What weight oil do you use in winter?

[VolkswagenFox21]

I don't use any specific oil in winter. Same oil all year 'round. Usually a euro oil in 5w30, 0w30, 5w40 or 0w40. The exception being the Corolla which occasionally gets 0w20.

Just for reference, it was -21C yesterday and everything starts up pretty much like normal no matter what oil is in the sump.

 

[Sedin26]

5w40 year round for me. It rarely gets below freezing here. The coldest I’ve ever seen it was -10c (14f). I would have no concerns running a 10w40 or 15w40.

 

[edyvw]

The lowest temperature I started vehicle in CO was -42. BMW X5 35d, Valvoline European Vehicle 5W40.
Very often I see -20 to -30.

 

[ctechbob]

Same 5W30 in everything year round. Used to be Havoline, slowly transitioning to Valvoline R&P.

 

[hank2]

5W20 in one Scion and 0w20 in the other, Both year-round. Yesterday AM it was -14F. The 0w20 car turned over slowly. The 5w20 car barely turned over at all but did start.

 

[Lubener]

I wish I had used the 5W-30 I had in my stash instead of 10w-30 for the winter which I under estimated.

 

[ae101]

2008 1NZ-FE - 5w30, block heater is not functioning so i upgraded the battery to 650cca from 550cca when the battery died last winter. No problem firing up even at -45c
2023 FB25D - 0w20, this is the newest car so I always make sure the block heater is plugged in when the mercury dips to -15c.
Same oil viscosity year round.

 

[Snagglefoot]

GM suggests using a 0w at -20 F and Ford suggests the same thing -22 F. This is close to -30 C. This API chart shows the recommended grade at low temps. Note the temps are in degrees C. If you are not at -20 C ( -5 F) or lower, even a 15w is fine.

 

[D1dad]

0w20 all year round. I should have used cheaper oil for my winter run but didn’t this year and I’m regretting it. It’s been bitterly cold and all 3 of my cars have the white sludge under the oil cap from not getting warmed up in -5 weather. I’ll end up dumping schaeffers well before I should at this point. I even have 3 jugs of regular old pennzoil synthetic but opted to use schaeffers back in October.

 

[JohnB5656]

5/40

 

[TiGeo]

5W40 in 5/6 cars. 5W20 in the other. Same oil summer/winter.

 

[BISCUT]

I think it would be valuable if people also posted what their typical lowest start-up temps of the season are, because "winter" means a lot of different things to a lot of different people.

Last year my coldest winter start was -6 F, and today it was -5.

I run 5W-30. My car specifies 5W-20.

10F

 

[buster]

5w30. If we had winters like we used to, I'd possibly consider moving to a 0w30 that is shear stable.

 

[dadto2]

Everything in my signature gets 5w30 year-round. They all started just fine over the last few days when it was between -5 and 5 degrees in the morning. Cars I've owned in the past had 10w30 or 10w40 year round, never a problem.

 

[Astro14]

Every oil in my signature is “year ‘round” or “all season”.

The cars may, or may not, get the oil changed before winter. The MBs are once a year - or 10,000 miles - so whatever goes in, is there for summer and winter.

The only cars in which the oil is changed often enough to consider a “seasonal” oil would be the V70XC and the XC90.

But they are running a 0W30 HPL anyway. Good for all seasons. Shear stable enough for a high heat summer in a turbo, flow well when cold. That is how I chose the viscosity, and the product, for every car.

 

[Patman]

It generally doesn’t get below -20C too often where I live (although it was -21 yesterday) so I could run a 5w oil based on that. But I also keep in mind that as more miles get put on the oil it will move up to the next winter rating. So for those of you running a 5w oil that has a few thousand miles on it, you should keep in mind that it could now be a 10w oil. So that’s why it’s a good idea to run a 0w oil if there is any chance whatsoever that you will see a few days below 0F. (Of course if you have your car in a warmer garage overnight and are never parked outside then this becomes less of an issue)

 

[RaymondP]

M1 0W40 FS and M1 ESP 0W30 year-round for the two vehicles. For the boat's Universal M25 (similar Kubota engine) I use Rotella T6 15W40 all year-round, but only operate in the April through October periods, no cold starts!

 

[barkingspider]

24 Lexus GX550. 0w20
22 GMC Canyon. 10w30
08 Lexus RX 350. 10w30
06 Toyota Matrix. 10w30

San Diego, CA

 

[Sequoiasoon]

Whatever it says on the oil cap.

The 710?

The generic?

Or the read the manual one?

Currently 5W-30 in 5 of the fleet, 5W-40 in the 6th one.

That may change depending when I do them next and that Deals thread with M1 0W-20 Hybrid for buy 1 get 2 free.

 

[gregk24]

In the Camry 0w16 year round. The Jetta gets 0w20 year round.