changed oil to Brad Penn today

rfuerst911sc · 03-09-2008, 01:16 PM

Well I finally got around to changing my oil and filter today. I had purchased some 20w50 Brad Penn from Neumann Oil in Tampa a few months back. Anyway everything went fine with 10 qts. of Penns finest and a Mahle OC54 filter. After letting the motor warm up I could tell she is quieter at idle, the normal clicking/tapping of the lifters was much quieter. I am planning on doing 5000 mile drain intervals or one year whichever comes first. Just thought I'd share my initial thoughts.

dshepp806 · dshepp806's Garage

What were you running prior? How was the leak situation before? Watch carefully to see how the BP's doing, as to leaks........

I use the same selection as you...very happy.

Best,

rfuerst911sc · 03-09-2008, 02:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dshepp806

What were you running prior? How was the leak situation before? Watch carefully to see how the BP's doing, as to leaks........

I use the same selection as you...very happy.

Best,

Doyle I was running the old formula Shell Rotella T in 15x40. My car weaps a little oil but no major leaks. With the Brad Penn being only 10/15% synthetic I don't expect any changes. I think the 20w50 is better suited to the Florida climate.

imcarthur · imcarthur's Garage

Thanks for the fyi. There are a lot of us making the change this year so your comments are certainly welcome.

Ian

cnavarro · 03-09-2008, 04:39 PM

I can happily report that the leak that I though was caused by the Brad Penn was my power steering pump leaking. Now, new pump fitted, everything is dry again thankfully!

Speaking of oil changes, I just did mine too. This time around I used a 50/50 mix of Brad Penn 0w30 and 20w50 to yield a 10w40 per Brad Penn's recommendations. Cold pressure still pegs the gauge in the 964. Hot pressure at idle with the thermostat closed right at the point when it opens was still excellent. Once it warms up around here and when we get to the summer (hoping for a lot for still being winter), I'll see how the pressure is on 100F days and also how this blend holds up over the next 5k as I did with the previous fill of 20w50 Brad Penn. I'll post the UOA as soon as I get it back.

Before anyone says anything, the Brad Penn 0w30 has a HTHS viscosity higher than Mobil 1 0w40 by about 8-9%.

dshepp806 · dshepp806's Garage

I'll be posting my oil analysis on the BP change as soon as I do it,..will check against the last, as well as a virgin snapshot.......I, too, am waiting for the heat of the southern summer to see how it fairs, as to temps.

Best,

rnln · 10:43 PM

Just to add what I'm seeing... I usually use Castrol, Valvoline, and the blue walmart oil (forgot the name), which is the one people said it made by Valvoline. Watching BP comming out of the bottle and into the car, I had the feeling "of course it'll reduce some noise, not sure how much". I also have the thought that my car might accelerate a little slower because it's is thicker (well, I feel it is thicker) but I don't mind. As long it's tested to be better for my engine (thanks to cnavarro) . The strange thing is that I always thought oil with same grade should have the same thickness. How can BP 20/50 is thicker than Castrol 20/50?
Anyway, it's true that it reduces valve noise. I can't tell if it really reduces accelaration speed but I feel it does. On leaking, I don't see any leak on the floor yet. I don't know if there is any slow leak which doesn't drop on the floor (wet on engine case) since I have not gotten under there yet. In the past, I had bad leak experienced with full synthetic on my 6-7 year old BMW.

cnavarro,
I thought I read somewhere that several people recommended it's best to change oil every 3k miles (as any other older cars). I thought there is no special on BP but since I don't know anything about oil, so I am going to ask now. Is BP the same as any other oil or will it last longer, meaning I can drive it longer without sacrificing any reliability of the engine?
Thank you.

ljowdy · 03-10-2008, 06:18 AM

It's always been my opinion that the 3,000 mile rule was implemented by Jiffy Lube to sell more oil changes. During the 70's, Porsche fell under the Federal rule that required them to produce an engine that could operate longer between oil changes. The way Porsche did that was to have the company that printed their owners manual change 3, 000 miles to 7,500 miles.

cnavarro · 03-10-2008, 06:54 AM

Based off of previous UOA's with Brad Penn, I'm sure 7500 mi is no sweat, but I have always changed my oil in all my cars when the TBN is reduced by 50% of the starting amount. I'd rather the oil in the car still have life in it when I change it out, as a good 2 quarts will remain in the system. In fact, my other two cars, both new vws, are wet sump 12 qt and just happen to go 5,000 mi between changes and that is exactly 50% of the starting TBN, hence my previous recommendation for 5,000 mi on a 911, pretty much regardless of syn versus non-syn, with an oil with ~ a TBN of 10.0 as a starting point (which Brad Penn does) and is the required min. TBN for Porsche Approved Oils.

Regarding viscosity versus HP, in our own testing, done on aircooled vw type 1 and type 4 engines, a thicker oil doesn't necessarily mean an engine will make less HP. In fact, ligher 0w20 and 10w30 oils made less HP than the thicker 15w40 and 20w50 oils, but the variances between engines was large, depending on running clearances, if bearings were coated, valve spring pressures, etc. It's a hard variable to control. The Brad Penn made the best peak HP on one engine and the worse on another, so go figure. Swepco and Royal Purple Max Cycle have been consistent HP oils for us, the latter being an oil we've used for many years.

Regarding viscosities, there is a range allowed for a given viscosity. For example, German Castrol Syntec 0w30 (a VW spec oil), is close to viscosity hot of a 40 wt. Castrol GTX on the other hand, tests new barely a 20w50 and within 800 mi in our own field testing, was a 30wt hot, hence my dislike for the oil regardless of it's levels of Zn and P - it just sucks!

RWebb · RWebb's Garage

re: TBN, I'd say 50% (reduced to ~~45%(??) by the residual) is conservative.

BUT, the ability to buffer acid is highly non-linear -- i.e. once it is almost gone, it then drops to nothing at all like a stone

so, better safe than sorry

rnln · 03-10-2008, 08:47 AM

cnavarro,
Thanks Charles, 5000 miles then. Save some $$. I have been changing oil between 2k to 3k miles as recommended I read from many diff. places.
Again thanks.

KNS · 03-10-2008, 10:24 AM

Charles,

Regarding your statement about German Castrol 0W-30: What do you think of that oil than otherwise being close to 40 wt when hot? I've been running it in my BMW, it seems to be very popular in some circles.

Sorry to be getting off the subject, I did, by the way, recently order a case of Brad Penn 20W-50 for my SC based on what has been said here and the enthusiastic recommendation of my shop.

cnavarro · 03-10-2008, 04:19 PM

I think German Castrol's popularity and it's apparent good performance in engines calling for a 0w30 is because of it's higher film strength due to it's thicker viscosity. But granted, we're talking about engines other than our aircooled ones. That's why in most cases, Mobil 1 0w40 really isn't that bad for a modern engine.