Boxbra

A buddy of mine gave me two cases of this oil and was wondering if I could use it with out damage in my 01 Boxster S with 16k.

I live in New England and only drive the car Spring to Fall...


TIA.

lizSter

I used that same brand and weight in my '01 Boxster last oil change and have had zero problems.

I like it better than Mobil 1 and will use Castrol Syntec again for the next oil change.

Macster

Should be ok, though with that few miles and in the UK a similar quality 5w-40 oil would be a bit better (at least on paper). You should check the car's owners manual and verify the oil meets with the oil requirements specified by Porsche for your car.

Those who I trust to know oil tell me Castrol Syntec oil is good oil and this includes the 10w-40 oil. I run Syntec 5w-50 (not a typo for 15w-50) in both my 02 Boxster and my 03 Turbo. I could very well switch to 10w-40 oil for the Boxster -- with I might add here over 234K miles on its original engine (to be fair to Mobil I should point out that most of the miles accumulated with Mobil 1 15w-50 and Mobil 1 0w-40 oil). I might switch to Syntec 5w-40 oil for the Turbo this next oil change.

Sincerely,

Macster.

beentherebaby

The fun thing about engine oils is that you can use a different brand/viscosity every oil change and never end up using the proper oil if you don't ream the owner's manual.

Boxbra

Thanks for the replys guys. I appreciate it.

Macster

That's a point worth emphasizing. I checked my copy of approved oils list and Castrol Syntec 10w-40 is not on the Porsche approved oils list.

I'm glad I had this sentence in my first post: You should check the car's owners manual and verify the oil meets with the oil requirements specified by Porsche for your car.

To the OP: While Syntec 10w-40 oil is a good oil I believe you should not use it unless it is listed approved in your car's owners manual.

Sincerely,

Macster.

StanThePorscheFan

How does one like one oil over the other? Just wandering. No pun intended.

Macster

One has to a like a better oil and when they cost nearly the same (though Mobil 1 5w-50 is mail order for me while I can find Castrol Syntec 5w-50 on the shelf at a nearby autoparts store (though it has been a couple of months since I checked and maybe Mobil 1 5w-50 is now on the shelf).

Anyhow, here's what I have:

1. TBN’s for 0W-40 Mobil 1 typically drop 60-70% in as little as 3500 miles of normal street driving, indicating that the additive package is dying and the oil needs to be changed. Other synthetic brands, such as Castrol Syntec, do not show anywhere near that level of additive degradation, even at 6-7,000 miles in the same car/driver combination.
2. The inability of the 0W-40 Mobil 1 to “stay in grade” (e.g.: continue to demonstrate 0W-40 viscosity range performance) is equally dismal in the same mileage range. The oil tends to demonstrate a loss of “hot” viscosity, typically dropping to that of a comparable “20” weight (or less) oil. This is probably the result of the base oil stock being changed from a Group IV PaO to a Group III type at some point in time (along with the premature drop in the TBN values) but group type change has not been confirmed to my knowledge. In any case, other synthetics do not show as significant a viscosity loss in a comparable mileage range, again in the same car/driver combination; indicating superior base stock/additive package performance as evidenced by their better TBN performance.
3. M96’s running lower coolant temps had significantly better used oil analysis data than those running hotter. One 2.7 that literally gets the loving Hell beat out of it every day showed improvements in the oil performance after going to the larger oil cooler, and then again when the 160 F stat and third radiator was added. Yet people continue to argue the value of doing these modifications.
4. Observations, by those with actual oil aftermarket pressure gauges, that change of oil brands and weights shows significantly less pressure drop off after hard driving with higher base weight oils, and faster normal pressure recovery on cool down. Some M96’s that had been seeing 15-20 PSIG at low RPM’s with 0W-40 Mobil 1 coming off a DE track day jumped up 35-50 PSIG under similar driving conditions with different oils and no other changes.

The above are not my words. The post I found these in (in a thread I was participating in (user name: MarcW)) came from here:

http://www.ppbb.com/phorum/read.php?19,1550740,1551359

Sincerely,

Macster.

Jaak Lepson

My engine rebuilder recommends I use Castrol Syntec as well as a few on the 986 Forum (who rebuilds Boxster engines). They prefer it over the M1 ....