How To Keep Your 993 and 964 Porsche Engine Running Right: Oils, & Fuel

 

Video made at the Porsche Training Center titled: 

"How To Keep Your Porsche Engine Running Right: Oils, Fuel, and Oil Analysis | Tech Tactics Live":

See the Original Video here.

The video pertains to all model-year Porsche vehicles. Below are my

993/964  related content notes that also may relate to earlier air-cooled models:

• Driving your car regularly is good. [avoids fuel and oil-related issues];
• Use premium fuels [proper Octane-rated fuels];
• Modern oil has reduced calcium required for newer direct injection engines to avoid pre-ignition.  [Calcium's benefit is it detaches impurities and keeps them in suspension].
• "Top Tier" certified fuel [ label is on the pump] has certified levels of detergent additives beyond the minimums mandated by the government. [It is at levels suggested by car manufacturers. For this reason, it is superior in
  
  keeping deposits from forming and removing deposits and is available at Shell and certain other gas stations and also COSTCO] More info on Top-Tier here;
• Never use fuels with greater than 10% ethanol labeled E10 on the pump, sometimes during summer months this can't be ensured due to refinery seasonal demand issues even if the pump is labeled E10;
• Ethanol-free fuels are best to use [, locations that sell it can be found here];
• Modern fuels have reduced detergent consider adding additional detergent.
• Change oil every 5000 miles, more often if lots of short trips are made. [Short trips and not fully warming the engine increases H2O and other combustion components in the oil more on the oil subject here];
• Change oil before winter storage, no need to change it afterward;
• See the video for more on engine oil analysis.

My 993/964 related conclusions (opinions):

• If one only drives their car occasionally, finding ethanol-free fuel is probably a good idea. In absence of this, fuel additives that address ethanol should be considered;
• Fuel additives to address ethanol can be considered during the summer months for all 993/964 cars because ethanol in pump gas may be higher than 10%
• The use of detergent additives such as Techron or similar is
  
  probably a good idea;.
  Techron Products Chart,  more on this subject can be found here.
• Look for an oil that has elevated zink levels in the 1000~1200 ppm range to protect the valve train. Concentrations higher than this are thought to shorten the life of the catalytic converter;
• Use oil in a class with higher calcium levels, 2000~2300 PPM. For example API class SN labeled products. These oils, on average, have greater than 2000 PPM.  API SN class of oils includes Mobil 1 FS and FS X2 products. Other API classes of oils potentially have significantly lower calcium levels;

Here is some more information concerning calcium levels in motor oil.

Here is more information on oil and other 993/964 body fluids. 

If you found this page informative return to the main page and bookmark it for future 993-related servicing, repair, and upgrading guidance & information.