0w-40 Synthetic oil source Bay Area

[cas951]

I went to Kragens and guess what they had 0-W40. They had exactly 9 qts left .

Tnaks for all the leads guys.

[JCL12]

Ugggg!

I just played "pick the oil" with my dealer on the phone.

According to them, they use 5W-40 as thier standard for porsches - and we are located in the frigid areas of upstate NY.

-Is the a major need/lubrication benefit from 0W-40 over 5W-40 for extremely cold weather??
-My porsche manual (IIRC) does not say to use 5W-40 and it does not even list 0W-40 - I think it advises 10W-40! The mobil 1 website tells me to use 0W-40. My dealer says use 5W-40. What the heck?

[cas951]

Originally Posted by JCL12

Ugggg!

I just played "pick the oil" with my dealer on the phone.

According to them, they use 5W-40 as thier standard for porsches - and we are located in the frigid areas of upstate NY.

-Is the a major need/lubrication benefit from 0W-40 over 5W-40 for extremely cold weather??
-My porsche manual (IIRC) does not say to use 5W-40 and it does not even list 0W-40 - I think it advises 10W-40! The mobil 1 website tells me to use 0W-40. My dealer says use 5W-40. What the heck?

This is why I was confused. I read the manual and this is the recommended for Synthetic temp > 50 deg.

10 W-40
15 W40
15 W-50

Doing a search on Rennlist and this board the choice seems to be
0 W-40.

I also found this link from Imagine Auto who's a reputable sponsor at Rennlist. Also known for Supercharging Boxsters.
http://www.turbo911.com/showthread.php?t=279

[JCL12]

cas951,

It is funny, hearing different reccomendations on oil from 3 separate sources that I all consider reliable - very anal enthusiasts, porsche AD, and the car's manual itself

When did mobil 1 introduce its 0W-40? That might shed some light on some of this. I'd also assume that 0W-40 is best for cold weather and has the best flexibility for high temperature variance.

How about opening a open in poll on oil usage...such as 5w30, 10w30, 10w40, 15w40, 5w40, 0w40, etc and see what people are putting in thier car?

[cas951]

Good idea.

Not sure how to start a poll. Do you kn ow how?

[meerzee]

Originally Posted by JCL12

cas951,

It is funny, hearing different reccomendations on oil from 3 separate sources that I all consider reliable - very anal enthusiasts, porsche AD, and the car's manual itself

When did mobil 1 introduce its 0W-40? That might shed some light on some of this. I'd also assume that 0W-40 is best for cold weather and has the best flexibility for high temperature variance.

How about opening a open in poll on oil usage...such as 5w30, 10w30, 10w40, 15w40, 5w40, 0w40, etc and see what people are putting in thier car?

One thing to always remember with oil...the greater the difference in multi-grade oil weights (seperation of viscosities at various temperature extremes), the less that oil will perform at any given range in that span. The additives known as VII do a good job at helping the oil acheive a sense of viscosity balance at OT vs. cold, but there is always a tradeoff! (nothing is free!) - so choose the MG oil with the smallest gap of viscosity range as possible to acheive your desired coverage.

Let's see if I can help start the poll for you.

[Tool Pants]

All of the above and more is why what oil to use is often debated.

Porsche comes out with a list of approved oils about once a year. 0W-40 was put on the list in 2001. 5W-40 was put on the list in April 2007. The list for 2001 said Mobil 0W-40 was now going to be the factory fill.

Back then 0W-40 was hard to find, unless you bought it from a Porsche or Mercedes dealership. You could not find it on local auto parts shelves. In my area there is a local Mobil distributor who would order a few pallets and that is initially were the local guys got it. Back then Mobil said it was not going to make this a consumer oil. I forget if Mobil or the distributor told me this. Something changed because after a time it started showing up on shelves, but you had to hunt at different stores.

Even before then, it was said 10W-40 was the factory fill, but it was not sold in the US back then. People would try to replicate it by mixing equal parts of 5W-30 and 15W-50, as those oils were sold in the US. In the US Mobil now sells 10W-40 as a "high mileage."

Oil is a funny business. Mobil has the lion's share of the synthetic market. Mobil makes enough money that they can pay manufacturers like Porsche and Corvette for a sticker on the car.

[bigb]

Originally Posted by Tool Pants

All of the above and more is why what oil to use is often debated.

Porsche comes out with a list of approved oils about once a year. 0W-40 was put on the list in 2001. 5W-40 was put on the list in April 2007. The list for 2001 said Mobil 0W-40 was now going to be the factory fill.

...snip...

Oil is a funny business. Mobil has the lion's share of the synthetic market. Mobil makes enough money that they can pay manufacturers like Porsche and Corvette for a sticker on the car.

Jeff, thanks for your informative post. Q: when you say that a particular grade was put on the list, does that imply that that grade was applicable to the porsches sold that year? So, for instance, per your above post, 5W-40 is (one of) the recommended grades for porsches sold in 2007, whereas 0W-40 is (one of) the recommended grades for cars sold in 2001.

Thanks!

PS: I'm getting the itch for doing the OBD hack on my 01 (I need the temp to tell me whether to turn on the heat or the ac ). I'll send you a note when I run into trouble.

[Brucelee]

M1 0W-40 is fine for the car.

So is any QUALITY SYN with a 5W-40 rating.

Not to worry.

[JCL12]

Originally Posted by Brucelee

M1 0W-40 is fine for the car.

So is any QUALITY SYN with a 5W-40 rating.

Not to worry.

I just searched for M1 0W-40 at my local store. No luck!

Will there be any measurable impact on cold weather starts / cold weather lubrication performance (and I mean COLD - 10 degrees F or less) between 0W-40 and 5W-40?