Cayenne CTT 2012, 6200 miles, warning message appeared on circular console:
"Minimum Oil Level Reached" (MOLR). I added one quart of Mobile1 but MOLR didn't not go away. Drove around 4 miles and still was there. Called Porsche dealer. First representative said bring it in to put computer on it but then he checked and said the service guy said you had to drive the car 40 miles. The car meanwhile is unable to give me a reading on the circular console indicator of oil level. Next I hear some pretty loud ticking in the engine, a noise I had heard less loud prior. What is scary is that searching on this forum for ticking sound or noise comes up with two solutions:
1 Replace engine! no kidding
2.It's normal! no kidding here too.

So I'm looking for a little guidance from the forum. It's pretty unnerving that there is no way of knowing how much oil is in the engine at this point in time and reading the forum responses doesn't make me feel any better. I recorded the sound if anyone wants to hear it (attached .wav file inside .zip)

 

MOLR and ticking with no oil reading is not normal.
Only a dealer should investigate the issue for warranty issues.
These engines are very durable but of course they need lubrication. Hard to imagine your tt was running with no oil before a reasonable warning. Hopefully it's nothing major.
Had you ever needed to add oil before this..

 

no. checked the level a few times and was always within normal just under midway point. tonight now the MOLR went out. still haven't been able to read oil level. Will try tomorrow. ticking noise is intermittent at idle only. Will call dealer again on Mon.

 

Got a look at the oil level after following the recommended procedure:

First drive til the engine is at operating temperature. Then you park on a level surface, switch off, and wait two minutes. Then you access the multi-level display via the scroll button on the right hand spoke of the steering wheel, select "vehicle" from the main menu, and then "oil level." A graphic representation of a dipstick, color coded, shows you the oil level.

Level is right in middle as can be seen below. So I figure each of the 4 notches is 1/2 qt because when it told me I was at MOLR, I added a quart and it went up two notches.

noticeable ticking noise is still happening and bothersome.

 

My prior MY12 CTT never dropped below your current setting and often went up another notch for a while in 10800 miles.
I noticed my CTTS does have some lifter ticking on start up, but I'm not concerned. Definitely check your car into the dealer for a looksee if for no other reason than to have put them on office of an issue if something pops up down the road.

 

ticking noise seems to be getting worse, both louder and it remains at higher RPMs. Will call dealer again tomorrow.

 

14 000 miles..and still no oil added
Though I am going in for a change today,as well as a PCCB pad one

 

Going by your sound clip it sounds to me like you've done a B.E. bearing. Common with an oil depravation type scenario. Is there any abnormal blueish smoke coming from the exhaust? If not then i'd say big end bearing for sure. It won't get better. Sorry. That's an engine overhaul.

 

Each of the notches represent 1/4 of a liter (0.26 quarts). All 4 bars combined is equal to 1 liter (or 1.06 quart) on the display. When you take it in for service mention this and have them check the oil level sensor also because it might be a bit wonky too.

I've actually seen that happen. Here is the manual explanation for this phenomenon:

If the vehicle is used for repeated short trips, and consumes a normal amount of oil, the engine oil measurement may not show any drop in the oil level at all, even after 600 miles (1000 km) or more. This is because the oil is gradually becoming diluted with fuel or moisture, making it appear that the oil level has not changed. The diluting ingredients evaporate out when the vehicle is driven at high speeds, as on an expressway, making it then appear that oil is excessively consumed after driving at high speeds.


As for the ticking I have no idea. Good luck and report back to let us know what the dealer said.

 

That's true with original software on 2011 and early 2012 models. With the most current software, though:
"For better compensation of measurement tolerances, the area between MIN and MAX is larger with the modified DME data record so that the difference in engine oil quantity between the MIN and MAX markings is approx. 2 litres. One segment on the oil level display in the multi-function display therefore corresponds to a refill quantity of approx. 0.5 litres."

 

Ahhhhhh; I was not aware of that. Thanks for clearing that up. It does make sense then why nhirsch only saw 1/2 of his oil reservoir fill up after 1 quart. I was getting my information from the online manual which is from 2011:

http://www.porscheownersmanuals.com/...-the-right-oil

 

Called my sales guy at the dealer this morning and told him about the ticking and asked him if he would listen to the sound via phone. He got a service technician on the line. With the hood up, started the car and walked around waving the phone over the engine with the noise evident. I asked if they heard it but no response from the dealer. Walked into the car to turn off the engine but then realized the phone had switched to bluetooth with mic/speaker in car The said they couldn't hear a thing. Switched the bluetooth back to phone and waived the phone over the engine again. I heard the technician say: SHUT OFF THE ENGINE which I did. He said don't start it again. By the tone of his voice, it wasn't good.

After short arrangement, a flatbed is on it's way to my house to pickup the car.

 

Ouch. Hopefully it turn out to not be that bad

This is one of those reasons I don't understand why they are getting rid of dipsticks in the industry. If you could have physically checked it maybe this ticking issue could have been avoided (though that much oil in such a short period seems like a problem to me).

 

Agree. As I am asked not to start the engine, I am not able to bring it up to the "operating temperature" needed to enable the oil level to be read again. Kind of a catch 22.

I had noticed the occasional slight ticking a few days before the MOLR came on and it raised some concern. After adding the oil it seemed to gradually get worse. I worried I had overfilled but when I finally did the 'procedure' to see the reading, it was right in the middle so that solved that worry. But in the past two days it got louder and more distinct leading up to today. One really shouldn't have to do a procedure to read the oil level.

Interesting when I called the dealer, the first response was that I should call the roadside assistance company but on second thought the dealer (Champion - who also happens to be a sponsor of this forum), said that since another dealer (Braman) is closer, the roadside assistance company would bring it to Braman and they wanted the car so instead Champion is sending their own flatbed to pickup.

Darn

 

Best of luck...
hopefully diagnosis is not fatal.
Scary that the damn dashboard dipstick would allow an engine to go oil dry because of a bad sensor