Paul Faure

Hi there,
600 miles ago a local "Porsche specialist" changed my motoroil from 5W40 half synthetic to 10W60 full synthetic.
This was done 1.5 month ago and now I have serious enginedamage (repair cost $5000) !!!!!!
Can anyone tell me if it's wrong to use full synthetic motoroil for my engine ?????
(Castrol RS 10W60 motoroil).
Greetz
Paul
'87 carrera 170.000Km

Carrera51

Paul:
Could you elaborate on the damage? I've never heard of "serious damage" resulting from changing from regular oil to synthetic oil. I heard that it can cause leaks on an engine with high miles but that is about it.

Steve W

How did 10-60 motor oil do any engine damage, much less $5000 worth?

Rick Lee

I'd say there's gotta be lot more to it than that. At the worst, you may get a few leaks. If it all leaked out within 600 miles, you were headed for trouble long before that oil change.

Now I do have a friend whose 993's engine was wrecked by an oil change. But it was due to not torquing the plugs and the oil leaked out. That cost the dealership a new engine.

Jim Michaels

I agree with the others; I don't believe the switch in oil type alone could have caused $5k in engine damage, especially in such a short time. Something else must have happened.

Castrol RS 10W60; that's quite a range in weight.

Stephen Masraum

that shouldn't have caused your problem. You could have added just about any oil on the market these days and you wouldn't have had those results. Your problem came from somewhere else.

bds1

When was the last time you checked your oil? Who knows what other mods the "Porsche specialist" did
on you car. These cars like to run 20-50, I would have little problem running 10-60, sorry to hear, keep us posted.

Sean Hamilton

I'd reckon you're barkin' up the wrong tree on that Paul, unless he used H20 for oil. Something else has run amuck.
Cheers,
Sean.
1980 Hellblaumetallic SC Targa.

robertinla

I agree, it's something else going on. It'd be amazing that different oil can cause that many thousand dollars of damage.

KLehmann

I remember reading an oil article from Pelican Parts about the ins and outs of motor oil performance. One thing that stuck in my mind was the viscosity ratings. It was stated in th article,

"Very few manufactures recommend 10W-40 any more, and some threaten to void warranties if it is used. It was not included in this article for that reason. 20W-50 is the same 30 point spread, but because it starts with a heavier base it requires less viscosity index improvers (polymers) to do the job. AMSOIL can formulate their 10W-30 and 15W-40 with no viscosity index improvers but uses some in the 10W-40 and 5W-30. Mobil 1 uses no viscosity improvers in their 5W-30, and I assume the new 10W-30. Follow your manufacturer's recommendations as to which weights are appropriate for your vehicle."

Meaning, oils with a wide viscosity spread are less effective in doing their job at some point? I'd think with a 50 point spread, 10W-60 would fall into this category. But, being that the oil is full synthetic and from Castrol, it must have a proper use somewhere?

Just thought i'd throw that out there to help confuse us a little more regarding the selection of motor oil.