little thicker for summer?

[JustinH]

I went ahead and changed the oil in my fathers work van today. Its a 94 caravan with the 2.5 4 banger. The book recommends 10w30 pretty much year round. I have been doing 3k mile changes with 10w30 supertech dino and supertech filters. The local walmart discounted the chevron supreme 10w40 down to 88 cents a quart, and I bought about 10 quarts. I changed the oil in the van with the chevron supreme 10w40 today. Is it usually OK to run a viscosity a little thicker than the book recommends, as I have done? It gets somewhat hot here during the summer. Thanks, JH

 

[moribundman]

I'm sure the engine can handle it, presuming your oil pump can pump that syrup.

 

[huffmuds9320]

Back then on my dad's 1988 Dodge Caravan also with a 2.5L 4cylinder, don't have it anymore. I've always put in 10W-40, since he likes that grade for all cars and use it year round. It works fine and runs good. I think 10W-40 would work well for that van.

 

[brianl703]

I'd use a 15W-40 instead. Cost should be the same as 10W-40, plus you get all the benefits of a heavy-duty engine oil.

 

[427Z06]

With 3K OCIs you should be fine on a 10 year old Caravan. If you wanted to baby it, I'd use Chevron Delo 400 15w40 the summer months and Chevron Supreme 10w30 the rest of the year.

 

[eljefino]

data on this bbs shows chevron 10-40 is juat 10-30 with a little extra VI that shears away rather quickly to a thick 10-30. So you should be good to go.

 

[cweed]

yeah, you should be fine, i've ran higher weight oil in my LT1 in the summers for a while and never had any problems. In fact there are lots of people who put in 10W-40 in place of 10W-30

 

[TC]

No problem for Spring and Summer, but as you probably know, not a good choice for New York winters...

 

[DJStillman]

I have a 91 Acclaim with the same engine, and after a good double round of cleaning with Neutra, have switched to Rotella 5w40, which is absolutely perfect for this engine year round, and I will probably keep it for 5k changes. It is strong enough to keep up with this engine, which is tough on oil, and is a good shear stable cleaning oil. Plus, I am getting increasingly better mileage with it, and I drive my car pretty hard. Just my opinion. Good luck.