Just wondering, what's harder on oil, cold weather or hot?

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Just sent my second sample of Amsoil 0W30 off to Blackstone and wondering what to expect since the last sample on was winter mileage.
 
Cold weather driving generally shows worse UOA numbers than hot weather.
 
Suppose it depends on where you live.
Somewhere where it gets below zero I would say winter. I have a relative that lives in Las Vegas and he will definitely tell you summer is much harder than winter.
 
Based on my UOAs, definitely cold weather, by a longshot. More fuel gets into the oil in many cases too. Extended intervals in the winter are a big nono.
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Again dependent on the area. Our cold weather barely brakes 0 degrees C. Our hot weather is 37 degrees C +. We don't have much traffic in this area so both extremes are not very bad. Traffic jams at 37 degrees C + I just experienced in Virginia and I am sure that was abuse. 1 hour + at idle with air condition running not good for an engine in that heat.
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unrelated to oil but wouldnt the cold weather make the engine clearences larger promoting knocking and such before it gets warmed up?

this could be a side effect of winter start up if indeed i am correct, which i dont know if i am or not.
 
Hmmmm.....this is what I got from all these posts:
Cold weather is hard on the engine, not the oil. It is the engine that suffers when the oil is too thick and the low temp. causes the engine to dump extra fuel in the oil. The question is: Is oil by itself degraded by cold/hot weather and/or extreme ups/downs in temp.
Rick
 
quote:

Originally posted by Last_Z:
Hmmmm.....this is what I got from all these posts:
Cold weather is hard on the engine, not the oil. It is the engine that suffers when the oil is too thick and the low temp. causes the engine to dump extra fuel in the oil. The question is: Is oil by itself degraded by cold/hot weather and/or extreme ups/downs in temp.
Rick


You'll see a bigger TBN drop in cold weather, which means the oil is taking a hit. The oil must work harder to fight off all the "nasties" that happen in the engine due to cold weather, especially in short trips where the oil/engine never reaches operating temp.
 
I see....so, is it safe to say that the cold weather causes the engine to run out of its normal "calibration", thus making the engine be tougher on the oil thus degrading the oil?
Will the oil suffer if you get a quart of oil and put it outside in the cold for say 3 or 4 months.....keeping in mind there is no contamination??
Thanks, Rick
 
quote:

Originally posted by Last_Z:
I see....so, is it safe to say that the cold weather causes the engine to run out of its normal "calibration", thus making the engine be tougher on the oil thus degrading the oil?
Will the oil suffer if you get a quart of oil and put it outside in the cold for say 3 or 4 months.....keeping in mind there is no contamination??
Thanks, Rick


It's not the cold temp that degrades the oil, it's the byproducts of operating an internal combustion engine in cold temps that affect the oil.
 
Oil just sitting outside in the cold is not affected by cold weather (in terms of degrading additives and TBN). Yes, it will pour like molasses comapred to when its warm, but no physical degradation has occured.

When running in cold weather, especially at cold starts, the engine in general is not running very efficiently and is throwing a out a lot of junk. SInce the engines is cold, seals are not sealing as well as they do when warm, and therefore lots of "stuff" gets thrown into the oil.

In addition, if the engine doesn;t warm up (and along with it the oil), water vapor (byproducts of the combustion process) and fuel also make their way into the oil. Under normal operation, the oil warms up enough that it boils the fuel and water out of the oil quickly. Under cold conditions this happens slower or not at all, resulting in buildup of acids that deplete the TBN of the oil.

In general, my opinion is that cold weather is harder on an oil than warm, but that would apply to my climate - Minnesota.
 
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