PSPorsche

Have you guys seen this new video by The Motor Oil Geek?

Porsche recommends 0W-40 (C40) oil for our cars. This is very thin oil and (based on this video) may not protect sufficiently from engine wear, especially in warmer seasons or climates.

What do you guys think?

Here are the findings from the tests, but I would like to discuss the third finding with you, because the first two do not apply to our cars.

1. Pre-filling the oil filter reduces wear when using a thinner oil, but doesn't matter for thicker oils. (The filter is on top/upside-down on the 992, so this finding is not relevant to us).

2. Thinner oil makes more horsepower when cold, but power drops off as the oil warms up. Thicker oil makes less horsepower when cold, but power increases as the oil warms up. Disclaimer: They acknowledged this is due to a wet sump oil pan used in their test engine. (The 992 uses a dry sump oil system, so this finding may not be relevant to us).

3. Thinner oil leads to more engine wear. Thicker oil protects the engine better.

The video is long, but they summarize at the 36 minute mark, if you want to skip ahead.

CanAutM3

Not sure where you are getting at. 0W-40 is not that “thin”. The 40 number is what matters under normal operating conditions. The 0W means faster protection during (very) cold starts.

PSPorsche

Ah! I got it backwards! Thanks for the clarification.

Haros

W stands for Winter - Not “weight”

The numbers are a rough ( and not at all standardized ) idea of it’s operational range and not that of its viscosity.


Shear time, specific gravity, Foaming performance, particle size, Solids percentage, acid value as well as PH are just the BASICS that is test after each batch created.

This doesn’t even cover specific testing for oil specific products that would include confirmation of weight amount of ingredients added such as detergents and wear items.

All these are then measured against an in lab standardized sample.


For ease of customer use we simply put a number and you use that number that you’re told to use.


as for specific brands- hahaha!!!
I specifically use both shell oil stock as well as chevron. Whatever comes off the rail car first. The stock oil is literally the exact same. It can’t be anything else, it’s physically impossible unless one facility had some equipment breakdown.

Different brands of products are differentiated by the additional materials added to the base stock. These are the secret sauce items and I’m not able to discuss them but they aren’t also that secret.
Another contributor would be reaction time and how it gets to said pressure/vacuum and heat rate as well is “cooking” time to acquire the finalized product.

PSPorsche

I appreciate the clarification.

What’s the difference between Synthetic and non-Synthetic oils? Do they actually use the same "stock"?

Based on your comments and the comment above, it looks like Porsche is already recommending a higher viscosity oil for our cars, which aligns with the test results from The Motor Oil Geek. This makes me feel better, because I plan on keeping my car for a long time. (Even if I weren’t, I wouldn't want to pass on an engine with unnecessary wear onto the next person, if there were simple things I could have done to avoid it),

Jae S. Park

Non GT 992s are wet sump engines.

Haros

If you’re an oil company you would use your own product as that may be the cheapest. This is base stock oil such as Chevron 100R etc. If you’re not primarily an oil extraction company, you would use whatever meets your production schedule needs.

The numbers for oil fit a running operating characteristic that’s somewhat standardized but not an “exact” specification. This is determined by each manufacturer and is submitted by approval to the American petroleum institute which will collect exact data ( not the data presented to the customer )

so in short: a 0w-16 oil for economy would work with any car requiring 0w-16. But it should be apparent that a Mazda doesn’t operate under the same conditions as a Honda, but similar enough that a single oil can work for both.
Same thing with oil brands, a good 0w-40 might be different than another brand, but both fit the targeted specification.

As for synthetic vs not, it may be the oil is refined in a different process. These are called distillates, a common one being diesel and is classified as a fuel oil.
It’s simply refined early in the extraction process and considered synthetic. You can bond carbon as much as want and get long chains or whatever it is you are targeting. This entire process is complex but it’s boils down to: extracting different substances at different points (usually done by heating and using the natural differentiated evaporation points to separate all the different compounds - this is refining. You then process the collected compounds.
So by definition, you could could consider synthetic a more refined petroleum product.
The exact science is a trade secret for each manufacturer.


My experience is in industrial oils and the rules and regulations so I can’t comment on specifics for automobiles.

CanAutM3

It's quite a bit more complex than this as there is no strict definition of what is a synthetic oil, but in short "natural" oils have molecular chains that vary in length, making them chemically less stable. "Synthetic" oils modify the oil molecular structure for better consistency between molecules and with less impurities, which in turn allows to maintain the appropriate lubrication properties (including viscosity) over a greater temperature range.

malba2366

I think 40 weight oil is pretty safe for minimizing wear. I think the 20 weight oil being used in some reasonably high performance cars (BMWs, Audis, Cayenne, Macan etc) may not be the best for longevity...but no one Is really trying to put over 100000 miles or keep them past 7-8 years anyways so it may be a moot point.