Do you guys swear by a motor oil? If so, why?

911SCinNYC · 01-10-2009, 05:08 PM

Hey guys,

I have an '80 911 SC, and with each day that I own it, I'm becoming more and more of a total motorhead, which is rare in NYC. ;-)

I've been researching motor oils and I'm tempted to switch it to synthetic.

I'd love to get as many responses as possible about what oil you use, why you use it, and how you heard about it. Figuring everyone's using Castrol, Valvoline, Royal Velvet or Mobil.

Your opinions on them and any useful links would be awesome.

ps - I'm on the market for new seats in marine blue if anyone has a set! Also trying to replace the vinyl deck beneath the rear window if anyone has one in blue....or has advice.

peters911s · 12:41 PM

Castrol GTX 20W/50...used it for years in the Alfa and the 77...Seems to hold up and remain "Stable" for a full 3000 miles....the Alfa has 210,ooo miles and the Porsche 197,000...

HarryD · 01-10-2009, 05:23 PM

Welcome to one of the best Porsche places on the web.

This topic has been exhustively disucssed.

Read this and decide for yourself: Ultimate Motor Oil Thread or Why we hate CJ4/SM oils

Oh Haha · 01-10-2009, 05:27 PM

There's plenty of info on the forum regarding which is best and why, etc.

I switched to Brad Penn 20W50 last year and am very happy with the results. I have cooler temps(a little) and less leaks. I am not kidding. I really didn't expect any major changes going from Castrol to the BP.

That is my experience. YMMV

bklyn · 01-11-2009, 12:37 PM

I am also a recent 911 owner and had gone into all the do's and donts of using syntheics vs conv. oil. Several threads said not switch to syn. your engine will start to leak. I did make the change three months ago to Mobil 1 15w-50 and have not seen a drop of oil on my garage floor. I dont know if I was just lucky or what.

Formerly Steve Wilkinson · 01-11-2009, 01:05 PM

The knowledgeable pros seem to say that the leaking-with-synthetic thing is an old wive's tale.

I use Brad Penn, since the reformulation of Mobil 1 making it not a particularly good oil for air-cooled, flat-tappet 911s, but only because the smart guys--Steve Weiner, etc.--tell me to. That's good enough for me.

Flieger · Flieger's Garage

Read the oil thread: Ultimate Motor Oil Thread or Why we hate CJ4/SM oils

Castrol is no good, any other newly reformulated SM oil is also bad.

You will most likely end up using Brad Penn 20W50 or Swepco.

Zeke · 01-11-2009, 01:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Formerly Steve Wilkinson

The knowledgeable pros seem to say that the leaking-with-synthetic thing is an old wive's tale.

I use Brad Penn, since the reformulation of Mobil 1 making it not a particularly good oil for air-cooled, flat-tappet 911s, but only because the smart guys--Steve Weiner, etc.--tell me to. That's good enough for me.

Well, I've been reading about this stuff probably as long as you since we are both old enough to know the days of cardboard oil containers. I see enough info to support the leaking theory.

Interestingly, I used a product called Steen C, which was a synthetic oil in the late '50's in my karts. With alcohol, you could run a few hours on a McCullough and look at the piston to see nothing. NO carbon, nothing. Steen C was clear.