Taken from a previous thread, but I think this can be interesting for everybody....

Basically, I asked my Porsche dealer to perform an oil change after i broke 2,000 miles and they refused. This is the answer to my email asking why:

yes, oil changes should be done at 10,000 miles or 1
year whichever comes first. The reason is that the piston rings must "seat"
into the grooves of the piston, thereby allowing them to be stable as they
move up and down the cylinders. If you change the oil at 3 or 4 k mi. then
that oil and its surrounding piston rings won`t "seat." In the old days we
used "natural" oil which burned and left ash and varnish which would allow
the rings to stick in place sooner. Now the synthetic oil has no biological
components which burn and leave ash. While this is Very good for longevity
of your motor, due to its heat resistance, it also takes longer for the
piston rings to "seat." You will notice some oil used by the engine during
the first 5k mi. So you may wish to purchase another quart or two to
replace that. You will experience more power and less oil usage after @ 5k
miles. You will also get better fuel mileage. I hope this helps

 

My plans are to follow the manufacturers recommendations or once a year which ever comes first.

It is my personal opinion the oil companies have done a brilliant marketing job
with the "3000 mile" service program.

 

Which means No Oil Change in your opinion....so 1 against and 0 pro.
Thank you!

 

I must admit that I have no personal expertise on the topic. I have done quite a bit of reading on this and other forums, though, discussing the issue. When I get my new 991S, I will get the oil changed after break-in (2000miles)

 

I got my first oil change at 16000 kms and will get my second at 32000 kms. If that's what porsche recommends, why would I disagree.

 

I did it myself at 2k and 6k. Rather enjoyed it.

Had Porsche do it at 10k

Cost me a pittance. If I am wrong, wasting money or whatever, no big deal as it did not hurt the car and I don't have to wonder if I should change the oil at only 10k intervals.

 

Huh? One of the virtues of synthetic oil is that its qualities do not change with use. That is, its lubricating abilities will be the same at 2k, 5k, 20k or 25k. It's not going to break down. It's going to get dirty. Oil lubricates and also suspends dirts and contaminants. When you change the oil you remove the dirt and contaminants. That's it and that's why you drain it out of the engine.

The pistons seat during the running in process and that event is independent of whether you change the oil daily, monthly or after 10k miles. Pressure seats the rings.

My car has not used oil since its first oil change at 2k. It is now at 12k. Power seems to have increased; mpg have increased. The car gets 32 mpg on the highway...I do not believe that I could have the engine achieve 40 mpg by not changing the oil.

It is my understanding that the change interval has a lot to do with Green issues, that is environmental concerns.

It's oil ...can we stop churning this issue?

 

Here's my take: Porsche is not shy about squeezing every last cent out of us. If there were any justifiable reason to do a change after 2k miles (or 8k or 9k for that matter), believe me they would suggest it and the dealers would be throwing themselves a party that woudl make Oktoberfest look like an AA meeting. If you have money to burn or enjoy the oil change process or have an irrational OCD that is worth scratching for a couple hundred bucks, I say go for it. If you track the car often, that's also a possible reason for more frequent changes that reasonable people can discuss. Otherwise, bask in the blessing that is the modern water cooled engine.

Re frequent oil change recommendations by the national chains: the New York Times recently wrote an article on this where they basically exposed it as a consipracy to create profits, complete with memos from the corporate bigwigs admitting that it's not necessary but good business (for them).

Lastly, on a related topic, Porsche Panamera (or Excellence, I can't exactly remember), wrote an article recommending Group V oils (like Redline or Motul) instead of Mobil One (Group IV), on the theory that the detergent qualities are superior. I consider these to be independent/objective information sources so I tend to trust their advice (whereas I'm pretty sure the reason Porsche recommends Mobil One is because of a licensing deal, pure and simple). The cost difference is roughly $15 case -- in my book, that's money well spent.

 

While I agree that Porsche would like to squeeze every last cent out of every one of us...a counter argument.

The M3 has used synthetic oil for the last couple of generations, and as BMW offers 4 years of maintenance, most oil changes are going to be on their dime.

Why does BMW pay for an oil change after 1600 miles, but Porsche doesn't?

 

Does BMW uses a special break in oil? Do BMW engines live longer than Porche engines?

 

They do not use a break-in specific oil. Castrol 10-60 for all of it.

Regarding engine life, while the S-54 in the E46 had some early problems with bearing clearances, they seemed to get that fixed by 2002 or so. And overall the S-65 was/is a very reliable mill.

I have read more horror stories regarding 997 engines (non-GT) than BMW, certainly. That was part of my reasoning behind buying another in 2008 vs a 911.

 

+1 Well said!

 

Not sure I understand how a change in oil will affect whether or not the pistons rings will seat? Regardless, agree with HotHonda in that the oil companies do a great job of scaring the public into spending more money. If Porsche says change in 10,000 miles or 1 year, I am going to go with that.

 

Unless P somehow wants dirty oil likely containing small metal particles to help with break in (which I suppose is not completely unreasonable), I have never heard that oil change is a bad thing.
I'll stick with Porsches schedule. Mine has a 3 year free service and maintenance plan from Porsche.

Rainier

 

I have and have 3 new 650's in past 4 years (I'm attention deficit when it comes to cars). In every case the dealer refused to do any service before either 10k miles or 1 year. Also, the oil they were using was Mobil 1 15-30. Maybe a different approach up here in Canada?

John in Vancouver