lswanie

What kind of oil would u guys reccomend putting in the 951? I am going to put in mobil 1 full synthetic but i dont know what grade(i guess thats the word) to put in it

pearldrum944

I use mobil 1 "European car formula"

ERAU-944

my roommate uses 15w50 in his 951

Jeremy Himsel

I've used the mobil 1 15 50 (red cap) in my car for years now. After 90K and 1000 track minutes, my bearings and cylinder walls were perfect. Be prepared that when you switch to synthetic if you have any weak seals or gaskets it will leak. My car was like a strainer for the first six months.

lswanie

the previous owner already put synthetic in it and it isnt leaking so that shouldnt be a problem. the stuff is so freaking expensive though lol

ERAU-944

it is expensive, but worth it.

i run castrol 20w50 in my car, she runs well, and no leaks, i don't think i'm going to change it to synthetic though. its a good idea to check everything out under there every 3k miles anyhow you never know what could be happening!

-Michael-

Kevin Baker

Mobil 1 5w20 in warmer climates 15w50 in colder.

Friendan

Hey Jeremy, after those 6 months did you replace the leaking seals or did the problem just correct itself? I have been thinking of switching to synthetic but I have been concerned about that problem.
Another benefit I've heard is that you don't have to change the oil as often, is that true?

iloveporsches

FWIW someone I know who has worked in the industry his entire life says that all of the brands are essentially the same, just with different labels on the bottles.

thedyingiraffe

Wouldn't it be better to do the opposite? Just a thought.

Zero10

Heh, that statement confused me as well.
If you live in a colder climate, use 10W30 in the summer, 5w30 in the winter. In warmer areas, I would use 10W30 winter, 15W50 summer, and if you are lucky enough to live in CA or FL, 15W50 year round.

iloveporsches, Not all brands are the same, especially with synthetic, sounds like your friend was generalizing about something he is not familliar with. Check out the wear tests.
Yes, all oils are roughly the same initially, they come from the same group #, then they have the same stock, that part is the same, but the additives are what makes the difference. Look at the wear difference between Amsoil and Quaker state (both synthetic), that's a good indication of how different they can be.

iloveporsches

He manages a bottling plant that handles many of the major oil companies (cannot remember their names off the top of my head). He's worked there for many years, so I bet he is pretty familiar with the product.

Maybe certain brands, like Amsoil, are a cut above, but this company bottles lots of different brands, and guess what...the same stuff goes in the bottles with different labels. So *many* brands are the same, not all.

Ag951

Don't forget AZ. It's 52F at 12:30AM on Jan 23, with daily highs in the 70s, and very little rain. That's good driving weather!

I use 15W50 in my car. It runs great on the track and at autoX, but it does go through a quart every two or three months, which represents about 200miles of driving to, from, and at events.

Jeremy Himsel

No I just replaced them, they were 17 years old and original. The reality is you're better off replacing them and sleeping a little easier at night. In warmer climates you want to run the 15 W 50. As far as not changing the oil as frequently, that's true (to a certain degree) as synthetic doesn't break down as quickly as conventional oil but you still get impurities in your crank case that can do damage such as fine dust, fuel deposits, etc. If you really want to go longer between changes I recommend still changing the filter at 3K. Also, I burned about a half of quart every three thousand miles on the street and about 1 quart after 100 minutes of very hard track driving. I think the new p-cars recommend mobil 1 changes every 6 or 10k.

Zero10

iloveporsches, I was sitting down thinking about it the last night, and I think I figuired out what your friend meant.
Brands like Quaker state, Pennzoil, Mobil 1, Amsoil, etc... are different oils, but ones like Motomaster Synthetic, and other house brands of synthetic oil probably are the same oil as another (probably low quality) brand.
When I read your post I presumed you meant ones like Amsoil, Mobil 1, or others. And that just wouldn't make sense to me.
Although it is possible they are all bottled at the same plant?

ag951, don't make me more mad than I already am over the weather!
lol.
I just saw the forecast, and next week, we are hitting -40 for 2 or 3 nights (EEEK!!), with highs of only -30 (celcius) for those days as well. And here I am, with only an oil pan heater, no block heater (yet, I am going to look for one today!!!)
Up until now, the coldest we hit was -25, and recently, we have had overnight lows above the freezing point, with highs of 5 or 10 degrees for the last 2 weeks, this will be a big change!