How thick oil?

[H.M.]

What everyone has to remember is the recommended oil in the handbook is for a relatively new engine not a worn out engine with 250,000+ km.

okaaay....

So what should I use? Engine with 170+k miles on it. Warm climate, the car might see freezing temps 3 nights a year and is just a daily driver - not driven too hard.

What weight oil would you use?

[F22-GURU]

Engine in good condition not burning oil - 15W40 SL/CH4

[ZigenBallZ]

If you are burning oil you should think about getting that fixed sooner or later...

but to buy yourself some time... just start mixing in a quart or 2 of 10 or 15/40w and see if that helps...

50w really robs alot of power and the difference if a felt, noticeable one... 50w is too thick....

[F22-GURU]

50w really robs alot of power and the difference if a felt, noticeable one... 50w is too thick....

I've always known it to be the 0W, 5W, 10W, 15W etc that determines the viscosity (thickness) of the oil. The 30, 40 & 50 etc determines the temp range.

Just my AUD$0.0173 worth. (Damn Exhange Rate)

[F22-GURU]

The Engine Oil Bible

Have a good read of this... to give you a better understanding it has all you need to know.

THE ENGINE OIL BIBLE - http://www.carbibles.com/engineoil_bible.html

[bruno8747]

Thank you sir for that reading. When I get time I will change the oil out for probaly 15W-40. Maybe that will buy me enough time till the spring when I can get a chance to change the rings.

[xaxis360]

Here's a page from the Euro service manual for the Accord. It applies to the 2.2i and the 2.0 engines. interesting....

[SteveB]

I've always known it to be the 0W, 5W, 10W, 15W etc that determines the viscosity (thickness) of the oil. The 30, 40 & 50 etc determines the temp range.

Hopefully you haven't revealed that to too many people, because it's wrong.

[F22-GURU]

Hopefully you haven't revealed that to too many people, because it's wrong.

Do you really Stand By that dumb arse comment?
How about you prove me wrong.??

Maybe the Heading of the Thread should be HOW THICK IS STEVEB?

[cb7-R]

Do you really Stand By that dumb arse comment?
How about you prove me wrong.??

Maybe the Heading of the Thread should be HOW THICK IS STEVEB?

Sorry F22 but you're wrong. You have it backwards. First # is temp range 2nd# is viscocity

[H.M.]

Ok, I read the Oil Bible that was linked above.
Still slightly confused.

If I live in a warm place like Los Angeles, I could use 20-50w as the car would never see low tempetures. Would the car develop less less power using this oil for hot temps than the same car in the same climate that used 5-30w?

In theory, the upper 30 and 50w upper numbers would both work ok in the climate of Los Angeles, right? So what aspects other than ambient tempeture would I use to select the proper weight? Age of engine? Driving conditions?

[Masamune]

As I understand it, thicker oil will start moving better at higher temps. If you go too thick, then the oil wont move hardly at all and thusly lubricate nothing.

If you guys consider putting more oil in every week and a half to be good, then all I have to say is wow. I end up putting something like a quart in between oil changes and I never dip below the "low" line. Oil leaking that bad is going somewhere, and from what you said, it's blowing past the seals and into the cylinder. Rebuild the sucker, redo the seals, something. In the end you'll save time, money and probably some oil spots.

[F22-GURU]

Sorry F22 but you're wrong. You have it backwards. First # is temp range 2nd# is viscocity

I think I gave you a bum steer on the original statement, so I'll rephrase it for less confusion.

The 0W, 5W, 10W, 15W, 20W & 25W etc relates to the viscosity or thickness of the oil at predetermined temperature of 0*F and the 30, 40 & 50 relates to the minimum oil viscosity or thickness it reaches at a predetermined temperature of 212*F

The API Rating in oils relates to the Type of Ignition the car has.
"S" = Service Category or Spark Plug Ignition , "C" = Commercial Category or Compression Ignition.
The "M", "L", "J" or "H-4" etc is just the latest version, sorta like software (Win XP - Win XP SP2)

So does that make sense now??
Because I read it in the Engine Oil Bible?? or are they wrong too??