Just a note here. I'm from Canada so the xW rating for the oil is important if you drive during the colder months. For a lot of the people from the southern states the W rating on the oil is likely not to apply too much to be honest. It basically covers your cold starts and then the viscosity increases as it heats up.

In LA, whose climate is similar to San Antonio, I use Mobil 1 10-40 High Mileage. Its heavy enough for the summer temps and has a good additive package (hence the high mileage name).

And by the way, running a heavier oil may help your continual lifter ticking noise or it might not.

Really depends on what the problem is with the lifter. But since replacing a lifter is a pretty big job, trying a heavier weight oil is a simple and cheap first step.

While we are on the subject of ticking.... how much ticking noise is actually normal ??

I've got a constant ticking noise, which I'm pretty sure is not from the lifters - the noise is still the same when I switched from 10w40 to 5w50 and is a regular rhythm and constant tone/level. But it is definitely noticeable....

I'm asking as I looked at about 10 boxster before buying this one.... but most of the rest were '97 models and most (maybe all the rest) had much less ticking noise...

I'm pretty sure it's from the injectors but am just curious that mine sounds abit louder than the rest of the box that I've seen... unfortunately, as most of the rest that I've seen are 97s not sure if the injector design changed sometime along the line to a "noiser" one ?? I don't think it affects the performance of the engine though...

Well I'm now running Castrol 10w40! I still hear the 'ticking' sound a bit, but I'll let it go through a few drive cycles to see if it changes at all. At least I feel a little bit more at ease with the higher weight oil in there.

FYI, Wal-mart is way cheaper on oil than Auto-Zone, and the selection was much larger. I was surprised, but it worked out. $21 for 5qt of Castrol.

Thanks for all the input fellas, and for not turning the thread into an oil dispute!

hopefully you filled with 9qts... 5 would be way too little...

i'm not that dumb now ;)
buying the wrong weight maybe, but half-filling it? pffft :)

wish it would've quieted down the ticking a bit though...