Oil Change twice yearly? With Low Mileage
 

Hi All, I purchased my 2000 Boxster S in March 2009 with 34,000 and have been enjoying the summer so far. No issues.

My question is, this is my daily driver but I'm only putting 600Km per month (I work fairly close to my home). Rather than changing the Oil once a year I'm thinking about changing it every 6 months regardless of the mileage. What do you think?

I plan to do drive the vehicle April to December and store it the other months.

Decisions
- to begin using Motul 8100 5w40 on my next oil change
- Using Shell Gold 91 octane 0% Ethanal, found better gas mileage than Sunoco
Gold 94 Octane with 10% Ethanal


Hack I've done so far

- Changed the Cig Lighter from euro style to US
- Added Ipod connectin to the Becker stereo

Happy Boxstering!

5000 miles a year? Once a year is fine based on the results of my oil analysis.

Welcome.

Personnally, I think that may be too often... but its your car. Look at the oil in 6 months and make the call then. I plan on once a year, depending on the miles I log.

I do about 8,000km annually and replace my oil twice a year & use Shell 5W40 synthetic. Some would say its overkill, but its also peace of mind. Its not a daily driver like yours, only weekend use.
You seem to have short runs and I assume your ambient temps are pretty low, but I would think that replacing the oil just before you lay it up (Dec) and again in April /May before running it during the summer months should be more than adequate for the car.

Are your petrol octane ratings different to ours - here 91 is regular gas but Porsche recommend 98 octane? Low octane fuels are definately a no no as it causes pre ignition knock & overheating which can be very dangerous to your engines health.

I'm also in Toronto and do oils changes once a year and drive ~3000mi.
I use Sunoco 94 but haven't been tracking mileage.

Twice a Year
 

I won't enter into the brand debate here, but I will say that I change my oil twice a year to allow for what I consider proper oil weight in the summer versus in the winter.

For what its worth, I put about 4-5K a year on my car and store it for 5 months. I change it once a year (Mobil 1). My mechanic jokes that he could rebottle and sell to the next customer. It's pretty clean at that point. I just do it every spring for piece of mind.

Use Red Line 5-40 and change once a year.

Should be more than fine.

Good luck

sadly, your motor oil, even when unused, losses it's lubricating properties over time. Over the course of a year, humidity, temperature changes, and yes, even ground level ozone can alter the chemical makeup of you oil.

I've heard 3 months as the rule, but 6 doesn't seem all that bad. 1 year? to each his own, but at 13k to replace a motor, if you're going to gamble, play it on the safe side.

just my .02

I ran my 0W-40 M1 17 months and over 11,000 miles and an oil analysis indicated I could have gone at least another 1000 miles.

Great for you. You also drove a considerable amount (reducing moisture build up, and keeping the chemicals in suspension). I glad it's working out for you, for me, an additional 80bucks a year is piece of mind.

Porsche has been recommending long oil change intervals since the 914. When will people learn that US car owners have been brain washed into 3 months/3000 miles oil changes?

agree. Unless you're driving 10k in 3 months, I don't see a need to change that often

Yes a lot of those miles were put on the car driving to and from 2 Parades. I seldom drive less than 20 miles and I floor the car often.

this is a quick read...one interesting point is that a hotter climate will break down an oils properties more quickly than a cooler one.

oil over time

"As an oil breaks down it combines with combustion chamber residue from blowby gasses to form sludge. High detergent oils dissolve this sludge and hold it in suspension. In addition, as an engine wears small pieces of metal, rubber, and plastic end up in the bottom of the oil pan. Believe it or not, the "granny car" which is "short tripped" will have a lot more acids (condensed from blowby gasses) mixed with the oil than a car which is driven every day! I rebuilt one engine with a thrown rod: (old lady, once a week to the store 3 miles away) The rod bearing had been eaten away by acid deposits!!! Ony 40,000 miles on that motor! Thus on low mileage cars I recommend changing the oil every 6 months, no matter how many miles on them!"

3 months sounds rediculous. Heck you might wear out the threads on your oil pan plug. :D Once a year or no more than 7500 miles(what ever comes first). If you do it every 3 months I am calling al gore on you!! :eek:

Here is the question, Do you change it before or after winter(in cold climates)?

Boxster33:

Congrats on the new car!

Once a year oil change is fine, just before winter hibernation. FYI- there are some great old threads here about winter storage. Search them out.

Good decision on the Motul oil. Porsche approved and high quality. You may also consider Mobil 1's 5W50. This is a very hard oil to find in the USA, but you guys are lucky in Canada because I have seen it in your Wal Mart stores. This is the only Porsche approved 5W50 weight oil.

If you can continue to purchase fuel without alcohol, that would be my choice too. Even 91 octane over 93. I use to be able to buy 93 octane without alcohol in small towns in Wisconsin last year. But no more. Federal regulations mandate the addition (up to 10%) ethanol for "clean air requirements". This use to be a big city issue, so small towns still have 100% gas. Now everyone has to use the blends. Too bad, the Boxster loved the 93 with 100% gas!

I don't see that being advocated here.

I'd say just do the oil change when you take your car out of storage.

You can certainly change oil twice as often, if that makes you sleep better. Oil is cheap afterall.

I keep hearing about Shell 91 gets better mileage than Ultra94, I'm going to have to try it sometime.

Change your oil before placing it in storage so the aforementioned moisture and acids don't have the chance to work over your internals during the storage period. In the Spring, you're all set to go for the coming season.

All oil change intervals assume ideal conditions and very few people actually drive in these. Stop & Go, short hops, dusty conditions, wet conditions, prolonged idling, irregular fuel quality, hard driving, or any combination of the above all qualify as severe conditions and so the service interval s/b shortened.

Porsche doesn't provide a severe service interval, so you need to decide what interval you're most comfortable with. Using a Lab Analysis can help, but ultimately the decision is yours.

Personally, I drive my car in a similar manner to what you describe and I'm comfortable with an annual change just prior to storing the car.

:cheers: