Oil change pricing? 10W60 vs 10W50?

Go with the dealer. Changing oil on a 599 is more involved than you think. The 10w60 oil is what is required for that engine. Also there is an oil additive that needs to be added at every oil change.

 

Ankur- 599s (and 612s) had owners complaining about lifter noise on start-up, so they have snake oil they use to quiet the lifters. I would stick with the recommended oil viscosity (10W-60), and having an FNA dealer service your relatively new car will make it worth more when you trade it for the 599 replacement. Annual service on a Ferrari runs $1000-2000. We just have to learn to live with it. Remember, your engine is a slightly softened Enzo engine, so needs to be well kept.

 

Great advice as usual! Interesting even the GTO has slight lifter noise for a few second after start up, its not a big issue, these engines will never be Lexus quiet anyway and it would be a shame if they were.

I wonder how much the noise would increase if the additive wasnt added.

 

Jacques- Not much. Ferrari used the same design lifters (different part for the 599, similar design) on the 550, 575s, and 612s and and never received complaints on the Maranellos. Once the 612 and 599 came out, though, they did get complaints. This is probably due to less underhood noise in those newer cars (even though the early 612 has essentially a 575M engine), so the lifter noise was more easily heard.

Personally, it would not bother me since I know what would be causing it. US manufacturers figured out how to make lifters that do not tap decades ago, but their engines did not turn 8300 rpm, either.

 

Dont mess around with this. The oil isn't just a matter of weights its also a matter of what additives they use. I don't know this but I would not be surprised to find out that the oil Ferrari uses contains additives that are from motorsport. Think of it like this- if you damage the motor from an inadequate oil, how cheap will that factory authorized oil change look then?

 

looking at those viscosity numbers for the oil made me think ( ooops )

on current race engines that use that weight oil we need ( engine builder recommendation )to heat the oil close to operating temperature before turning them on. You could try a dipstick or radiator/engine block heater to bring up the oil temp, it is easy enough to try. It would verify lubrication issue during a cold start. lf the noise goes away with heated oil, then you know it is a cold start lube issue and need to go easy until temps come up. Then look for an oil / additives that best address the issue.

I have issues with using any racing oil in street cars... racing oil is always dumped after an event... racing oil does not have the additives to condition oil and control contaminates in normal use of a car... it could be your issue here... It may be cool to say that you use racing oil, but... do a bit of internet research on the topic, you may have similar conclusions that racing oil is best for racing

 

Cheesy- Not a problem with a 10W-60 oil. On start-up the 10W-60 oil flows just as well as a 10W-30 oil, but is considerably stouter once it is warm.

 

As an aside the GTO just returned from an annual service today, was astonished at how much oil it takes, cant recall off hand but was around 18 litres or some high number.

Lifter noise is still present at idle for the first few seconds, not really an issue because the exhaust drowns out any lifter noise unless one is standing at the front of the car.

 

Jacques- The owners manual says they take about 12 liters but those are not always correct, so the amount could be considerably higher. My manual says 10 liters for my 575M, and it takes at least 12 to fill it.

Now you know why it takes a while to warm the oil. I am with you on the tappet noise. Once you know what it is, no big deal. Mine has it too, but the underhood noise is so high you only hear it standing near the engine with the hood/bonnet open at start.

 

Will have a look at the invoice to confirm the actual amount but was interested to see air filter change is also part of the annual as well as a 2.5 hour inspection, all under carriage panels are removed, suspension components are checked among other things.

 

Jacques- The filter change you saw may have been the environmental filter, which is changed annually. The engine air filters are normally done at 15,000 mile intervals.