No, it was at the lowest bar. 3 quarts topped it off.

 

Neil, I might be missing something here but my understanding of the situation is that your display showed that you were low on oil and at the bottom of the vertical group of bars in the gauge cluster. The bottom of the bars is exactly one quart and any fraction of that amount displayed is a fraction of one quart of oil. All oil dipsticks are this way AFAIK and most even state "1 quart". That's how you know roughly how much oil to add. The 997 has no way of telling you that you are more than 1 quart low like a traditional dipstick. The range within the bars is 1 quart with no indicator for above or below that point. That being said, if you added 3 quarts and the display now shows that it's topped off one of two things has occured. You were really 2 quarts beyond the bottom bar or you have overfilled by 2 quarts and the display has no way of telling you that.

I can tell you this for certain as I have gone to the bottom bar of the bars on my car and that is the point where my car gave me an alert that I was low on oil. I put in exactly one quart and the display showed that it was topped off. The previous owner of your car even mentioned that he saw the low oil warning and disregarded it. My guess is that the car was a quart low when the warning came on and burned an additional 2 quarts between now and then. It makes sense because my car has similar mileage and oil consumption during that time has been roughly 3 quarts.

I am always careful about not overfilling as I have heard that overfilling is just as bad if not worse than underfilling. I always add a little at a time as I get to the top of the dipstick or indicator. It is exactly one quart. Your car, my friend, was 2 quarts past the low mark on the dipstick. The burning question for me is, why didn't your low oil warning remain activated?

 

Robert,
OK, if I look the oil indicator, there is a space, a line(where the down arrow is) three spaces, a line( where the up arrow is) and one last space. The check oil light did not come on during the test drive. It did not come on the way home. When I got near home, and went to get gas the check oil light came on. I went home added a quart and rechecked. The meter was at the line where the down arrow is. I added another quart and the meter was still at the line where the down arrow is. I added another 3rd quart and drove it around the block and rechecked it. Now the meter reads 2/3rds up between the arrow lines. It sounds like I was about 3 quarts low. Still 6 to 7 quarts left.

When I was having oil issues with my last car the service rep said being even 3 or 4 quarts low is not going to do any damage unless driven under very hard conditions where starvation could occur. Other wise it is not good, but not to worry.

This car seems fine. I added the oil and took it out today for a little spirited driving. No problems. I will get an oil and filter change this week for the sake of arguement.

On a different note. I really love the car, but I did not end up with the sport chrono or the multifunction wheel. I wanted them but this car did not have them. It has other good stuff like the adaptive seats and sport shifter, which I didn't count on getting. So I guess it was a trade off. For what I paid I did very well.

 

I agree completely, not trying to bust your chops Neil. I have read somewhere in the past that these cars hold so much oil that they are fine when you are low on oil. The only question for me would be how much did the oil degrade during the time it was low. Whatever you do, don't change your oil based on what I'm saying. Do it for peace of mind!

You are lucky that you didn't get the lobster forks! I hate cleaning mine and have been thinking about swapping them out for the wheels that you have on yours. I drove by the dealership today and they had an Atlas Gray cab. Absolutely beautiful color choice, I think the cab looks better in dark colors. Congrats again and enjoy it in good health!

 

Thanks Robert. Like I said, I really wish I had the multifunction wheel and chrono like you have. Did you get the ipod control?
Oh Yea...you are right, the bose in this car is much better than in the 996.

 

No ipod control. Don't forget, the single disc slot in the dash plays MP3s!