Oil for 996

[RtdRacer]

Apols if this has been done to death - I've spent an hour researching, and the summary seems to be that unless you live in a very cold country (-25 starts), then you are better off with 5w40 than 0w40. There are plenty of approved 5w40 oils.

Does the PH massive have an opinion? Also, silly question, but how much oil does it take - I saw 8.5 quarts (US site), which is a hell of a lot - is that true?

[Ian_UK1]

RtdRacer said:

Apols if this has been done to death - I've spent an hour researching, and the summary seems to be that unless you live in a very cold country (-25 starts), then you are better off with 5w40 than 0w40. There are plenty of approved 5w40 oils.

Does the PH massive have an opinion? Also, silly question, but how much oil does it take - I saw 8.5 quarts (US site), which is a hell of a lot - is that true?

If you're in a warm climate, then there's no real difference between 5W-40 and 0W-40. Both will (nominally) be the exact same viscosity at running temp. The 5W will just thicken-up a little more as it gets cold than the 0W (but not sufficiently more that it will not get round the engine properly in mild ambient temperatures). Only at very cold temps does that difference in cold viscosities become significant.

Great info on oil grades here: http://www.kewengineering.co.uk/Auto_oils/oil_visc...

Below is a graph from the article linked above, explaining how the thickness (viscosity) of different multigrades varies with temperature. Viscosity on the y axis, temp (degrees C) on the x. A 0W would slot-in below the 5W line

Edited by Ian_UK1 on Thursday 23 August 13:36

[6C4GTS]

8 litres of 0W40.

[pete.g]

Oil for 996?

Sounds like a fair swap - let's say 10 litres of Mobil 1.

[RtdRacer]

pete.g said:

Oil for 996?

Sounds like a fair swap - let's say 10 litres of Mobil 1.

:-)

I now have 20l of nice oil coming from those chaps at Opie...

[anonymous-user]

RtdRacer said:

I've wasted an hour researching

EFA^

[RtdRacer]

uktrailmonster said:

EFA^

Sorry?

[anonymous-user]

RtdRacer said:

Sorry?

Edited for accuracy
Seriously there is a lot of BS talked about oil and what exact spec to use and you will never get a definitive answer on what is 'best' as nobody has any meaningful data to back up their choice. My 996 is on Castrol Magnatec 10w40 as recommended by Hartech. It seems to work okay, just like any other quality oil. So you could try this or pick anything out of the Porsche approved list.

Edited by anonymous-user on Thursday 23 August 18:05

[RtdRacer]

uktrailmonster said:

RtdRacer said:

Sorry?

Edited for accuracy
Seriously there is a lot of BS talked about oil and what exact spec to use and you will never get a definitive answer on what is 'best' as nobody has any meaningful data to back up their choice. My 996 is on Castrol Magnatec 10w40 as recommended by Hartech. It seems to work okay, just like any other quality oil. So you could try this or pick anything out of the Porsche approved list.

Edited by uktrailmonster on Thursday 23 August 18:05

I was quite convinced by an article I read that said 5w40 was okay given winter temps here don't drop to -25, but 10w40 was probably a bit too far from that...

But I agree - I mainly asked to see if anyone knew something I didn't...

[rog007]

I've been advised that not only should you consider operating temps, but also age/mileage of engine. As such I was advised Valvoline 5W30 or 5W40 for mine.

[RtdRacer]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

Good summary of where I ended up!