Don't shoot me! Oil question.

[Tomikaze]

Hey guys. Still treading lightly over here at 986forum. Yes, I did a search first. Found many threads about the general subject but not one that answered my questions. Seems the oil questions come up often just like they did on the last Miata forum I was part of. Before someone rants all over my party... let me ask the question this way... I will be doing my first oil change this weekend. Any tricks I need to know about? I got my filter, new plug and washer but no oil yet. I've always used Mobil1 in all my cars. I read the owners manual and saw a list of approved ratings. It asks you the average temperature and then gives 3 or 4 ratings. I settled on 10w-40 but the only M1 I could find in 10W40 was a high mileage oil. Sorry to be long winded but now to the question... if you're using Mobil1 which rating are you guys using?

Porsche has updated the oil recommendations. You should buy 0W40 Mobil 1.

[Brucelee]

You can also use AMSOIL and Red Line in the appropriate weights.

Originally Posted by Brucelee

You can also use AMSOIL and Red Line in the appropriate weights.

Yes, Red Line is great, and I am using this now. Their full snythetic is 5W40. Put it in last October, and did about 9,000 miles. Just got it change last Friday, and went with the Red Line again. Price went up too...now it is over $9/quart. Mobil 1 has gone up too.

www.redlineoil.com

[Tomikaze]

Where do you find out more about these "updated" recomendations by the factory?

-Tom

Originally Posted by bmussatti

Porsche has updated the oil recommendations. You should buy 0W40 Mobil 1.

[Padawan]

Originally Posted by Tomikaze

Where do you find out more about these "updated" recomendations by the factory?

-Tom

I was going to ask the same thing. It seems that oil weight is still a topic of debate, and with some people/shops apparently just totally disagreeing and disregarding Porsche's own recommendations. Even the owner's manual doesn't state much in terms of an agreed upon viscosity, which almost leads me to believe that it isn't critical. However, I'd obviously like to do what's best for my engine.

[Brucelee]

In the OLD days (1997-1999) Porsche used to recommend M1 15-50W. They changed later on to M1 0-40 Euro oil.

To me, unless you are racing or live in the extreme heat of say, AZ in summer, the 5-40 or 0-40 should be fine.

I have used 15-50 in some of my 911s if I had it in stock.

No worries, I think.

Originally Posted by Tomikaze

Where do you find out more about these "updated" recomendations by the factory?

-Tom

One way is to become a Contributing Member (say a $25 donation) on some of the other Forums. RennTech is how I have learned about these TSB's and updates.

[Bob O]

Porsche's updated recommendations are almost exclusively 5w40. The ONLY 0w40 recommended wt oil is Mobil 1, but among the Mobil 1 recommendations are nine others all with 5w40 wt. Apparently, if I'm reading this correctly (page 2, temperature ranges), you can use 0w40 for all temp ranges, but if the temp falls below -12 F you can ONLY use 0w40. Its a little confusing and took two readings to get that but I believe that's what its saying. Except for the one line listing of Mobil 1 0w40, the entire three pages of recommended oils are 5w40.


Go here: http://mike.focke.googlepages.com/mikesporscheboxsterwebpages scroll down to the approved oils list. Its a pdf of the Jan,05 Tech bulletin titled "engine oils approved by Porsche".

This whole subject of oil viscosity, change intervals and everything else related to it is confusing as hell. Especially when Porsche changes their recommendations so frequently. The owner's manual says use 0w40. But I believe there's another tech bulletin disputing that. The change interval in the book is 15K. I believe there's still another tech bulletin on THAT subject also. I think I'll stick with either 0w40 or 5w40 and change it every 7500 miles and forget about it!

Bob

[Sputter]

Too many opinions being expressed here. you'll draw boxsterz's wrath.