Parking outdoors all year round,

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I've been living in a condo the entire time ive had cars and ive always been able to park in an underground garage. It never got really cold in the garage.

Now im moving and have to park outdoors. I have a 1993 Honda Accord that runs beautifully at 272,000kms. I drive very short distances and the engine barely has time to warm up.

I've tried Valvoline Maxlife 5w30 and oil consumption went way up. I used Syntec 5w30 and it started to leak out. Im on Pennzoil 10w30 YB now and its great. I'm going on 6 month OCI at which rate I drive 3-4000km.

For parking outdoors overnight in Toronto winters, what oil should be the best to use?

Thanks.
 
Nah....go thick for protection! 20W50 oughta do it
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Any 5W-30 SM rated (latest specification) conventional will be fine year round. I run 5W-30 conventional oils year round in a vehicle that sits outside in the winter here in Edmonton.

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I've tried Valvoline Maxlife 5w30 and oil consumption went way up. I used Syntec 5w30 and it started to leak out. Im on Pennzoil 10w30 YB now and its great. I'm going on 6 month OCI at which rate I drive 3-4000km.


A 3-4k km interval is a walk in the park for the modern hydrocracked Group II based conventional motor oils in use today. They are much better oils than what we were using 20 years ago (1970 - 80's). Even at a 5k mile (8000km) OCI (oil change interval), a modern 5W-30 SM oil will perform much better than the oils we were using 20 years ago at 3k mile OCI's.

As long as the vehicle gets sufficiently warmed up on occasion to burn off any moisture or fuel contamination in the oil from the short trips, a 1 year 8,000km should really be no problem as long as the oil is kept topped up (if it uses some oil).
 
Originally Posted By: SAJEFFC
Nah....go thick for protection! 20W50 oughta do it
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Redline 20w60 or Brad Penn Nitro 70w.....
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Keep running PZ or what ever dino you decide on, should be just fine. Id take the car on a good highway run once in awhile to warm it up and evaporate moisture, too.
 
I wouldn't use a 10W-30 in the middle of a Canadian winter, even in Toronto (somewhat warmer). 5W-30 will give you the cold-start protection you want.
 
I am planning on making 0w-30 my year round oil on 3 of my 4 vehicles later this year, after a round of auto-rx on one and a rebuild on another. The only one that won't get it is the ford that is spec'd for 5w-20 and its gonna get 0w-20. After this winter and 2 of the 4 had 0W's in them I will never go back!!! The cold start properties of the 0w's really shine in harsh winter temps. I am not saying that good 5W-30's aren't good enough, I just want the least amount of wear possible on cold startups. Also it is much easier to keep a stash with only 2 flavors of oil.

I also use battery warmers and block heaters. I may spend a few bucks this fall and get oil pan heaters too. Thats just me being a little overzealous, it helps me sleep at night.

There have been lots of good recommendations and they are all good, I just gave you what I am doing. But really my winter is MUCH different than your winter.
 
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