Which viscosity oil is used in CA cars?

I need to get a bottle of Mobile 1 to top off the car the manual says Recommended SAE Viscosity Range is: above –13°F/–25 °C SAE 0W-40, 5W-40, 5W-50 below –13°F/–25 °C SAE 0W-40 But which one of the three is used for California cars? anyone know? 0W-40, 5W-40, 5W-50

Use 0w-40 brad

0w-40 Mobil 1 European Car Formula

Ah ok. Thanks. Well heck if porsche didnt make it any harder... haha usually they list it on the oil cap on most cars... Oh wells.. .Now i have to go back and exchange it. I went ahead and bought a 5W30 and figured... eh... german... should be that... and when I ALMOST went to dump it in I stopped and thought... wait a minute.. I should really check... and couldnt find any concrete info in any of the manuals...

Although 0W40 is correct, it can be hard to find, especially on a road trip. Assuming you don't have a spare quart in your car, there's no problem adding a quart of Mobil 0W30 or 5W30 which are widely sold. Given the Cayman 's oil capacity, it won't hurt anything.

Humm so I can keep my 5W30? I figured it wouldn't be a problem either... but if i can exchange it for a 0W40 I would like to do that...

If you are doing your own oil changes, or even want to make a change just for the summer - especially if you are running track days - switch to the 5w50 or even 15w50 (if you can't find the 5w50). As long as it's relatively warm all the time (like a CA summer!) and if you are frequently winding up your car on the track, the higher viscosity oil will be MUCH better for your engine.

Are You Totally Sure? I am not sure that 15w 50 will (even in CA Summer) be liquid enough to feed the fine passageways to the lifters soon after start up........... So you risk damaging the engine, and will definately displease Porsche who may void your warranty? I defer to more enlightened opinion....... Please advise?

Some things are the same no matter what brand of car and what forum I'm on. There's always someone looking to micro-manage the viscosity of the oil they use. As several folks have advised already - just use Mobil-1 0W-40!! If you want to worry about something that matters, choose your tires and brake pads wisely.

Exactly......... Well Said.............

Alright I exchanged it... I'm suprised Kragen auto parts store had it in stock... $6.50 a bottle... i dumped it in and drove... havent checked it yet... I keep forgetting and just start up the car instead of turning it on to let the meter measure it...

to add more confusion to the oil discussion: LN Engineering has an article on the IMS bearing failure, and as you can see there ( Intermediate Shaft IMS Upgrade and Retrofit Kit for Porsche 911, Boxster, and Cayman models ) they recommend a heavier vis oil than the standard 0W-40, something like 5W-40. I've been running Mobil 1 Diesel 5W-40 in my CS and will continue to. Please note they advise against anything lighter than 0W-40, like 5W-30, 0W-30, etc. Note they also recommend changing the oil at 5000 miles or 6 months instead of the longer intervals approved by Porsche. I concur. I'm heading down to O'Reiley's today to pick up some gallon jugs of Mobil 1 5W-40 since they have them on sale for $20. That's only $5/qt. pretty cheap insurance for the $$$$ engine.

Re: Are You Totally Sure? In some circles, Castrol Syntec 5-40 is thought to give the best protection against the dreaded IMS failure.

Re: Are You Totally Sure? I have switched to Castrol 5w40 after reading the reasons explained by I think LN Engineering. The difference is the older API SJ SL rating which has higher levels of zinc and phosphorous. The newer spec, SM, has been reformulated probably for environmental reasons although I made that part up myself. It's not that I don't care about the environment but I want max protection against the dreaded IMS bearing failure... C.

So, I live in the bay area and track my car. 0w-40 or 5w-40? Reading the previous posts, it seems like 5w-40 might be better suited. Is this correct? The 5w40 bottle reads for 'turbo diesels'

Bay area temps are milder than central CA from what I know, and for normal driving I'd think the 0W-40 would do fine, but when you said you track your car that automatically prompts me to recommend 5W-40. Oil opinions are like noses, everybody has one.

