The obligatory winter oil thread.

[sangyup81]

Originally Posted By: Drew99GT
I might as well get this one rolling since the forecast low tomorrow morning is 8! It's never been this cold this early here.

I have about a 50/50 mix of 5w-20/5w-30 Chevron Supreme in our Blazer.

All 5w-30 Chevron Supreme in my pop's Olds 88. I run 10w-30 in the summer in both of them.

5w-30 Durablend in my mom's Impala; run that year round.

Maxlife 5w-30 with one quart of Durablend 5w-20 in my Corolla.

Batteries are all new except for my Corolla - it's 5 years old and corroding badly. Had it tested yesterday and it barely passed, so if it gets well below 0, I may get the one slow crank no start at some point.

No more 10w-30s for me in winter and I'm planning to top off all vehicles with 5w-20. The 2 quarts of 5w-20 in the Blazer already make it start easier.


German Castrol 0w-30 in my car year round.

But if I were using Dino, I would do the whole 10w-30 Summer 5w-30 Winter thing you are doing.

 

[typ901]

GC in the LR-3

M1 5w-30 year round in old Accord.

 

[Oldwolf]

Mobil 1 5w-30 in the Ford Explorer.

Mobil 1 5W-40 Turbo Diesel Truck in the Mercedes 300D.

 

[Drew99GT]

Originally Posted By: Bill in Utah

Get on the battery Drew! You KNOW it will fail. I'd rather deal with it on MY time.



HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! Just went out to start my car and it went waa waaaaaaa.............click.

Nice timing Bill.

Off to Autozone for a Duralast Gold me thinks.

I don't know what went wrong with this current battery, but about a year ago I noticed a ton of moisture on top of it and the white corrosion starting to appear on the terminals/hold down clamp.

 

[aquariuscsm]

My winter oil,20W50 :^) But hey,our winters are in the 70s :^P

 

[JohnBrowning]

Well I have dino 5W30 in my Camry not only is it the first time since the 58 mile brake-in drive home from the dealer that Dino oil has been in her but it has been since about 1988 since I used dino in a car!So this will be the first Winter since 1988 that I have had dino in anything I own!I am hoping we do not get super cold winter this year. If it get's to -25 or colder I do not care how little time or miles is on the dino it is coming out! Seeinghow I am testing the wear fighting abilites of additives over oil base stocks anyting from 3000 miles on up should be revealing as most of the wear happens early on other then Fe which seems to trend up ward with milage the entire OCI!

 

[addyguy]

Oil in my sig should be good this winter, changed 2 weeks ago:

-42C pour point;
4710 cst @-30C for cold crank.

As I've said before, Petro-Canada blends their oils for cold-weather service before anything epse, I'm pretty sure.

Next 'issue' I have to deal with is tires. My AS tires are completely shot, so I have to budget for winters....

 

[CATERHAM]

Originally Posted By: Drew99GT
Originally Posted By: Gary Allan


In mine I was going to switch from summer weight 0w-10 ..but decided to throw caution to the wind and just suffer with any winter side effects.



Bruce could whip you up a batch of 0w-5. You know you want to!

My Corolla would probably consume 0w-10 as fast as it does gasoline.


If you want to use the lightest readily available PCMO it's got to be PP 0W-20 with a 40C vis of only 42.6 cSt. For temps down to about -15C the 40C spec' in conjunction with a high VI has got to be the truest measure of how light an oil is at start-up comparatively speaking.
Toyota's house brand (ENEOS?) 0W-20 is even better at 39.5 cSt but I understand it's pricey.

 

[Big Jim]

Winter? What's that?

 

[sangyup81]

I don't know if I feel comfortable reducing the operating temperature viscosity solely based on the outside temperature. Sure the air from the intake will be colder but most of the heat from the engine comes from the combustion process doesn't it?

 

[DragRace]

Used Amsoil ASL 5w30 last winter,this winter I'm trying out Redline 0w30

Bring on those -15 to -20 temps!

 

[CATERHAM]

Originally Posted By: sangyup81
I don't know if I feel comfortable reducing the operating temperature viscosity solely based on the outside temperature. Sure the air from the intake will be colder but most of the heat from the engine comes from the combustion process doesn't it?


Trust me it makes a huge difference with most engines particularly if you have an aluminum sump that's exposed to air flow.
Car manufacturer's for some reason don't show different recommended oil grades based on ambient temperature as much as they used to but my old Porsche's handbook shows the conditions under which every grade from 5W-20 to 20W-50, both syn and mineral can be used based largely on ambient temps.

