NTM 944 turbo oil question

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Just purchased a used 944 turbo for spirited weekend driving and autocross fun. I may in the future do some track stuff.

My question is about oil viscosity. The person I purchased it from said I should use swepco 20w50 and many posters on the Porsche forums echo that recommendation.

I am wondering how the bitog community would feel about using Castrol 0w40 instead. I have plenty of this on hand because I use it in my f150.

I have no problem buying 20w50 if that is what I should use in this scenario but Castrol meets a40 and that seems pretty good.

I want to do what is best for this car, I plan on using it to its max, but if I can keep my oil stock to a minimum that would be great.

It's the Porsche 2.5l turbo engine. Thanks
 
When I owned my '89 944 Turbo in the early 90's, I ran Pennzoil 20w50. But that was just street driving, not track driving. If I were pushing it on track, I'd use the higher viscosity oil.

I'd also make sure the timing belt has been replaced, and if not, replace it.
 
The Porsche website directs you to the Mobil 1 website which recommends an A40 oil. Any oil carrying actual A40 approval is the correct oil for that car
 
Yea a 5w40/0w40 would get my vote. Many ran 20w50 in those motors as they used oil so that was their "fix". I use to work on them and ran 15w40 as a compromise from the 20w50 many said they wanted.
 
Assuming original gaskets, it doesn't leak oil and high miles/lots of track miles I would stick with the 20w-50.

I would also take current oil consumption into consideration.

Basically if you elect to go A40 and are okay with the possibility of more oil consumption, oil leaks then more power to you.


PAGING DOUG HILLARY !!!!
 
If you decide to use a 10w60, I'd go with Redline 10w60. I ran the factory recommended Castrol 10w60 in my S85 powered M6, tried the Redline, and anecdotally I preferred how it ran on the Redline. After adding forced induction to my SRT GTS, I'm also using the Redline 10w60 in it.
 
The Castrol 0w40 will be fine. Anything meeting Porsche A40 standards will be fine
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Napa has Liqui-Moly 10w60, so it is probably the easiest 10w60 to obtain, if that is your choice.
 
No oil leaks I can see. In the last 10k miles the car has had, a new turbo, the head completely rebuilt, new timing belts rollers and waterpump (7 years ago though), a bunch of new seals, new clutch, cleaned intake and other items. PO gave me over 20k in receipts from the work he had done. Timing belt was inspected by a Porsche shop last month and given a thumbs up, even though it is older it still has less than 10k on it. They replace alternator and upgraded to H4 headlights at that time (whatever those are :p )

haha, as I was afraid the suggestions are all over the map
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H4 headlights are good - better pattern and replaceable bulbs.

If you want a 50 but also want A40 Approval, there's always M1 FS X2 5W-50.
 
Originally Posted by BMWTurboDzl
Assuming original gaskets, it doesn't leak oil and high miles/lots of track miles I would stick with the 20w-50.

I would also take current oil consumption into consideration.

Basically if you elect to go A40 and are okay with the possibility of more oil consumption, oil leaks then more power to you.


PAGING DOUG HILLARY !!!!



I suspect he would say he could use his Castrol on hand, Delvac One, M-1 0W40, 15W50, and or 20W50 depending on oil tempaure and pressure.
 
Did the Porsche A40 Spec EVEN EXIST 30 YEARS AGO?????

I wouldn't run 0W-40 if the experienced guys say to stay with the thicker oil.
 
Originally Posted by rooflessVW

If you want a 50 but also want A40 Approval, there's always M1 FS X2 5W-50.


I never even heard of this stuff until today.

I still have some 20 year old Castrol Syntec 5W-50 :-D
 
Originally Posted by Linctex
Did the Porsche A40 Spec EVEN EXIST 30 YEARS AGO?????

I wouldn't run 0W-40 if the experienced guys say to stay with the thicker oil.

No it did not, and I wouldn't necessarily seek it out here. 0W-40 would be fine, but I prefer thicker stuff in older German mills.

It has probably had more GTX 20W-50 than anything else in its life, and if it were mine I'd run that and maybe a 15W-40 in winter.
 
No it did not, and I wouldn't necessarily seek it out here. 0W-40 would be fine, but I prefer thicker stuff in older German mills.

It has probably had more GTX 20W-50 than anything else in its life, and if it were mine I'd run that and maybe a 15W-40 in winter. [/quote]

You're a smart man sir
wink.gif
 
Originally Posted by Linctex
Did the Porsche A40 Spec EVEN EXIST 30 YEARS AGO?????

I wouldn't run 0W-40 if the experienced guys say to stay with the thicker oil.

Do you think that by posting in all caps it makes you look more significant?

Like Longlife-01 and older BMWs, A40 is back-specified for the model. It is the correct oil for that engine.
 
Looking through all the receipts it seems it had a steady diet of 10w30 for the first 70k miles of its life,missing records for about 30k and then swepco 20w50 when a new owner got it until now ~30k.

Porsche put out a tsb approving a40 oils for all models back to 1984
Porsche oil TSB
 
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