Planet 9

racerboy · #1 06-01-2009, 04:17 PM

My CS goes to dealer for warranty work. I bought the car with 16K miles on it back in Jan '09 (now has 20K). Since then the car has used 6 quarts of oil (sometimes blows blue smoke between gears), has developed the 'lifter tick' that others have commented on, and the air conditioning is not working.

Dealer said that all of this was covered under the warranty, but if they did a diagnosis and found nothing wrong (I'm assuming with the engine oil and ticking noise) that I would be responsible for paying for diagnosis time. Is this normal?

Also tried to sell me on a 20K mile interim service for $789. Not sure what's included, but this seems expensive, no? He said it was 4 hours worth of work for the interim service.

Will let everyone know how things shake out.

racerboy · #2 06-01-2009, 04:20 PM

One other thing. On the phone, the dealer asked if I made any modifications to the car. I bought the Softronic pkg., but haven't installed it yet. Was also considering an AWE exhaust. Will these void the CPO warranty?

**PistolPete** · #3 06-01-2009, 04:24 PM

What? That doesn't sound like any of our friendly sponsoring dealers in NJ! PM me or post in the Nor'Easter section, we have a ton of experience with all of the local dealerships.

racerboy · #4 06-01-2009, 04:29 PM

Thanks Pete. PM sent.

Exit125 · #5 06-02-2009, 10:56 AM

FYI the owners manual says the car can burn up to 1.5 quarts of oil per 1000 miles.

racerboy · #6 06-02-2009, 12:00 PM

Originally Posted by Exit125

FYI the owners manual says the car can burn up to 1.5 quarts of oil per 1000 miles.

So 6 quarts of oil in 4000 miles would be considered normal? In theory, I should never need an oil change then since for every 10,000 miles I would've put 15 quarts of fresh oil in the car.

I say that with a bit of tongue in cheek, but why do these cars use up so much oil? This car has never been tracked. Heck, my right arm is still semi-paralyzed, so I can't even drive this car the way I'd like. My first Cayman S only used 1/2 quart of oil in the 9000 miles I owned it. Maybe this engine was built on a Friday?

Now I'm sort of expecting the dealer to tell me the same thing, that 6 quarts is not unusual.

beez · #7 06-02-2009, 12:49 PM

Originally Posted by Exit125

FYI the owners manual says the car can burn up to 1.5 quarts of oil per 1000 miles.

Yes, this is true, but...

Originally Posted by racerboy

So 6 quarts of oil in 4000 miles would be considered normal? [snip]
Now I'm sort of expecting the dealer to tell me the same thing, that 6 quarts is not unusual.

But the anecdotal evidence says these cars burn WAY less than that... like a quart every 3-4k miles, tops... I track my car all the time in the advanced/instructor run groups, and it burns hardly any oil. Your dealer may say it's within the mythical spec., but no, it's not normal, and it's particularly not usual. If that's this dealers answer (within spec), then I'd take it to another dealer if you can.

brad

racerboy · #8 06-02-2009, 02:14 PM

Second dealer I called, Ray Catena (thanks Pete) seemed to agree. Taking it there next week,

steeevo · #9 06-02-2009, 05:35 PM

That doesn't seem right. I would lay off the mods till a couple thousand miles after the burning oil issue is resolved.

**Softronic** · #10 06-02-2009, 05:56 PM

Originally Posted by steeevo

That doesn't seem right. I would lay off the mods till a couple thousand miles after the burning oil issue is resolved.

I fully agree and keep us posted. I'm always available for a question or advice if you like.

Best Regards,
Scott Slauson

racerboy · #11 06-03-2009, 12:29 PM

Thanks everyone. Definitely goint to wait on the Softronic install as well as any other upgrade purchases until after this oil issue is resolved.

racerboy · #12 06-08-2009, 07:30 PM

Dropped car off at Ray Catena Porsche today. Will let you know what they tell me about the problems. The fellow that took down the information seemed surprised at the oil consumption. At least he didn't give me the standard line about "1 quart per 1000 miles is normal". I also printed out some of the posts from here about the possible problem with the variocam causing the valve tap. We shall see.

racerboy · #13 06-11-2009, 10:47 AM

Dealer just called me and told me that the computer readout shows 2 ignition cycles in Range 5 and Range 6 (I took car in b/c the valve tap was getting louder). I bought this car used and can assure you that I haven;t even gotten the chance to really beat on it becasue of my physical injuries. Is it possible that this is an ECU error or just that the previous owner beat the hell out of the car before turning it in?

Dealer told me to call up the dealer I purchased the car from.

GTB · #14 06-16-2009, 10:21 PM

Every car I ever owned stated somewhere in the owner's manual that using XXX amount of oil is normal, often 1 qt/1K miles or similar. Some motors just plain use oil and I think manufacturers just put it in there to cover their butts on the exceptions. Very few modern cars use more than 1 qt/5K miles. The other issue is break in. I had a Subaru STI and broke it in according to the manual's recomendations and used no oil, including track days. Other people who were less than careful shall we say during break in ended up with cars using a lot of oil. On the Ferarri forum, many 430 owners complain of oil use even though mine uses no oil. However, I broke mine in according to recomendations where most owners beat on them from the outset. Their excuse is that factory test drivers already beat on them (typically 50-60 miles). But break in takes much longer than that. I had a Lotus Elise and they required dealers to download info from the ECU at 1K miles to see if the motor had been broken in properly. The readouts were sent to England and then they decided whether or not to honor the warranty. And that was for a Toyota motor! I'm not an expert on this by any means, but I have read that a motor not properly run in will burn oil because the rings never seat properly even though the motor makes the same power. I have not read how it might affect longevity.

Dave

**LA Boy** · #15 06-16-2009, 10:55 PM

When I had my 20,000 mile service done, my CS had 17,000 miles on it (two years passed before reaching 20,000). I now have 24,000 miles on it and the oil gauge has not yet moved past "full". I think most Cayman owners have had oil consumption rates similar to my car from what I have read on this site.

racerboy · #16 06-17-2009, 10:45 AM

The tech that the dealer assigned to the car has been out sick since Monday. Arrghh! Says he will be back in tomorrow and that they will give me the diagnosis by end of day. I should've taken it back to the dealer I bought it from.

racerboy · #17 06-19-2009, 07:31 PM

Now I'm told that they didn't even start looking at my car until late in the day today and won't have a diagnosis until Monday. That will be two weeks the car's been at the dealer. Not feeling the love right now.