Porsche 996FL TEST - Choosing Engine Oil

[buster]

Porsche 996FL Test

Article from Elf/Total Lubricant.


Quote:
Let us rather concentrate on the universe in which we, sales guys, operate: realities of the business world. To make and distribute oil at a competitive price, a company must be able to manufacture or buy the components at a competitive price, and have enough of a market to pay for the development and manufacturing cost. That company has to be able to “be a player”. Once that company decides to “be a player”, say, in the Porsche market, then the sound and professional way to operate is to present the finished product to Porsche so they put it through the Porsche 996FL Engine test.

This test will last 203 hours. The engine, and the oil, will go through:
- 4 times the simulation of 35 hours of summer driving,
- 4 times the simulation of 13.5 hours of winter driving, - 40 cold starts,
- 5 times the simulation of 1-hour sessions on the “Nürburgring” racetrack,
- 3.5 hours of “running-in” program Measurements on the engine and on the oil will be done at regular intervals, and the following parameter will be taken into account to grant the approval or not:
- torque curve (internal friction),
- oxidation of the oil,
- Piston cleanliness and ring sticking, - Valve train wear protection. Cam & tappet wear must be less than 10 µm.
- Engine cleanliness and sludge: after 203 hours, no deposits must be visible.
- Bearing wear protection: visual rating according to Porsche in-house method.

 

[Triple_Se7en]

With gas prices inching towards the $4 range, I'd rather see testing on stock four cylinder models from Toyota, Honda, Ford, GM and Chrysler.

 

[mcrn]

That seems like a pretty hard test on the oil no matter what car it is in.

 

[buster]

Some how that M1 0w-40 meets this spec.

 

[mitchcoyote]

That is because M1 is a great PAO based oil. Mobil makes the best PAO base stocks , that is why Amsoil buys their PAO from Mobil.... Good post Buster.

 

[buster]

Quote:
- Excellence Magazine had a great article in their April 2007 issue on the subject of oil. They also recommend using the viscosity of oil in the owners manual for your specific model. Additionally, they went into great detail as to why the lower viscosity oils (ie 0W40) were recommended in "newer" Porsches - for the following reason:
-In the latest Porsches, which use 0W40 oil, the thinner oil is critical to delicate systems that use motor oil as a hydraulic activator (ie Variocam Plus)
- The author of the article uses Kendall 10W40 GT in his own 924

 

[Dad2leia]

Buster, you've also made the little green guys happy as well, since Elf is the oil of choice as per this test and the last page. Finally, an oil other than Mobil 1 comes recommended.

 

[buster]

Quote:
Cam & tappet wear must be less than 10 µm

 

[buster]

It would be nice if we knew what some other specs actually tested for such as the Honda Turbo spec.

 

[gtx510]

cSt at end of test? 20wt?

 

[buster]

Originally Posted By: gtx510
cSt at end of test? 20wt?

Over the course of 20,000 miles, after the oil sheared down to 12 cSt or so, I'd expect it to be slightly above where it started after oxidation.

 

[gtx510]

20,000 miles in 203 hours? that's one fast Porsche.
don't UOA's show that M1 0W40 never thickens due to oxidation like GC does?
Anyways, I don't think any oil is going to oxide that much in 8.5 days.

 

[buster]

I don't know. It usually shears which isn't good.

 

[OilGuy]

Interesting and detailed test parameter description - provides perspective on oils that actually take the test and get their performance independently validated.

 

[gtx510]

Total's sales engineer says "it sure beats thinking of Porsche engines like “Diesel engines” "
but Excellium is a gas/diesel oil, and sounds like an HDEO to me. And M1 0W40 has slightly more additives, as do most "euro" oils.
http://www.elfoils.us/lub/content/NT000C3BDE.pdf
what are you guys' thoughts on that?

My other gripe is Porsche's test mileage. I'm having trouble buying 20k miles total, maybe 20k km (12.5k mi).
20000mi / 203hr = 98.5mph, average.
The "Nordschleife" is ~12.875 miles long. A 996 C2 runs 8:18, 7:56 for the Turbo, and 7:46 for the GT2. (8.3, 7.93_, 7.76_) That's averaging 93.1mph, 97.4mph, and 99.5mph respecively, flat-out with race/test drivers.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nordschleife_fastest_lap_times

Even with the 996 (Carrera or turbo) on a chassis dyno (with hydraulics to load the chassis) for all the testing they'd have to average +100mph for the other (summer/winter) testing to total 20k miles in 203 hours. 12.5k miles seems more reasonable, though I see no mention of mileage in the Elf pdf.

The < 10μm cam wear test is interesting. That would equal 0.01mm (~0.0004")?

 

[buster]

Quote:
The < 10μm cam wear test is interesting. That would equal 0.01mm (~0.0004")?



Good question. Nothing beats a visual inspection.

 

[Pablo]

Originally Posted By: buster
Quote:
The < 10μm cam wear test is interesting. That would equal 0.01mm (~0.0004")?



Good question. Nothing beats a visual inspection.


Or a good calibrated instrument measurement, yes 0.0004 in = 10.2 µm

 

[RI_RS4]

Originally Posted By: buster


This test will last 203 hours. The engine, and the oil, will go through:
- 4 times the simulation of 35 hours of summer driving,
- 4 times the simulation of 13.5 hours of winter driving, - 40 cold starts,
- 5 times the simulation of 1-hour sessions on the “Nürburgring” racetrack,
- 3.5 hours of “running-in” program Measurements on the engine and on the oil




To be an iconoclast, this is not a very rough test. 203 hours is maybe 6K total miles in a highly controlled environment. I would hope that there was no significant wear in such a short time. Quite frankly, my engine went through much harsher testing on my last OCI with RLI 40W HD oil.

10K miles
10 hours of racing at WOT (Wide open throttle)
3500 miles @ 75 mph average at 100+ temperatures this summer
approximately 25% short trip stop and go driving around town with engine not reaching full temperature.
Ambient environment loaded with salt, sand and silt from the local beaches.

 

[RI_RS4]

I'll correct that estimate of mine.

Summer driving 4 x 35 x 50 mph avg = 7000 miles
Winter drivng 4 x 12.5 x 25 mph avg = 1350 miles
5 hours on the ring @ 90 mph avg = 450 miles
3.5 hours "running-in" @ 50 mph avg = 175 miles

Looks to me like this is a 7.5K to 10K mile test, depending on the average speed.

Still, nothing special. Heck, even Amsoil can do this.

 

[yannis]

Your audi was the the first thing that cross my mind when i saw this test protocol. Almost all the oils you had tryed were porsche approved , yet they started to collapse after 1500 miles
From motul's site:
300V or 8100/6100 ? Make your choice :
Oil choice depends on your use :
300V are especially designed for racing, Motul is providing to end-consumers the lubricants set up for the teams : that is to say that the products you can find on the shop shelves are the same as products used by the teams for races.
These lubricants have to be strong enough to resist at very high temperature, provide the best lubrication, reduce friction… In one word, meet all the stringent requirements for racing.
8100, 6100… are designed for common daily use : in this case, you will ask your car to start every morning, drive it in the stop-and-go traffic to go at work, and drive it back to home in the evening. To complete that you will not be agree to go for service too often.
Requirements for daily use are different from racing.
Motul 8100, 6100 … are made for that. In these conditions and with these lubricants, you will be able to follow the car maker recommended drain intervals without any trouble.