Educate this guy on OIL types and weights please

[sanioll]

So winter is here, really excited. but what oil weight should i use?

I change it myself. and use Valvoline high mileage formula.(pureone oil filter)

10w30 in summer

but when i used 5w30 last winter, my headcover showed some evaporation of oil on cover and i had 1-2 drops of oil leak per day.-- -- -- --

so im fine with 10w30 in summer but WHAT to use in winter, to be thin for cold starts, but thik enough for hot engine???

also, is Pureone purolator oil filter is better than OEM filter?

[jmauld]

The 10W-30 should be fine. But to check for yourself, look in the back of the manual, it shows a temperature range that you can use each weight of oil in.

[:: orion ::]

The difference between 5W-30 and 10W-30 is VERY minimal...not enough difference for you to notice.

The oil drops you saw were probably not from the oil viscosity change, but from oil seals being cold and shrinking, or something along those lines...not the difference in 5 and 10 weight oil.

And once they're hot, they are both a 30 weight, so there is NO difference there.

- Brian

[jmauld]

Try one of the high mileage oils with seal swell in it, and see if that helps with your leak.

[sanioll]

i got 110,000 miles on it so far.

i wonder if i should switch to a bit thicker oil this winter. if there's a 5w40, then should i switch to it? (back to 10w30 in summer of course)

also. again., is Pureone better than the OEM stock oil filter??

[AmIdYfReAk]

10W-30 VS 5W-30

the only diffrence is weight, the first digit's stand for weight.. the second stand for detergents.

Take a look: http://www.vtr.org/maintain/oil-overview.html

i run 10W all year round in my KA-E.

[sanioll]

here in richmond, va, it gets as cold as 10 farenheit, besides im gonna be spending couple of weeks at wintergreen resort, which will be really cold.

i've seen people switch to thicker oil as engine gets older to prevent leackage.

so im wondering to go from 5w30 to 5w40. IS THERE SUCH oil as 5w40??

[sanioll]

what is the complete meaning of these numbers anyway?

EX: XW-XX----> 5W-30, OR 10W-30.

WHAT DOES '5', AND 'W' AND "30" STANDS FOR?

[Red coupe]

10W-30 VS 5W-30

the only diffrence is weight, the first digit's stand for weight.. the second stand for detergents.

Take a look: http://www.vtr.org/maintain/oil-overview.html

i run 10W all year round in my KA-E.

gah? you list the article but did you read it? the second digits are not for the detergents and the first are not for its weight... The first digit is the oils viscosity(thickness) at zero degrees the second number is its its viscosity at operating temperature(I think at operating temperature.. although it may just be a a warmer temperature...)

directly from the artical link to above..."The weights given on oils are arbitrary numbers assigned by the S.A.E. (Society of Automotive Engineers). These numbers correspond to "real" viscosity, as measured by several accepted techniques. These measurements are taken at specific temperatures. Oils that fall into a certain range are designated 5, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 by the S.A.E. The W means the oil meets specifications for viscosity at 0 F and is therefore suitable for Winter use...Multi viscosity oils work like this: Polymers are added to a light base (5W, 10W, 20W), which prevent the oil from thinning as much as it warms up. At cold temperatures the polymers are coiled up and allow the oil to flow as their low numbers indicate. As the oil warms up the polymers begin to unwind into long chains that prevent the oil from thinning as much as it normally would. The result is that at 100 degrees C the oil has thinned only as much as the higher viscosity number indicates. Another way of looking at multi-vis oils is to think of a 20W-50 as a 20 weight oil that will not thin more than a 50 weight would when hot. "

[ktownS13]

what is the complete meaning of these numbers anyway?

EX: XW-XX----> 5W-30, OR 10W-30.

WHAT DOES '5', AND 'W' AND "30" STANDS FOR?

read the linked article..

its VERY informative and VERY thorough.

And from reading it, it seems that Mobil 1 makes the best non synthetic petroleum oil product that is listed on there.

[black s13]

5w40 defenitly exists, atleast in Pennzoil Syn. they call it the "Euro Blend"

i use 10w30 Amsoil all year round, has been good to me so far (and its like the only thats truly full synthetic.)

[sanioll]

okay so according to that article and general education on oil proposes me to use 10W - 20 since my oil getting old.

so if your engine is getting older, some people switch to thicker oils.

i've seen that they switch to 20w-40 or something like that.

why do they increase the viscosity instead of second number in this case #30(weight), which is the weight of thinning of an oil at engine operating temperature. your old engine leaks when oil is getting hot, thins out. thats when the most leak occurs. so shouldn't we lower the thinning at high temps and still use same viscosity oils ex: 10w-20 instead of 10w-30.

30 here stands for, oil thining no more than 30 weight at ideal engine temperature. 1st number is 10W, which means viscosity is 10.

[Red coupe]

higher number means thicker oil, thicker oil means it wont flow through as tight of spaces, so people use something like a 10W40 or 10W50(this being the thicker of the two at engin temperature) when the clearances in the engin are slightly to large, so that not as much oil will be splashed onto the cylinderwall and burned away and so that it is harder for the oil to leak through any uhh..leaks.

sorry just reread your post Im not sure why they would increase the winter weight, and not viscosity, but perhaps along with the increased bearing clearance thinner oil will drain off of bearing surfaces to quickly with a thinner winter weight, making cold starts even harder on your engin? It would be nice to hear a concreat answear.....
Modified by Red coupe at 3:45 AM 12/5/2004