LexVan

5W50 or 5W40. Select a Porsche A40 approved oil. There are over a 100 to choose from. I like Mobil and Motul the best.

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STG

Don't I wish ...

MACH 86

Are we sure that the factory original oil fill is the same Mobile that we use for replacement? Some engine manufactures initial oil fill is a brake in formula. Assume all the oil is the same a early change would be ok.

MACH 86

Another thought is in the past when you broke in a new car if you babied it it was sure to burn oil all its life. That would glaze the cylinders and the rings would never seat in. Now Porsche wants a 2000 mile max 4200 RPM brake in. Anybody know why? Go figure.

trucheli

I have always done my own oil changes on my second cars Toyota, Acura and BMW 335i. I believe that I will do a better job that a salary paid technician. Unfortunately, living in Miami my personal experience with service advisors and technicians has been very close to criminal. A Honda dealer suggested that I needed new brakes with 3500 miles and after telling the SA that I only change brakes when the sensor tells me to do it they put a used pad on one of the calipers.

I could do the change on the Porsche since I have the space and tools to do it, but Murphy's Law would be very costly and not worth the risk for a warranty repair to be denied.

LexVan

PM Chuck911. He will tell you why.

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LexVan

It's the same Mobil 0W40.

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BradB

I did my first oil change at 1000 miles. Two jugs of Mobil 1 0w40 from WalMart $52. OEM oil filter kit from dealer $19. DIY oil change $Free. Blackstone UOA results are great.

I change my oil now at about 3000 mile intervals. In the summer season I do a dozen or more track days and quite a bit of over the road driving. I also drive the car through the winter when the streets are clear. The UOA continues to be good. I looked at heavier weight Mobil 1 and Motul oils based on reports from folks on the forum here, but I had problems locating the oil locally and a combination of inconvenience and greater expense sent me back to WalMart when it was time to buy again.

Macster

Various factors drive this break in or early service business.

Many times -- I can't recall once when this was not the case -- in long term car reviews, any car that requires an "early" service receives negative comments.

OTOH, The reviewers always comment favorably on how long a car can go without needing its first service. 10K miles, 15K miles, even 20K miles and the reviewers are just gushing with positive comments. 'course, no one knows how the car/engine fares the next 20K miles...

What I have done, and what I recommend unless the owners manual cautions against it, is to do an early oil/filter service.

For instance, with my last new car, my 2008 Cayman S, I did one at 750 miles.

I have pics I can supply of the filter housing oil in a clean drain pan. The amount of glitter makes the oil look almost like metallic paint. Sure, the filter caught this but if there is any high pressure bypass this dirty oil can be supplied to the engine under cold start conditions.

While there was a lot of glitter, it was not surprising to me. I have seen the oil from a couple of new engines and several rebuilt engines and the first oil change always has the oil just filthy.

I would add in hindsight I wish I had done the oil change at 500 miles vs. 750 miles. I was taught after a rebuild to after running the engine 30 minutes or so to mostly seat the rings and get the lifters and cam "broken in" to do an oil/filter service then and there.

The next oil change came at not quite 1500 miles and the oil had just a hint of glitter in it. Not enough to even show up in a photograph. The 3rd oil/filter service I had done at the dealer at the end of break in -- at around 2K miles -- and we didn't even bother to look at the oil. The tech just let it drain. I showed him the pics I had taken of the oil at the 1st service and he said he has seen similar over the years.

Up to you, but my advice is -- as I stated above -- do an "early" oil/filter service unless forbidden by the owners manual. Some dealers balk at doing an early service and may tell you it is not advisable, but this is because they really don't like doing just oil services as this ties up a service bay and sometimes a very in demand Porsche diagnostics computer which they prefer to use for prepare new cars for sale or delivery or use on cars in for warranty work.

Be prepared to be sort of discouraged when you try to schedule the car for an early or out of schedule oil/filter service but persist.

Macster

A new engine produces more friction. Friction equals heat. To reduce the risk of this friction generating enough heat to result in a break down of the oil and do damage is what causes Porsche to put a rev limit of 4200 RPMs on new engines still under "break in" miles.

It is a sensible move on Porsche's part.

Might mention field and lab tests have found "break in" continues for sometimes thousands of miles beyond the nominal break in mileage. Friction decreases. The engine runs a bit cooler and gas consumption goes down. Also, power goes up as less is lost due to friction.

Anyhow, just because the upper rev limit is restricted does not require you "baby" the engine. What helps properly break in an engine is load, varying load.

So you can once the engine is fully warmed up engage in some moderately hard acceleration using more than just a light throttle while of course still adhering to the 4200 rev limit.

My philosophy is to at the end of "break in" change the oil/filter. This ensures the engine going forward in time is of course filled with fresh clean oil with no contamination a new engine causes.

Also, I do not just jump from keeping revs under 4200 to suddenly banging the engine off the rev limiter. I "sneak up" on the rev limiter over some miles, another 1000 or so, for as I mentioned above tests have found break in continues sometimes a long time after the nominal break in miles.

The result is the engine develops good power, idles at a reasonable volume level, and has the best chance of avoiding being an oil burner and can provide exceptional service life. Case in point is my 2002 Boxster now with 294254 miles. The engine still runs very very good, its oil consumption is quite acceptable down in the 1 quart every 5K mile range which is not much above what it was even with fewer miles on the clock. While I run 5w-50 I do this not because of the engine's miles more because where i live/drive ambient temperatures are quite warm in the summer months -- today's forecast calls for 100F+! -- and quite mild in the winter. The times I have had 0w-40 used when 5w-50 was not available the engine has not manifested any signs the 0w-40 oil is too "thin".

LexVan

Agree. My experience shows this to be about 20,000 miles.

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trucheli

Various factors drive this break in or early service business.

Many times -- I can't recall once when this was not the case -- in long term car reviews, any car that requires an "early" service receives negative comments........

+1
And I thought I was OCD.

Green_Hornet

Would you really need an oil filter for oil changes between the factory intervals?

Dgags

A $12 oil filter every 5000 miles isn't where I'd look to save money.

ipse dixit

As a DD (non-track car), how long you plan on keeping the car should guide your decision.

Keeping it no longer than the warranty period, don't do in-between service interval oil changes.

If you think this car is a keeper, or want it to be a keeper (i.e., longer than 4/50k), then changing oil more frequently than the required intervals wouldn't be a bad idea. How often? Now, that's a different question entirely.