monkeydude3

I was talking to a guy I work with, and he said 10w30 is a thicker oil than 5w30

My car is burning oil, and I'm using valvoline high milage 5w30 and he said if I switch to 10w30 it may help. He then suggested lucas oil additive... but I know that stuff makes oil foam so I'd rather top off then really fugg it up for now..

I always thought the bigger number in front of the weight meant it is for a wider temperature range?

someone shine some light becaues I have one more oil change worth of 5w30 max life in my shed and after that I may go to 10w30


George

GodAmGT00

Hmm.. George, I use 10w30 all the time, never use 5w30... I've never had a problem w/ oil pressure, or lifter tick due to oil pressure...


It is true, that 5w30 is a slightly thinner weight, but I don't remember the SAE Definition... It would make sense if the first number is regarding the Temperature rating, since I've used straight 30 weight before on an ATV, and during the winter had to shift to 5w30 due to temperature.. Or maybe that was the other way around..



JT

monkeydude3

hmm... well after I use up the oil i have (no sense in wasting good oil) i'll buy the same stuff but in 10w30 and see what happens

monkeydude3

I dunno who else is interested
http://www.upmpg.com/tech_articles/m...ity/index.html

but i found a neat information site regarding viscosities. Apparently, the number in front is how well the oil performs on a cold startup. The smaller the number, the thinner it acts when cold (I believe) so maybe i am losing my oil when the engine is cold? So possibly 10w30 may help me a LITTLE.

hmmm

dstangrunner

I just switched to 10w30. I was burning to. Hopefully its better. I was going to check it this weekend

dstangrunner

Thats would explain my car. I dont let it worm up to good when i start it up and take off

Derf00

mm...the dude is half right... the numbers have to do with a wider temp range but not exactly how he mentioned. 5w-30, 5w-20, 10w-30, 10w-40 etc are called muti viscosity (multi-weight) oils.

That means as the temperature changes, so does their viscosity.

The first number 5, 10 or 20 is the thickness of the oil at start-up. If you're burning oil at start-up, going to a 10 would help with that. By the way the 'W' means winter, not weight.

As the engine heats up the oil changes viscosity to the second number. Again higher numbers mean it gets thicker. Most modern cars recommend 5W-something because the tolerances are so tight on the engines that using a 10W-something would actually cause more damage since oil may not reach all the tight places. As a car gets older though you can change to a 10w-something.

So, 5W-30 has a greater temp range than a 10W-30 and 5w-20.

monkeydude3

yeah... i have 113000 on the clock and i think before me it may have been beat on


all the more reason to save for a bada$$ engine!


anyway after this load of 5w30 maybe switching to 10 will help

dstangrunner

I just hit 95,000 on my 2000 gt. just started saving for that new engine. I want one that will rock.

monkeydude3

im thinking of building it myself.. a forged VT short block with some new/used PI heads with stage 1 cams and a PI intake... I think that setup will work nice with a blower and shouldn't cost too much cuz i'll be doing a good portion of the work