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With winter upon us, many Porsche owners put their cars away for the long, cold winter months.
Before we discuss what you should do before you put your car into storage, let's cover some basics.
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What does the W mean? With a multi-grade viscosity, W stands for winter and at 0 degrees F the viscosity is a 5 weight. The 40 is the viscosity at 212 degrees F. If you are driving your car in cold climates, there is no need to use a 0w until cold start temperatures are below -20 degrees F.
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Why should I change the oil before putting the car into storage?
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We recommend that you do not start your engine and let it idle or even take it for short drives. You are better off letting the car sit all winter without turning it over, even once. What we are trying to prevent is corrosive wear. Combustion byproducts and excess fuel makes it into the crankcase and when it combines with moisture present in the engine (which does not burn off until you heat the engine oil past 212F for an extended period of time), acid forms in the oil and can cause all kinds of damage to the oil lubricated surfaces in the engine.
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How often should I change my oil?
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For most Porsche owners, vehicles don't get driven more than 5,000 miles a year and sometimes a driving season is only 6 months old.
We recommend changing your oil every six months or 5,000 miles of street use. If you have short drives where the oil cannot get to 212F regularly, shorter intervals of 3 months or 3,000 miles is advised.
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What filter should I use?
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If your engine has a spin on oil filter adapter, filter construction and quality varies greatly. We only use and recommend at our facility Napa Gold/Platinum or Wix oil filters. In our experience, all other filters are substandard. If your engine uses a cartridge style insert, use the genuine Porsche filter and if you want to upgrade your newer car to use a spin-on oil filter adapter, our adapter will allow you to do that.
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What protects against metal to metal contact?
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Although oil does cling to engine components to some extent, many parts in the engine do have metal to metal contact in normal operation - this is known as boundary-layer lubrication. The viscosity does not matter as much as the oil's formulation and inclusion of ZDDP, commonly referred to zinc, provides the wear protection between sliding or moving surfaces, like your camshaft.
All performance engines, whether aircooled or watercooled, can benefit from a properly formulated high ZDDP oil. And no, you do not need to worry about hurting your catalytic converters with high ZDDP oils. All Driven oils we offer have the optimal ZDDP levels to protect your performance engine.
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Should I be using a thicker oil in my engine to reduce wear?
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A simple question to ask yourself is this - do you have 10 psi of oil pressure hot per 1000 rpm? Pressure is resistance to flow. The operating clearances within your newer watercooled engine require a 0w40 or 5w40 which is different than an older aircooled engine which typically uses a 15w50 or 20w50 oil. The oil film is what the rod and main bearings run on in hydrodynamic lubrication, where there is no metal-to-metal contact. Running a thicker oil than what the engine is designed to use will create too much resistance to flow and actually increase oil temperatures and lead to a lubrication failure.
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Does it matter if I use a synthetic or non-synthetic oil?
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As long as the oil is a fully formulated high-ZDDP product, especially the Driven line, we are more concerned about how the car is going to be used. Spirited driving is different than track use - with track use a true race oil is needed, even if it's in your daily driver.
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Do I need to add anything to my fuel before storage?
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Yes. Even if you have access to non-ethanol fuels, a storage additive must be used. Modern ethanol fuels are hygroscopic and will absorb moisture and will go bad within weeks of going into storage. We use and recommend Driven Storage Defender. Up for debate is whether you should store the car with a full tank of fuel or empty due to the possibility of corrosion in the tank of uncovered surfaces. I personally store them full, with Storage Defender, and once I drive the car in the spring, I will typically use at most ½ a tank and refill to get rid of the old gas.
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Our Black November Deal is still on!
Shop now and save.
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125 Gladiolus St. | PO Box 401 | Momence, IL 60954 | Phone (815) 472-2939 Fax (413) 280-9041
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All logos and trademarks used for product identification purposes only.Porsche ® 356 ® , 911 ® , 912 ® , 914 ®, Boxster®, Cayman®, Panamera® and Cayenne® are registered trademarks of Dr. Ing. H.c. F. Porsche AG.
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