Just had oil change at dealer and my oil fill indicator is solid even above the line. I also get some puffs of smoke at start up which I very rarely had before this oil change. Do I need to drop the oil level a little and how. Is over fill likely the cause of the puffs at start up.

 

I had that happen in my C2. The oil fill can contribute to the puffs, but the puffs will happen at any oil level every now and then.

I would drop the oil level a little. I find that my car did it a lot less when it was at 5 bars or less on the elec. indicator.

 

This happens quite often to some people, drop the oil level.

 

Hate to sound ignorant, but how do I drop the oil level on this thing.

 

you don;t sound ignorant... I was wondering the same thing,,,

 

Doug, Have the dealer take care of it.

 

And why is that??? Careless Dealer service tech's perhaps??? They can't be trusted for anything!!!

I enjoy doing my own oil changes...They are done perfectly correct everytime...

 

Exactly, Chris how are you so PERFECT?

 

Precise measurement of every drop!!!!

Seriously though...for the GT3, I put 9.25 qts. in...drove it for a while to heat up the oil then measured. It was 2 bars from full on the electric guage. Each bar is 1/4 qt. I added 1/4 qt. and drove the car hard at high revs(oil at max temp)...The measurement was right on the number...Full....

Perfection...nothing like it...

 

Dealer overfills mine every time. I just drive and let it go down on its own. Never have had any leaks or other problems as a result.

 

Here's an example of how it can get overfilled:
Once when I had my car in for service I noticed a guy drop off his 996 C4 for it's yearly service, of course the most junior tech was assigned the job. I watched this guy put the car up on a lift, drain the oil and then just slapped in 10 qts without checking a thing, it was obvious he could care less about what he was doing. I'm sure there was some overfill, 90% of the time it's probably asymptomatic, but that's why I always request my tech by name.

 

The amount of oil that drains on an oil change is between 8-9 qts , depending on how long you let the oil run , and on the Turbo, whether you drain the two turbo housings also or not ( most dealers don't ). They usually put 9 qts in afterwards, no matter what . You do the math.
Best future advice is to wait until your oil level indicator drops to 1 or 2 bars on the dash read out before bringing it in , and you can top it off yourself IF need be.
BTW, I usually fill up to 4 bars and top off with 1/2 qt oil when drops to two bars.

 

what are the adverse consequences of having an overfilled oil tank?

 

On non-dry sump engines like the reg 996 where the engine is essentially the oil tank , oil can foam at high rpm , damage seals or be sucked into the intake.
The dry sump engines ( with it's separate remote oil tank ) on the Turbo and GT3 can tolerate under OR overfilling better.

 

Short term, your turbo oil tanks will overfill which will result in oil backing up into the turbo bearings and into the turbo housing (inside) and onto the floor (outside).