3k oil changes
 

for the past 2 years i have been changing my oil every 3k (castrol 5/40) . I did a change yesterday and took a close look at the filter . I could only find a very few little particles . It seems that frequent oil changes keeps things much healthier in the M96. I got a chance to look at an M96 broken down at A PCA meeting and some of the passages the oil has to travel through are so small it is a wonder clean oil can move through them. Clean oil is key to these motors in my opinion.

I also did my AOS , and let me tell you 03 cars are not the same as earlier cars , maybe a little easier to install . So be care full if you reference 101 boxster projects with an 03 , 04 car they are not the same.

so you change the oil 5 times as often as Porsche recommends?

All this hype about synthetic oils lasting thousands of miles. Why bother ?

I compromise - I change oil/filter using Mobil Synthetic every 5k miles. So far so good after 12k miles in the last 2 years of ownership(2001 base Box now with 43k miles...)
Probably overkill at that rate but worth it for peace of mind and checking for metal in the filter.

It may seem like over kill but as we know these engines can be very sensitive . Clean oil , checking the filter lets me sleep at night and I can rev it without worry. I can also add even with 3k on the oil it is very black and dirty looking . the appearance of the oil may not mean anything but it sure looks spent . I would never run 10k oil changes in any car .

Very easy solution. Do an oil analysis after a few of those 3k mile changes and compare to a 10k mile analysis. I'm not sure if these labs can and do check for zddp levels but I would be interested in knowing the levels coming out of the car after a 3k change vs 10k. If there's a significant reduction below the recommended level (see T. Callas thread on the issue) then you'll know the answer for your engine.

I don't see how there is any problem with changing your oil more often. It's your money and your investment. Personally I track my car about 6 times a year and every weekend is followed by an oil change. My early season oil changes may see as little as 1000 miles.