Both 0w-40 and 5w-40 have the same high temp viscosity. If you want to feel a bit better about the engine oil in hot weather or druing hard running use 5w-50. Mobil 1 5w-50 is a PCNA approved oil. Turbo diesel oil? Omg. Designed for diesels. Has lots of detergents (to deal with the high levels of soot that diesel oil accumuate). Diesel engines spin at much lower rpms and high rpms in a gas engine can result in this high detergent oil entraining lots of air that the engine's defoaming system may not be able to handle. Also, diesel engine oil is designed for dealing with a more viscous fuel (diesel) and gasoline being less viscous can thin the oil and incease its propensity to entrain air. Mobil 1 5w-40 Turbo Diesel and Truck oil has high ZDDP content. Not good for sensors/converters. And not really good for the rest of the engine. This additive plus all the detergents replace *oil* which means a given amount of oil has less oil in it and more additives, and it is the oil that provides the lubrication the engine needs. All these additives make the oil thicker and a thicker oil can run hotter due to the increase in heat from the friction of the heavier oil. This just adds to the oil's woes. If you want a good oil for high ambient temps and don't think a PCNA approved 0w-40 oil or a PCNA approved 5w-40 oil is up to the job use a PCNA approved 5w-50 oil. The only 5w-50 oil I know that is PCNA approved is Mobil 1. Or find an PCNA approved 5w-40 oil that is ester based and generally a better oil at dealing with the heat. Motul makes some a few are PCNA approved and there are other brands. Look for a Group V oil that is a certified A40 oil. That is the Porsche approval code for its sports cars. (For its Cayenne diesel and Cayenne gas engines Porsche has an A30 certification. BTW, Mobil 1 5w-40 Turbo Diesel Truck oil is not even PCNA for the Cayenne diesel. A Mobil 1 5w-30 oil is though.) Also, in the bay area you can run 5w-50 year 'round. Only if temps are below -25C do you need to run 0w-40 oil. Sincerely, Rockster.

^ Great info! Thanks!

Wow, based on the original question I can't believe no one has pointed out that we do not have to worry. This is California, and as anyone here knows OIL is evil. In 2012, engine oil will be banned in the Golden State and we will need to use eco friendly, green, sustainable lubricants in our vehicles (until 2014, when of course internal combustion engines will be banned entirely). Years ago I was riding a motorcycle through New Zealand, and was warned by a local to beware of sheep sh!t in the road: "...the slipperiest substance known to man. If we could figure out how to put it in crankcases, our motors would last forever." Maybe he was onto something... :taunt:

LOL sheep **** engine oil would be a big hit here in Kalifornia. Along with cow piss gas...

The May 2010 Excellence has a good explanation of different oils in their Tec Note section. It's worth reading. BTW, Gov. Brown here in Kalifornia recently signed a bill that will require us to have wind turbines and solar panels on our vehicles to reduce fossil fuel usage. Ha Ha, but probably not too far off.:hilarious:

I switched to 5W-40 based on recommendations for prolonging IMS bearing life. Will be changing every 5K or 6 months. edit: Castrol Syntec - Porsche approved

I've been looking for the Mobil 1 ESP Formula M 5W-40 (whew, that's a mouthful!) and the closest distributor I found in in Gastonia, NC, and shipping from there would be pretty high. I did a Google search for the oil and lo and behold Amazon sells it. Bought in quantity, it qualifies for free shipping, so I ordered some. It won't ship until June, no idea why, but I won't need it before then. Just a heads up for those interested.

'07 2.7 Cayman with 37k miles. I did too for the same reason... Recently, I removed my oil cap just to take a look and found a pretty sizable glob of whitish-yellow sludge stuck to the underside of the cap and on the fill tube. I live in the cold. I drive 42 miles each way every day to work. This was my first run with Castrol Syntec. I had changed oil using 0-40 M1 when I got my car with 30k miles. It had been changed at a dealer at 23k also. I then changed to Castrol 5-40 at 35k. I now have 37k. I never saw this before but also had not driven this car in cold weather. A search revealed others with similar finds and mostly attributed to the cold fill tube. I wiped the sludge out and it has not returned but the weather has also warmed up. I'm not too freaked out but am a little. I don't want to think this stuff is down in the crankcase somewhere. The question is; would the 0-40 M1 have done the same or is this a Castrol thing? It was a long cold winter and I drove my car a lot. Parked in a warm (40F) garage at night but did sit out at work during the day. I did take some pictures if anyone is interested. C.

My first oil change I used M1 0w40, there after I use Shell Rotella T6 5w40 full synthetic and have been performing oil analysis with each change no problems at all. I use the 5w40 year around here in Kansas.

Oh no... another internet oil thread It seems like some of the longest threads are about oil. Over the years, here is what I concluded. Unless your tracking your car often, just follow the manufacturer's recommended oil. Honestly, there is so much debate about brand x vs y and people start busting out oil analysis charts and readings...people claiming to be oil engineers chime in on the chemical breakdown...... it can go on forever. Just stick with good brands like Mobil, Castrol, Royal Purple, etc... ones that are easily found. None of them will ruin your car as long as you change your oil at the right intervals and use the recommended grade. The rate of all oil degredation depends on how the car is used... no matter what viscosity... thats why some people prefer the higher weights if the engine runs higher rpms often. BMW switched all their M cars to 10W-60 (expensive and hard to find) because they had a bunch of engine failures in the early e46s and they thought putting a heavier weight would add a margin of safety. Unless your in a climate zone of extreme temperatures, you don't really need to change viscosity. In Cali, I would just stick with 0-40w (IMO 0-40w was picked because it can cover the climate variations throughout the country)... no need for anything else... c: