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Originally Posted by 97Boxsterian
My mechanic told me I should have oil change every 3,000 miles, but the Manual said we should have oil change every 15,000 miles. Which one is correct?
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Are you using a "Porsche specialist" mechanic? If so, find a new one because he should know better.
Ours is changed between 10K and 15K miles. My wife tells me when it hits 10K and I change it when I get the chance, usually within a month or two, but we put 2K miles/month on the Boxster so it's never past 15K. With any car you should follow the manual, not what the guy who gets the bucks from the extra oil changes wants.
Oil break down is mostly affected by how often you drive it, the climate, engine load and the filter. The less you drive, the faster (mileage wise) the oil and filter break down due to condensation in the system. The "dirty" oil or dark color is not from dirt in the oil, it is from the heat changing the color over time. The viscosity is what you have to worry about and it does not break down with Mobil1 for over 15K miles if the car is regularly driven. If it is driven once every week or two, you should change it every year. If it is driven less than every two weeks, you should change it every 6 months. If you drive in stop-and-go traffic a lot, you should follow the shorter schedule listed in the manual. You should only use a fully synthetic, 15K mile oil and original Porsche or OEM Mahle filters.
Before you think about using the 15K mile Mobil1 oil in your other cars to lengthen your oil change cycles, here's the problem with that. Oil filters are made to the auto manufacturer's specs. If the manufacturer says change the oil every 7500 miles, then the oil filter is made to last that long. Unless you can get a Mobil1 oil filter that will last 15K miles like the oil, you should stick to the manufacturer's recommendation.
As an aside, Consumer reports did a test a few of years ago to see if the every 3K oil change helped protect engines better. They took two each of several different automobiles with different size engines. One of each model had the oil changed every 3K miles and the other one had it changed according to the manual specifications. After 100K miles, they disassembled the engines and inspected them thoroughly. The verdict was no difference in wear, even microscopic, at all between the every 3K oil change engines and the manual spec change engines.
Have a great day!
