Oil Weight
 

changin my oil this weekend
whats a good weight to put in there?
i live in the texas panhandle so its never REALLY cold or REALLY hot
just wonderin

RE: Oil Weight
 

ive used 5w30 mobil1 full syn since day 1

RE: Oil Weight
 

What oil are you running now? And how's your pressure?

For a street car, you need a heavy enough oil to maintain proper oil pressure. That's all, no more. A heavier oil will create drag and cost you power. It will also wear out your pump drive parts a little sooner; especially the distributer gear. That's why so many new cars use 0W-20 oil.

You also want to keep the spread fairly narrow. A 10W-50 is less stable over time than a 10W-30.

Start with a good 10W-30 and see how it goes.

RE: Oil Weight
 

i was thinking a 10w30 as well
whats the difference between that and a 5w30

RE: Oil Weight
 

It depends on how hot the engine runs as well. Viscosity is rated at a certain temperature, as oil temp increases viscosity decreases. That's why most race cars run heavier oils, and in hotter climates heavier oils provide more protection.

RE: Oil Weight
 

ok
so since its bout to be summer i ought to run heavier right?

RE: Oil Weight
 

10w30, I live in texas also, never a problem..... oil related anyway ;)

RE: Oil Weight
 

most people run 10w30 in their cars..im running valvoline vr1 20w50 race oil

RE: Oil Weight
 

mobil 1 5w 30. full synthetic.

RE: Oil Weight
 

10W and 5W refer to cold pouring charectoristics. The W stands for Winter. A 5W oil will pour better at very cold temps than a 10W will.

To change the pour charectoristics, they have to engineer the oil with specific additives. The wider the spread, the more additives. With a regular dino oil, use the narrowest spread to meet your expected weather conditions. You would want to use a 10W-30.

Synthetic are slightly differant. They can utilize a broader spread without concersn. So if you're using a semi-synthetic like Mobile 1, Penzoil, Quaker State, etc, a 5W-30 will be more than enough.