Just wondering what is the optimum oil temp and how often you all change the oil?

 

Fully warmed up, in Sport Plus, low to mid 190s. Normal mode, about 210. Oil temps are very dynamic. You can easily see 20-30 degree changes based on driving style and mode. Keep rpms below 4,000 till oil temps are in the 160-180 range.

I change oil yearly or every 5,000.

 

I completely agree with your recommendation, and that's why I always custom order my Porsches. About ten years ago my son worked as a lot boy at a local Porsche dealership, and he told me that almost every Porsche demo driver would push the car hard as soon as it hit the street.

 

Please define "optimum":

Before 4,000 rpm?
Cruising?
Spirited driving?
Sport Plus mode?
Normal mode?
Tracking?


It's amazing how long the oil takes to come up to operating temp on a cool morning. My coolant can reach over 100 degrees backing down my driveway, while cruising for 10 miles on the highway the oil just starts to get in the 180 range. Glad the 911 has both coolant gauge and oil temp gauge, because oil temp significantly lags coolant temps.

 

It does take forever for the oil to heat up in the 991. I thought my 997 took a long time but this seem much longer. I have a 7 mile commute and the car doesn't get completely warmed up. How bad is this for the engine?

 

What about weekends? You're fine. Just make sure you change the oil every 5,000 miles. In cool spring and cool fall weather, I've driven 20 highway miles before I even see 180-ish.

 

While on this subject, why is it that the oil temp on the F6 takes so long to come up to temp?. All conventional engined cars I have driven come up to temp in no time.

So what is it about the F6 engine, from an engineering perspective, that makes it take forever to come up to temp? Anybody out there who can educate me?

 

What is F6? Do you mean 9A1 motor in the 991?

I think it's just the new thermal management system in our 9A1 motors. Linked to all the electric oil pumps, and optimum fuel mileage (getting the coolant hotter, faster, before the oil).

 

It is my understanding that the oil temp should be above the boiling point of water fairly often to insure that any water that may form and get into the oil is boiled off. Not sure this is true but it makes sense -- at some level.

My car has the X51 package and therefore the 3rd radiator. If I select Sport or Sport+, the valve for this 3rd radiator opens and the temp almost never reaches 212F. So I try to drive in normal mode until the oil comes up to temp some so that the oil temp exceeds the boiling point of water.

I am sure that someone that knows more about this than me will chime in and tell us that this is not true!

 

I have a PowerKit car too. I'm in Sport Plus 99.9% of the time. I see little effect on warm up times, regarding normal, sport or sport plus. All the 991's run 20-30 degrees cooler in Sport Plus, regardless of the PowerKit and 3rd radiator.

 

I always thought it was odd that not only does the oil take a long time to come up to temp, but it cools off more quickly than the coolant too. Take a look next time you restart after a brief stop. I thought the thermal mass of heavy oil compared to water, would make it cool more slowly, but the oil cooling system must do a great job of scrubbing off some heat even while stopped.

 

Well, the oil capacity is about 10 quarts. Coolant is over 24 quarts.

In my past days of oil/air cooled 993's, it was amazing to see what oil temps did with just a short resting period. They drop heat like a rock. Amazing.

 

Another thought/observation. Look how large our oil pans are. That's a lot of surface area to help cooling.

 

How about a physical property known as 'specific heat'?

 

Flat6 (F6) vs V8, V6, I4, etc.

I thought that all the Porsche F6 engines prior to the 9A1 had the same characteristic..i.e. they took an awful long time for the oil temp to come up to speed.

I have a 45km drive to work each day and I have noticed that within 5-10kms at most, the oil in my Macan Turbo is up to temp. With my 991 4S, I am almost at work on a cold day before it reaches the same temp. So from an engineering perspective I am curious to understand what is it about this configuration that affects oil warm up so much. Whether it's a F6 thing or the way Porsche has set the engine up and why.