Oil change interval - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

roadracer311 · 01-22-2008, 06:47 PM

I'm sticking with every 5k miles, which looks like it will also be my annual mileage. (I mainly use my motorcycle for transportation)

With respect to the RMS problems. I have a theory: oil that's even slightly too full may contribute to leaks. By too full, I mean within 1 bar of the full mark on the dash. I work on motorcycles for a living, and I've noticed that on the few dry sump motorcycles we work on, the oil level increases quite a bit when they're hot. So if I check one warm, it will be ok, but check it again all the way hot, and it's over full. The end result of an over-full bike is an over-pressured sump and oil oozing out everywhere that it can. I'm thinking this same thing (being more than 8/10ths full) could also be a contributing factor to the coolant overflow tank failures.

markk · 01-23-2008, 01:35 AM

MY01 BoxsterS manual says 20k km or every 2 years, including filter. Factory / dealer fill is Mobil I 0w40.

I had a short moment of trouble at a track once with my lifters and was advised by the dealer to use Mobil 5w50 then. They said its also approved and they use it for the 996 turbo's and GT3's.

Lately I don't track that often anymore and I drive about 5-7k km with the S each year.

All together I stick to changing the oil with Mobil I 5w50 each year and changing the filter each other oilchange (so every 2 year). Works perfectly for me and I like working on my car (*) so the additional costs are easily bearable.

(*) I hate changing oilfilters though. It always gets messy...

Mark.

01-23-2008, 02:19 AM

There is a very good article in the January 2008 Panorama, page 79 about motor oils. In there Allan Caldwell talks about a Mobil 1 5W50 that is the only 5W50 Porsche "approved/listed".

Frodo · 01-23-2008, 03:35 AM

I've got an '01 S that I'm putting 6-8k miles/year on. So I change oil and filter annually (usually the first nice spring day).

So far so good.

Learn to do it yourself. It's easy, cheap(er) and satisfying. Bond with your machine!

saaber · 01-23-2008, 06:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by markk

All together I stick to changing the oil with Mobil I 5w50 each year and changing the filter each other oilchange (so every 2 year).
Mark.

That M1 5W50 sounds like an excellent choice. If you ever get a chance to do a used oil analysis please post it here. It would be great to see how that oil performs.

superglide · 01-28-2008, 02:12 PM

I've had excellent results with a yearly oil change (Mobil 1), on both my '00 986'S', and my '00 Tundra, but I do change their filters every 3000-3500 miles or so. The Tundra now has 92k on the clock, and the Box is about to turn 50k.

This regime seems to dovetail with a few of the other posts, with respect to filter "build up". At each oil change; the color of the old oil is only slightly darker than the new oil. One of these days, I'm going to send off a sample to one of the labs who do oil analysis, and hope that their report proves me right...

Brucelee · 01-28-2008, 03:48 PM

As has been pointed out, they used the wrong oil. Why would you go back to them if they can't read the BLEEPING manual.

Secondly, if it were me, I would change it at 7500 miles or one year, whichever comes first.

Good luck.

CJ_Boxster · 01-28-2008, 04:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brucelee

if they can't read the BLEEPING manual.

Good luck.

Now, Now Rich... You know the policy on vulgar language, lets keep it PG-13

Brucelee · 01-28-2008, 04:26 PM

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.

bleep

PRONUNCIATION: blp
NOUN: A brief high-pitched sound, as from an electronic device.
VERB: Inflected forms: bleeped, bleep·ing, bleeps

INTRANSITIVE VERB: To emit a bleep or bleeps.
TRANSITIVE VERB: To edit out (spoken material) from a broadcast or recording, especially by replacing with an electronic sound: The station bleeped out the expletives from the taped interview.
ETYMOLOGY: Imitative.
OTHER FORMS: bleeper —NOUN

I think I am OK on this one.

cas951 · 01-28-2008, 07:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by roadracer311

I'm sticking with every 5k miles, which looks like it will also be my annual mileage. (I mainly use my motorcycle for transportation)

With respect to the RMS problems. I have a theory: oil that's even slightly too full may contribute to leaks. By too full, I mean within 1 bar of the full mark on the dash. I work on motorcycles for a living, and I've noticed that on the few dry sump motorcycles we work on, the oil level increases quite a bit when they're hot. So if I check one warm, it will be ok, but check it again all the way hot, and it's over full. The end result of an over-full bike is an over-pressured sump and oil oozing out everywhere that it can. I'm thinking this same thing (being more than 8/10ths full) could also be a contributing factor to the coolant overflow tank failures.

Overfilling any fluid systems will cause seals to leak therefore do not overfill. I'm fairly new in the Boxster world but when I read the manual it states that the Engine must be in operating temp when checking the oil level. Specially when using the gauge in the inst. cluster. I would take that statement even further. An Engine maybe in Operating temp but you have a 9 1/2 oil system which would take several miles for the oil to reach normal operating temp. I would check the level after you have driven several miles just to be safe.