alexb76

I am gonna do an oil change and my mechanic recommended Total/Elf 5W40, which is Porsche approved oil.

Any experience with this oil? I can't find the Porsche Mobile-1 oil anywhere but the stealership at $15/litre!

No HTwo O

I have heard excellent comments regarding Elf's oils.

utkinpol

I would get 5w50 mobil 1 instead or 15w50 mobil 1. 15w50 mobil 1 is in autozone or amazon.com. 5w50 I got from internet somewhere after very brief search for same regular price about $7 per qt.

I just did oil change with 6qt of 15w50 + 2qt 5w50. Some folks do 4qt+4qt of each and top off with 15w50.

For summer 15w50 should be OK either way even if used solely, but for winter you do want to dilute it. So I guess oil choice depends if you will do pre-winter oil change this year or not.

atr911

I'm not a big fan of mobil oil. Unfortunately, if you do some searching in the forums you'll discover more than you ever wanted to know about ZDDP (I think that's the acronym). It's basically a lead substitute in the form of a zinc and phosphorus if i'm not mistaken.

Total is a great product and the dealer here uses it instead of mobil 1 because they can buy it in bulk instead of using bottles all the time (more profitable).

I buy it from them in bottles and so far, so good (5W40). If I wasn't using Total, I'd probably be using Motul. Don't be afraid of heavier weight oils. The only reason that you car suggests 0w40 is to help with fuel economy. I may even put 15w50 in next round before I hit the track.

ADias

Total is fine but they do not list their ZDDP/phosphor content. Mobil 1 does and its one of the highest.

alexb76

Thanks, that's exactly what I thought. Just re-confirming with Porsche guys as this is my first oil change and I've never tried the 0W40.

When I had my Audi, the consensus was that Mobil-1 went down in quality after re-formulation, the red-top oil they used to have was excellent, but all the new 5W30s were just average.

On my chipped B5 S4, oil was hugely important, and the best ones we found was first Motul, then Total/Elf, as well as Lubo Moly. The 5w30 Mobil-1 was proven really poor after oil analysis, but I never tried 0W40, hence asking to see if that is hugely different than their 5W30.

alexb76

Unfortunately, being in Canada, I can't order from either of those places!

atr911

Alex, The dealer in Ottawa here sells Total for about $10/litre.

Not sure where to track it down in Van though.

crw

I thought the general consensus was to use 0-40 oil?

alexb76

Thanks, my mechanic can get Total here, probably less than that. My response was to Amazon prices and that I can't get those kind of prices here!

cbzzoom

0w40 is recommended by Porsche and a good choice for a DD that will see cold weather.

For those who track or otherwise drive very hard, you want the high temp viscosity rating to be 50.

5w50 and 15w50 both qualify.

Some people say that oils with a very wide low-high temp viscosity range are not as good as those with a narrower range, eg. you should use as narrow a range as is okay for your climate. Hence 15w50 would be preferred if it stays hot enough where you are.