I think we should petition ToolPants to tell us all about viscosity requirements for our engines in respect to where we live.
The manual does give some guidelines based on ambient temperatures where the car is being driven though... it would be good to sit down with it and have a good hard look at it.
As of January 2001 Porsche said the factory fill is 0W-40. The car is sold around the world and people get hung up on using that weight no matter where they live or the time of year.
I live in San Jose and have a 1997. The only oil that has been in the car is 15W-50. This was an approved oil for years but now it is off the list. Porsche comes out with a new approved oil bulletin about once a year. My dealer use to use 15W-50 but now they follow the company line and use 0W-40.
What oil to use has been debated to death. With all the engine failures you have heard about I have never heard of one related to oil.
The Boxster already has over 9 quarts of oil. I was on a BMW board and read some messages about putting in an extra quart. I do not know any Boxster owners who do this.
actually I put in an extra half quart. I run 0W-30 most of the year, and in extreme colder conditions I will run 5W-30 to prevent it from freezing. I personally feel my 986 runs best with 0w-30.
Only real downside for me is that I have a tough time finding this oil. I like to use Mobil 1 and the local mobil places often have to order it for me. Almost never in stock...
Check Wal Mart. They always carry Mobil 1 in all 3 grades: 0W-30, 5W30.... I just replaced mine with the 5W30. Mine took in about shy of 9 qt. You can always add more.
thanks...I will have to stop by there and check. Last time I had trouble I went ahead and prebought about 50 quarts of it so I dont have to worry about it for a while
I was planning on using 10W in the colder months(40 F. avg.) and 15W during the summer when I plan to Autocross. I've read some 911 owners say this on their forums.
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I have read from a oil engineer that the 0-40 is really not robust enough for our engines (he tests used oil for a living and Mobil is his biggesty client).
Here in SD, I use 15-50. In very cold climates, I would use 10-30 Mobil One.
For what it's worth, the dealership here in Tampa uses Castrol Syntec 5W-50 for it's oil changes. I was pretty surprised and asked again just to be sure I heard correctly.