Which Motor Oil?

[Crab Walker]

Ok, so basically i hear that lighter, thinner oil wont restrict your power as much as thicker oil does. However, thicker oil generally seals better and maintains a better film of lubrication between moving parts.

Thinner oil is less resistant to friction and causeing more heat.

My question is, when is it a good time to use thinner oil? Im guessing in the winter when its already pretty cold out side.

Im ready to do an oil change on my car right now and its winter time, I have no idea what oil to use really. Also i'd like to know what oil can give my the best proformance when summer time hits.

I've read about the the Viscosity in oil, full Synthetic's, and blends, but its still pretty unclear to me. :bite:

[Crab Walker]

Oh yeah, I drive a 93 240 coup.

[Modern Angel]

Here's a link to a very informative thread about motor oil and filters from PreludeOnline.com... hope it helps! :)

http://www.preludeonline.com/showthread.php?threadid=140677&highlight=oil+primer

[97DubTruck]

i suggest you get full synthetic 5w 30 or 10w 30 and use the highest octane you can find at a station short of race gas (no 116 octane crap) like 93 is great if you are around it. this is in response to you octane question too. but search because these questions have been asked thousands of times.

[nightwalker]

Mobil1 10w30. Or Castrol Syntec for reasonable prices. Royal Purple is the indisputed king of motor oils. About $9 a quart though. I personally use Mobil1. It's proven itself in a 92 integra of mine that has 300K on it. About 50k are race miles, and engine runs fine and clean still, only burns a little oil. Used it on that car religiously for the five years I drove and worked on it. Way better than most motors I've seen with less miles, and not even as abused.

[sykikchimp]

I read an oil test with AmsOil, Redline, and Royal purple. and royal purple was last out of those three with Redline winning a couple categories, and AmsOil winning the others.

Not saying royal purple sucks by any means, it's just in that specific test, it was slightly behind the other two in every category. Mobil 1 was just behind it by a small margin.

[aznpoopy]

natural vs synth : synthetic oils are better b/c they lubricate engine seals (preventing them from drying and leaking) and they don't break up under higher temperatures. the drawback is that natural oils leave deposits in your car that can seal up leaky engine seals... so if you switch from natural to synth there is a slight chance your car may start to leak oil. note that it only exposes a problem that was already there.

i use mobil 5w-30 in the winter and 10w-30 in the summer. natural, cuz my seals are leaky already. gonna fix come springtime. i prefer mobil1 for synth, just plain mobil for regular (not SAE).

yah and get a good filter! its just as important as the oil.

[sykikchimp]

Mobil 1 claims that is a myth about the switching from Dino to Synth.

The difference b/w Dino and synth oils was described to me like this:

Imagine a bowl of random fruit. Apples, oranges, peaches, etc.. all different sizes. This is your normal Dino oil. Now poor that fruit all over a large table, and place a flat surface like a peice of plywood on top. The plywood represents one peice of metal (liek a cylinder liner), and the table represent the other peice. (the piston..) Now move the plywood around on top of the fruit. You will notice that only several of the peices of fruit bear the load, and manage the movement. They are also the only peices that are going to be transmitting heat into the fluid. Obviously this will cause those larger peices to wear out quicker, and once they wear out, protection thins, and the cycle repeats.

Now, Synthetic oil is more like a bowl of Golf balls. All built identical. Therefor they will all share the same load, and transfer the same heat through the fluid. It simply makes for a much more efficient lubricant.

This is why Synthetic oils almost always have a longer drain period than dino oils.

[Crab Walker]

I forget to mention, when i bought my car, the dealer lost the manual. Ive read around and i hear to put in a little less 4 quarts in. How much is a little less?

[sykikchimp]

http://charles.sykikchimp.org/quickref.html

With filter: 3 3/4 qt's
without: 3 3/8 qt's