Oil - Cold weather selection

[oilman]

In this cold weather, it is beneficial to use an oil that has good cold start flow properties as it will get to the parts of the engine that need it far more quickly.

The "w" number which means winter is the key here and the lower the better.

It may seem odd but a 15w or 20w will struggle to get around the engine in very cold temps and I would strongly recommend a 10w or better still a 5w for better cold start performance.

90% of all engine wear occurs on cold start because the oil get thicker the colder it is which causes engine wear.

These numbers explain what I mean and bear in mind that the oil will be the following thickness at 100degC (sae 40 = 14cst, sae 50 = 18cst and sae 60 = 24cst)

At 0degC these are the numbers (thick!)

Grade.................At 0C.........At 10C...........At 100C

0W/20.............328.6cSt......180.8cSt..........9cS t

5W/40.............811.4cSt......421.4cSt..........14c St

10W/50............1039cSt.......538.9cSt..........18cS t

15W/50.............1376cSt.......674.7cSt.........18cS t

20W/50.............2305cSt.......1015cSt..........18cS t

If you are using anything more than a 10w oil, always warm the car properly before driving it as the oil needs time to circulate.

Just a word of warning really.

Cheers
Simon

[RSE MOTORSPORT]

Some great info there

Thanks Simon love

Thanks for the advice Simon

I have to admit that I changed the oil on mine a few weeks ago from Silkolene ProS 5W40 to Motul 300V 15W50 and the car is much noisier now on first start up etc what with all this cold weather. My Lash Adjusters are making a racket now when first fired up from stone cold.

[Evo Baby]

Thanks for that hun.. handy to know as im just about to do an oil change

[terminator]

Excellent info, this should be copied to the technical section as a permanent entry.


p.s. maybe I missed something, what is cSt?

[oilman]

cst = centistokes.

Its the unit of viscosity measurement.

Cheers

Simon.

[seasiders]

Si.....the missus car is a little Seat Arosa with a 1litre engine and mostly only travels 10 miles a day if that!(5 to work then 5 back) so it doesn't get upto normal operating temperature right often,so what oil would you recommend(not just for winter but in general)?

Cheers.

[RSE MOTORSPORT]

Now a Sticky

[asperformance]

Originally Posted by Nelson

Thanks for the advice Simon

I have to admit that I changed the oil on mine a few weeks ago from Silkolene ProS 5W40 to Motul 300V 15W50 and the car is much noisier now on first start up etc what with all this cold weather. My Lash Adjusters are making a racket now when first fired up from stone cold.

wouldn't recomend a 15w50 version in an Evo............you'd want the 300v 10w40 or 5w40 ideally...............

[oilman]

Originally Posted by Seasiders

Si.....the missus car is a little Seat Arosa with a 1litre engine and mostly only travels 10 miles a day if that!(5 to work then 5 back) so it doesn't get upto normal operating temperature right often,so what oil would you recommend(not just for winter but in general)?

Cheers.

10w-40 semi or a 5w-40 full synthetic.

Cheers

Simon.