Best oil for a 110k S2?

[Joss Walker]

I've had conflicting advice on which oil I should be using in my S2. I had always thought that the likes of Mobil 1 were the top dogs but apparently if the oil you use is too thin for an old design then it may actually encourage wear in a high mileage engine! Anyone ever heard this before?

 

[Frenchy]

That engine was designed late 80's and most people ran on good quality mineral oil, Mobil 1 can be too thin if you choose a low viscosity and soon start leaking where seals are a little tired, my 944 turbo engine is basically a 30 year old design when fancy synthetic oils were not around.
I run my car on a decent quality 10/40 W semi synthetic at present (Gulf Oil) with no problems.
In a word stick a decent quality semi synthetic in it, look in your owners manual and see what it says in there viscosity wise, and go with that.

 

[sulzeruk]

I use semi synthetic 15W/40 in all my 944 engines. Works well I find and cheapish when you buy it in a 45 gallon drum.
Alasdair

 

[944 man]

Synthetic is certainly best, presuming its real PAO ester synthetic; but 5W and 0W types dont suit these engines. My late car has an S2 bottom end, and itll drink oil like petrol with the above types, buts its consumption is reduced massively by using a 15W or 20W synthetic.

Some manuals do recommend a 'thin' Long Life (synthetic) oil, but this recommendation was removed from later manuals; and its turned out to be poor advice.

 

[pauly]

I swapped from a 5w40 synthetic to Millers CFS 10w50 and a minor oil leak stopped.

 

[Gordon Attar]

10w/40 or 15w/50 semi synthetic has been used in all my older cars, anything thinner than this is may cause issues. ow/40 mobil one is very good in finding weak points!!!!

 

[andy watson]

Hi Joss,

Old engine, thin oil, not a good combination I have been advised, OPC advise and only use Mobil Super S in my car.
We need good old thick stuff to coat our old tired metal parts.

 

[944Turbo]

Synthetic in the correct grade

I like a 15/50 but 10/40 probably fine

 

[Mike_Pollock]

I use 15w 40 semi synth in mine.

 

[sawood12]

Regarding viscosity - what the book says. It is the viscosity rating of the oil that determines how 'thin' it is and not if it is fully synthetic and not (one common myth).

I personally would advocate the use of fully synthetic Esther oil (not Mobil 1 - which is a good oil but no better than any other premium brand fully synth oil).

Esther oils for me are a no-brainer and offer protection where non-ester oils don't - i.e. in the first 5 minutes or so of every journey.

Synthetic oils are pretty good these days and the reason why in modern cars service intervals have been increased to around 20k miles (nothing to do with manufacturing tolerances or anything like that - a bearing is a bearing and they have changed very little in the last 50yrs). No point in going semi synthetic.

I always used Silkolene Pro S, 10w40 with no problems at all. It is not cheap relative to other oils, but is still cheap in real terms (£40 instead of £20 per service) and with the knowledge that there is no better oil money can buy it is a no brainer for me.

You can now get fully synthetic Magnatec from Halfords for £20 for 5ltr's, but not sure if you can get this in the viscosities the book says a 944 needs.

 

[944 man]

Polyalphaolefin (PAO) and synthetic esters = real synthetic oil, as opposed to a mineral base called synthetic for marketing purposes. Esther is a girl!

 

[Diver944]

10 W40 or if your car uses a bit of oil 15 W40

Synthetic oils will stay in grade longer when subjected to hard use, but if you're changing it every 6 months with road useage a cheaper semi-synth will be fine

 

[Copperman05]

After much debate on oil I have come to the conclusion that if the car is not a keeper then it doesnt really mater what you put in it as it wont make a blind bit of difference.

If however its your pride and joy and you want to keep and use it for the long term then using a high quality synth oil is the way to go.

The statement about porsche recommending synth oil and then retracting it is complete rubbish, no evidence has been produced to support this. Porsche approved the use of Synth oils in 1980 and by 1992 it was used as factory fill (5w40) on all their models. Some people it seems just like to make wild claims to suit their own argument when facts and reality are quite different.

Thin oils (down to 5W40) are fine in my experience unless you have heavy consumption when a thicker oil would be more suitable. Thin oil does not leak out of the engine and will infact protect it much better during winter months and cold start ups. Dont forget these are fairly modern Porsche water cooled engines and should not be compared to the older technology used with the air cooled varients (where the oil viscosity has proved more of an issue).

Synthetics and esters (the top synths) are better due to their abilty to stay in grade at high temps and abilty to cling to metal (polarity in esters) protecting the engine on start up. Personnaly I would recommend a heavy duty good quality syth 5W40 or 10W40. Most of the big named brands are fine.

Edd

 

[Copperman05]

ORIGINAL: sawood12
I always used Silkolene Pro S, 10w40 with no problems at all.

+1, I use the 5w40. A great oil that will stay in grade (thicker at high temps) better than many thicker semi or mineral oils. Its not cheap though...

Edd

 

[david924s]

Just ordered 7 litres of Silkolene Pro S 5w40 plus Mahle oil filter from Opieoils who until the end of today have a spring offer on 25% discount including members discount so got it all including postage for less than £74.

 

[sulzeruk]

£74 for oil and a filter! I would get 55 litres of my nice 15/W40 semi for that.
Alasdair

 

[david924s]

Each to their own, I just thought the discount might be of interest to anyone buying oil today.

 

[Lowtimer]

I am on the Royal Purple 10w40 fully synth that Andy at Promax recommends.

 

[Sandspider]

I used 10w40 semi synth for the first year (and two oil changes) of owning my car with no problems and negligible oil loss / consumption.

Then I tried fully synth 5w40 and it started losing oil. May have been coincidence, but I'm back with the 10w40 now.

 

[Copperman05]

I doubt the difference between a 5w40 and 10w40 oils would be enough to cause any significant increase in oil consumption. There are so many variables it would be very difficult to make an assumption on an oil based on one oil change.

Synthetic oils do have different additive packages and can contain some effective detergents. These can raise oil consumption when changing from mineral oils as they remove the build up of deposits. I would have imagined oil consumption would lower on your 2nd and 3rd synthetic oil change, something you will probably see now you have gone back to semi 10w40.

Edd