Mobil 1 vs Total

I went to get my car tech'd today for the driver's training and autocross this weekend. PCA had a list of places to go for free. There is a new place which is a 1/4 mile from my house, so I went there. They have been in business for 2 years now and I never notices them before. When I asked about them servicing my car they are very reasonably priced for oil changes. I was going to do this at 5K. Then I asked about the oil and they said they use Total Oil. Told me the US uses Mobile 1 but Europe uses Total. It's cheaper and marketing.

How do the 2 oils differ and will it be ok to use?

Joanne

I have been using Mobil 1 in my Boxster S, 944 Turbo and our Audis for some time. My 2004 GT 3 came with Total when I bought it with 3600 miles When I changed the oil at 10000 miles, the viscosity was noticeably better than Mobil 1 with the same mileage. I'll be changing all my cars to Total

Ed B.

Joanne
I think Pedro's website has a listing of all the Porsche approved oils, which include a few from Total.
The important designation on the oil is that it is Porsche approved--A40 rating (IIRC) which means it can be used in your car.
Since you live in CA and it doesn't get down below freezing with any frequency, I would think a 5W-40 weight would work well for you.
I put in Castrol 5W-40 Edge (an A40 rated oil) in my last oil change and the engine seems noticeably quieter.

Ed--did you do an oil analysis on both?

The Castrol Edge 5/40 is good,been useing that now for 3 years (1 change per year) approx 6500 miles each change.What i noticed is after about 9000 kilometers (5500 miles)
i start to get lifter noise,once i change it out,no more noise.This happens every time,not a one time thing.This year i changed to Motul 8100 X-cess 5/40 with more Zinc content.
Will see how that holds up and report this fall at same mileage when i useally do the oil change before winter storage.

No,I didn't have the oil analyzed. There was no reason to. There is enough data on line comparing various oils that indicate that Total and Motul are superior lubricants.

Ed B

First, with a few exceptions, brands matter less than the specs and the type of oil. Everyone makes great oils and everyone makes cheaper, less great oils. Even that's a stretch - few oils are "good" or "bad" its mroe a "right oil for the right application".

So there is no problem with Total /ELF per se. In fact, they are excellent oils.

The total /ELF quartyz synthetic 5w40 is pretty much ideal for our cars when driven "normall" - not in the arctuic, not on the track. It is in fact one of my preferred brands/blends. It has better hot viscosity and HTHS numbers than M1 0w40. But again, i stress that this only matters when the oilis quite hot, and the motor under high load and spinning very fast. That';s why its "high temperatire and huigh speed shear" :-)

A buddy who's head of field tech for Audi, when asked what kind of oil to use, say "the fresh, clean kind".

Bottom line - if they are careful, competent people, they can use any opf the brands - just use the right version - typically 5w40, synthetic, meeting ACEA A3/B4, and with a high Total Base Number (so it can stay there a long time and fight acid). TBN is critical for the unwisely-long drain intervals Porsche suggests.

Grant

Grant

gee-lenahan-at-gee-mail-dot-com



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/10/2014 11:47AM by grant. (view changes)