the rear drums had been adjusted) and the noise had gone.

When I was better, I stripped the brakes and found part of the adjuster mechanism was missing.... :x

Why do people/companies do this? Why not just say, 'we're very sorry - we've made a mistake and we've fixed it'??

I was so angry at the time, thinking how my other half could have had a crash and if she/I had accepted their word, would have been driving an unsafe car... :x :x

Let us know how you get on.
 
First off let me just say i fix these cars for a living and whilst not at OPC these days i know full well what a pain they can be to get the lvl correct .

2 Litres down .. it won't have affected the engine .

When we drain these then the longer its left draining then the more we will get out .. a short drain of 10 mins will probably only get 6 - 7 ltrs out .

I feel though that 8 liters is a standard charge .. all of us garages have a standard charge .. whether we have 7.5 or 8 on the invoice then it's probably still a set price service charge .. the amount of oil is just a number .

Now then .. these are a total pain to get right and i know exactly what has gone wrong here ..

You have to get the oil temp upto over 90 degrees .. you have to leave the ignition on for over 2 mins to get a live reading .. a road test often does not get a live reading in most cases .. especially at this time of year when its cold and probably a short 2 mile road test as is the OPC way .

The mechanic has not let it get hot enough basically .. in this case it just displays the original oil lvl and not the actual reading after the oil change .

personally i hate this system .. Macans are the worst .. they actually say engine hot and this is the lvl .. it lies .. its not as i found out to my cost .

You have no idea how bad it feels to be told you have done something wrong .. a waiting oil change ,.. customer wanting the car back and what i thought was the correct lvl was the car displaying the old lvl .. 1 ltr down we found out after we had the car back .

made me feel like i was useless ..

Honest answer here as it happens to all of us with this dam stupid system .
 

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