Which Engine Oil

[sawood12]

This is very good stuff chaps - I've found these descriptions on the inner workings of oil very informative and interesting. I must buy an anorak tomorrow!!

It is worth noting that Mobil 1 is not the only oil Porsche recommends. Silkolene is also amongst the many oils that are Porsche approved. The thing I like about Silkolene Pro S is that it is an Ester based oil which means it is clingy like Magnatec. Mobil 1 isn't. I personally think this is quite an important feature as my car is a daily runner and since practically all your enigne wear occurs in the first 15 - 20 mins of every journey I want that extra protection during that phase. I'd have thought it would be even more desirable in a car that is not driven very frequently as a thin film of oil is retained on contact surfaces instead of draining away and leaving exposed surfaces and will provide some element of protection on initial start up and in those first 10 secs or so it takes the oil system to fully circulate the oil around the engine and start lubricating.

 

[burrow01]

ORIGINAL: sawood12

This is very good stuff chaps - I've found these descriptions on the inner workings of oil very informative and interesting. I must buy an anorak tomorrow!!

It is worth noting that Mobil 1 is not the only oil Porsche recommends. Silkolene is also amongst the many oils that are Porsche approved.

Hi Scott

I don't think Silkolene is Porsche approved any more (or even if it was)
To be honest thats not an issue to me - its what I use []

Cheers

Pete

 

[ChrisW]

I also very much like the sound of Silkolene --- in fact I liked it so much I provided it to the OPC at the first and second services (from new -- of my GT3 -- not the '64RS).

The first time I believe it was Porsche approved --- the second time they said it wasn't, but were happy to sell me an extended warranty.

I believe that the majority of engine wear takes place in the first 10 seconds after start-up, so anything that can ameliorate this must be a big ++ ?

 

[Melv]

"I believe that the majority of engine wear takes place in the first 10 seconds after start-up, so anything that can ameliorate this must be a big ++ ?"

Well actually, yes!! With my other hobby hat on Textron-Lycoming, manufacturers of aircraft engines, (and basically most engines in private planes are big Beetle engines! 180bhp @ 2500rpm/3.5litre in my case) advize the following factors that we implement, i) before shut down and where safe to do so, run engine upto about 75% power for 30-40 secs to allow good coating of oil around the engine; reset idle to 1200rpm, check instruments and shut down; ii) for low useage aircraft, halve oil change period from 50 to 25 hours, particularly over winter; iii) on start up, do not rev engine above idle to allow oil to get around engine BEFORE revs increased.

Worn cam lobe followers are a known problem in such engines due to poor engine warm up/shut down procedures combined with infrequent oil changes. It's happened to me and somehow the bits got into a cylinder -expensive!!

So, I apply the same to my Porker!

 

[ChrisW]

Porsche recommend Mobil 1 or Shell Helix level equivalents --- surely they also will have the equivalent of "Ester" or "Magnatec" start up protection ?

In addition to which one can easily apply logic and copy Mel ?

Living at the end oc a quarter mile and bumpy track, I have an enforced warm up and cool down procedure --- but may now have to irritate my Wife by revving the engine gently before short tickover (oil level checkon the dial) and cut ignition !!

As an aside, who else notices in the cooler weather that the oil guage only shows a level when the engine is really hot ?

Should I add a little more oil ?

 

[burrow01]

ORIGINAL: ChrisW

Porsche recommend Mobil 1 or Shell Helix level equivalents --- surely they also will have the equivalent of "Ester" or "Magnatec" start up protection ?

Nope []
They are fully Synthetic (well the top end Helix's are) but without the "clingy" esters
Castrol Magnatec has something similar to esters - not sure if they are exactly the same. This, however, is a semi-synthentic, which means it could contain a minimum of 30% synthetic base, the rest being mineral oil

Pete

 

[ChrisW]

So what is the "optimum" ?

 

[sawood12]

ORIGINAL: Melv


"I believe that the majority of engine wear takes place in the first 10 seconds after start-up, so anything that can ameliorate this must be a big ++ ?"

Well actually, yes!! With my other hobby hat on Textron-Lycoming, manufacturers of aircraft engines, (and basically most engines in private planes are big Beetle engines! 180bhp @ 2500rpm/3.5litre in my case) advize the following factors that we implement, i) before shut down and where safe to do so, run engine upto about 75% power for 30-40 secs to allow good coating of oil around the engine; reset idle to 1200rpm, check instruments and shut down; ii) for low useage aircraft, halve oil change period from 50 to 25 hours, particularly over winter; iii) on start up, do not rev engine above idle to allow oil to get around engine BEFORE revs increased.

Worn cam lobe followers are a known problem in such engines due to poor engine warm up/shut down procedures combined with infrequent oil changes. It's happened to me and somehow the bits got into a cylinder -expensive!!

So, I apply the same to my Porker!

Ester based oils are common place in the aviation industry also.

Not sure exactly how they do it but Ester based oils contain an element which is elecrostatically charged such that it clings to ferrous metal surfaces - a bit like a balloon on a ceiling after you've rubbed it on your T-shirt. I'm not aware of any limitations/downsides to Ester based oils compared with non-Ester based oils. Only upsides as far as I can tell.

I take all this Porsce approved stuff with a pinch of salt. What probably happened was that Silkolene refused to pay the, no doubt, large fee Porsche would demand for their product to appear on their 'Approved list'. How can an oil that was once approved suddently not be on the basis of technical capabilies. Mobil obviously pay a HUGE premium for their oil to be used off the production line and to be so widely touted by Porsche.