2012 Kia Optima Turbo- 5w40 and GF4?

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panthermike

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Hi all,

Just bought the car above and love it, it's a great, fun car.

I'm a bit confused by the oil recommendation though; it mentions either 5w30 or 5w40 that meets "SM/ILSAC GF4 or above".

The problem is; I'm having a hard time finding a 5w40 that meets this spec, does it exist? Or should Kia have expounded more on their recommendation?

Thanks for the help!
 
I think Pennzoil Ultra 5w40 Euro meets it. Not sure but you might check Rotella T6 5w40, perhaps Motul and surely Mobil has an offering (TDT, Delvac 1, T & SUV, etc.).

Sorry, I know that's not much help. I'd look on M1's site to start.
 
Mobil 1 0W-40 meets it.
Kendall GT1 Full Synthetic 5W-40 meets it too and can be ordered via Petroleum Service Company for a reasoanble price including shipping.
 
All good suggestions, however I can't find a place anywhere that says any of them meet SM and GF-4. Does it even exist?

That's why I wonder if Kia's manual should have expanded on this a bit more; such as SM/GF-4 for 5w30 and just SM for 5w40?

I may have to call Kia on this one, I should be able to use any 5w40 but I don't want any warranty issues in the future.
 
Originally Posted By: panthermike
All good suggestions, however I can't find a place anywhere that says any of them meet SM and GF-4. Does it even exist?

That's why I wonder if Kia's manual should have expanded on this a bit more; such as SM/GF-4 for 5w30 and just SM for 5w40?


You will find 5w-40 oils that are SM or SN rated. You will not find a 5w-40 rated SM/GF-4 or SN/GF-5. The ILSAC rating is for resource conserving oils, which are 0w-20, 5w-20, 0w-30, 5w-30, and 10w-30 grades.
 
Thanks, that's what I was thinking. Kia's manual just states it that way.

So I assume that can't void my warranty if I just use any 5w40 that's SM rated. Wouldn't that be correct? Actually Hyundai's manual(same motor) actually recommends 5w40 for "optimum performance".

I'll contact Kia to be sure tomorrow, but they can't void your warranty for using an oil that doesn't exist.
 
Originally Posted By: panthermike
That's why I wonder if Kia's manual should have expanded on this a bit more; such as SM/GF-4 for 5w30 and just SM for 5w40?

Yup. That would make more sense.

Only Xw-20 and Xw-30 grades can be certified to meet ILSAC GF-4 spec.
 
Originally Posted By: panthermike
Here's the owner's manual for those interested. Oil recommendation on 8-4 and grades on 8-5.


Thanks for the very helpful link. That's what we like to see here!

I'm assuming you have the 2.0 which is the one that allows the 5w-40. Kia seems to be pretty liberal with their oil recommendations, even allowing SL if the situation requires it.

In any case, you have many good options. You could go with a conventional or synthetic 5w-30, such as PYB or M1. If you go with 5w-40, you're basically stuck with a semi-synthetic or synthetic, most of which are HDEOs, such as Delvac 1 ESP 5w-40, Rotella, M1 TDT, and so forth.

I'd be tempted to stick with a conventional 5w-30 to save money, or, barring that, a larger container of 5w-40, if available, again, to save some cash.
 
Thanks for the help Garak, I do like the idea of using the 5w40, mostly because the car is Turbo and DI. So, the 5w40 should be pretty stable and have a good noack number.

I'm sure I can't really go wrong with any 5w40. Kind of leaning towards Schaeffer 9000 since I like it's add pack and I can get it locally for a reasonable price.
 
Originally Posted By: panthermike
I'm sure I can't really go wrong with any 5w40. Kind of leaning towards Schaeffer 9000 since I like it's add pack and I can get it locally for a reasonable price.


Those and bourne's suggestions are all very good, too. Most of my recommendation are based upon what's readily available up here, and we have all kinds of 5w-40s that are marketed primarily to the commercial market, so we get all kinds of nifty HDEOs.
 
I have the same model and noticed the manual mentions Total Ineo brand oils but couldn't find any. I ended up just buying PU 5w-30. Please post your results with a 5w-40 as I'm very interested and others may be as well.
 
Originally Posted By: switek
I have the same model and noticed the manual mentions Total Ineo brand oils but couldn't find any. I ended up just buying PU 5w-30. Please post your results with a 5w-40 as I'm very interested and others may be as well.


I will let you know for sure, I also plan on a UOA after a couple of OCI's.
 
I would definetly use 5W-40 if it is allowed, and you can't go wrong with Schaeffer oils, they are excellent products.
 
Your UOA looks good colloyd00, hopefully the Kia wears that nicely.

I just talked with Kia earlier today and the lady stated that I could use any 5w40 with no warranty issues, going as far to say that she would recommend using 5w40. I asked her if this conversation was to be put on record, and she said yes.

I talked to my Schaeffer's guy today, he said $6.50-7.00 per quart. I'm happy with that, so that's the route I'm going to go. I'm also going to use only Kia oil filters due to a TSB they issued about only using their filters, and possible warranty issues if you don't.

My plan at this point is to change the oil at 2,500 miles(oil only, no filter change and probably 5w30 since the OCI is only 2,500 miles). Then an oil and filter change at 5,000 with the Schaeffer oil. After a couple of OCI's, I'll do a UOA and go from there.

Honestly though, the car only has 260 or so miles, but we love it! I like quite a few more things about it than the Fusion, which seems odd to me because I thought the Fusion was pretty nice.
 
Schaeffer's 9000 is an excellent product and Shell Rotella T6 5W40 is available at almost every Walmart if you run into a bind and need something quick.
 
Here is a VOA of Shell Rotella T6 from the VOA section :

Rotella T6 VOA

And here is a UOA with the same oil for a 10k interval in a 2.0 DI Turbo engine :

Rotella T6 UOA

Very easily available , decent price and loads and loads of user experience point towards a good choice for your engine.
 
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