 

[WishIhadatruck]

I've always run 5W-30 in the winter but last year I changed over to Rotella T 10W-30 on one of my cars and the UOA came back much better than when running GC so I've stuck with it. Even the winter UOA looked good so I'm not going to worry about it this year either. My GP usually gets 5W-30 in the winter but I'm extending my OCI's and it spec.'s 10W-30 if over 60 deg. F and I think I'll just run it year round this year and see how it goes. My cars are garaged at night so normally they don't see extreme cold starts. If it gets below 0 deg. F in my garage that would be very rare. Below 0 deg. F at my work parking lot in the afternoon would be possible but not normal, I think I'll be OK. I am running PP in the Grand Prix so it flows better than a dino 10W-30 anyway although perhaps not as good as a dino 5W-30.

I'm tempted to try the SSO 0w-30 but that is a lot of money.

 

[MONKEYMAN]

PP 10w-30. Generally, I buy what is on sale. Conventional oil fall and spring. Winter I use sythetic. Summer synthetic or HDEO. It all burns the same (over a quart per 1,000 miles).

If we get snow like we have gotten rain this year in Missouri I will be more concerned about my snow blower oil (Echo 50:1 mix with 1 oz. Seafoam).

 

[tig1]

This is the 21st century. One oil, year round no matter where you live. Changing oil wts. is old school. I did that 45 years ago, staight 20 in the winter and 30wt in the summer.

 

[sangyup81]

Originally Posted By: tig1
This is the 21st century. One oil, year round no matter where you live. Changing oil wts. is old school. I did that 45 years ago, staight 20 in the winter and 30wt in the summer.


But you're a synthetic user. The whole 10w-30 shearing less than 5w-30 doesn't apply to synthetics but as far as I know, they still apply to dino oils

 

[JustinH]

5w30 Quaker State year round in my cars.

I'm real happy with the price and performance..

Also new batteries for the entire fleet.

Next week, the winter wipers will go on.

After that the winter tires will go on.

Hopefully I get that job in Phoenix that I applied for

 

[JustinC25]

Originally Posted By: Drew99GT
I might as well get this one rolling since the forecast low tomorrow morning is 8! It's never been this cold this early here.

I have about a 50/50 mix of 5w-20/5w-30 Chevron Supreme in our Blazer.

All 5w-30 Chevron Supreme in my pop's Olds 88. I run 10w-30 in the summer in both of them.

5w-30 Durablend in my mom's Impala; run that year round.

Maxlife 5w-30 with one quart of Durablend 5w-20 in my Corolla.

Batteries are all new except for my Corolla - it's 5 years old and corroding badly. Had it tested yesterday and it barely passed, so if it gets well below 0, I may get the one slow crank no start at some point.

No more 10w-30s for me in winter and I'm planning to top off all vehicles with 5w-20. The 2 quarts of 5w-20 in the Blazer already make it start easier.


Hi Drew,

I'm running PYB 5w30 in my Camry as I run all year, but will be changing PP 5w30 soon.
I run PP 5w20 in my Windstar, PYB 5w30 in my Grandma's Camry, Grandpa's truck currently has Mobil Drive Clean 5w30 (Changed at the dealer by dad) Soon to be PYB 5w30.
and Grandpa's snowblower is running PP 5w30.

I would take care of the corrosion on the Corolla battery soon. Just boil some water and pour it over the corrosion on the battery. It eats it off in seconds. No need for baking soda and a brush. Then just wipe the battery off with some paper towels. It takes just a minute, and will help the battery have a good connection. (It sounds like it needs all the help it can get)

Let us know if you make it through tomorrow with that battery.

 

[Superbuick96]

Doing my oil change for winter next week. Decided to go full syn on the Blazer. I use Max life blend in the summer, was going to go with the Maxlife fully syn for winter, but I couldnt pass up that 5 qt. jug of PP for 5 dollars after the mail in rebate. Ive never used Pennzoil, and never thought I would, but 5 dollars for 5 quarts of quality hydrocracked !!!

 

[ADFD1]

Originally Posted By: Superbuick96
Doing my oil change for winter next week. Decided to go full syn on the Blazer. I use Max life blend in the summer, was going to go with the Maxlife fully syn for winter, but I couldnt pass up that 5 qt. jug of PP for 5 dollars after the mail in rebate. Ive never used Pennzoil, and never thought I would, but 5 dollars for 5 quarts of quality hydrocracked !!!


IMO its a better oil than the Maxlife so I think you did good all around!