What type of oil do you put in ur TL
08-04-2004, 10:09 PM
#2
Safety Car
I use Mobil 1 5w-30 Synthetic.
The w means winter weight. This is the how liquidy ("un" viscous) the oil will be when it is cold.
For example, 5w-30 is a 5 weight oil that will not thin more than a 30 weight oil at operating temperatures. 10w-30 is a 10 weight oil that will not thin more than a 40 weight oil when hot.
It's good to remember that these numbers are completely arbitrary and can't be directly compared. A 0 weight oil (yes they have 0w-30) doesn't weigh zero; it just happens to flow very good in cold temperatures.
Also, remember that the number associated with the w can't be compared with the other number. A 5 weight jar of cold oil won't be anywhere as liquidy as a hot can of 30 weight.
If you live in a cold place, you want a low winter weight so that the thinner oil can get to lubricating quicker.
Conventional multiweight oils use polymer additives to get the various weights. Additives don't lubricate, oil does. So a polymer heavy blend like 5w-30 *could* theoretically break down faster than 10w-30. I really don't think this is a risk if you change your oil regularly. None of this applies to Synthetics, which will outlast conventional oil in all situations.
Hope this helps!
The w means winter weight. This is the how liquidy ("un" viscous) the oil will be when it is cold.
For example, 5w-30 is a 5 weight oil that will not thin more than a 30 weight oil at operating temperatures. 10w-30 is a 10 weight oil that will not thin more than a 40 weight oil when hot.
It's good to remember that these numbers are completely arbitrary and can't be directly compared. A 0 weight oil (yes they have 0w-30) doesn't weigh zero; it just happens to flow very good in cold temperatures.
Also, remember that the number associated with the w can't be compared with the other number. A 5 weight jar of cold oil won't be anywhere as liquidy as a hot can of 30 weight.
If you live in a cold place, you want a low winter weight so that the thinner oil can get to lubricating quicker.
Conventional multiweight oils use polymer additives to get the various weights. Additives don't lubricate, oil does. So a polymer heavy blend like 5w-30 *could* theoretically break down faster than 10w-30. I really don't think this is a risk if you change your oil regularly. None of this applies to Synthetics, which will outlast conventional oil in all situations.
Hope this helps!
08-04-2004, 11:10 PM
#5
Safety Car
Oil has a weight. This weight is determined by how thick the oil is. Thick oil would be pancake syrupy while thin oil would be watery.
When it comes to lubricating, a thicker oil is going to work better. This is because a thin oil could fail (called shearing) and that would mean metal to metal contact. Obviously this is to a degree. An oil as thick as a lump of coal isn't going to be doing much lubricating either. But still, thin oil is not as good at lubricating as thick oil.
However, when you leave your car parked overnight or whatnot, the oil will congeal and turn syrupy in the oil pan. If it's really cold, it will be even thicker. As soon as you turn your car on, the oil pump will start moving the oil along. Heat will make the oil thin enough to flow well into the tight spaces between your pistons and cylinders and other such areas of your engine. Your car needs lubrication before the oil reaches optimal temperature though.
This is where the "w" weight of an oil comes into play.
A long time ago (certainly before I started driving), oil was single weight. You stuck say 30 weight oil into your engine. It worked great at hot temperatures, but it took a while to get going. If the weather was really cold, the oil might not flow at all.
The modern solution to this is multiweight oils such as 5w-30.
5w-30 means that you have a bottle of 5 weight oil. This oil is going to be pretty thin and able to flow well in cold weather. This means faster lubrication at start up.
But if a 5 weight oil is already thin when cold, it'll be like water at operating temperature. This isn't good for lubrication either.
A 5w-30 oil will flow like a 5 weight oil in cold temperatures, and won't thin out to more than a 30 weight oil would in hot temperatures.
It does this by having a lot of long hydrocarbon polymer chains added to the oil. These molecular chains are like springs. When they're cold, they're bunched up in themselves and will flow easily (like ping pong balls poured out of a bucket). When they're hot, they stretch out and get tangled, making the oil they're in thicker.
But these polymer chains don't lubricate your car -- the oil does. The main argument against multiweight oils is that their additives will wear out and not give your engine protection. As the old saying goes, the more complicated something is, the more there is to break.
That's why you should use the smallest ranged oil your area needs. If you live in a hot climate like Houston, a 10w-30 oil will do just fine. It takes a lot more polymers to make a 5 weight oil stay thick at high temperatures than to make a 10 weight oil do the same.
If you live in a colder area, 5w-30 definitely.
You can draw two things from this that might make you wonder.
First of all, will switching to 10w-40 from 10w-30 give you more protection once the engine is up and running?
The answer yes, but with a caveat. Most modern cars no longer accept 10w-40 because the oil is too thick at operating temperature. The gap (tolerance) between parts in modern cars are very tiny and a thicker weight oil might not be able to flow effectively. Also, a thicker oil will be mean the engine will work a little harder and you'll get slightly lower mileage and performance.
The second thing is that you might have noticed Synthetic oil comes in really really wide ranges. Factory fill for Aston Martins is a 0w-50 oil. Synthetic oil doesn't suffer from the break down problems that conventional oil does (this is not true, everything breaks down; but synthetic takes a lot more beating). So you can safely choose a wide ranged synthetic oil with callous disregard for your normal operating temperatures.
Now I hope this was more clear than my last post!
When it comes to lubricating, a thicker oil is going to work better. This is because a thin oil could fail (called shearing) and that would mean metal to metal contact. Obviously this is to a degree. An oil as thick as a lump of coal isn't going to be doing much lubricating either. But still, thin oil is not as good at lubricating as thick oil.
However, when you leave your car parked overnight or whatnot, the oil will congeal and turn syrupy in the oil pan. If it's really cold, it will be even thicker. As soon as you turn your car on, the oil pump will start moving the oil along. Heat will make the oil thin enough to flow well into the tight spaces between your pistons and cylinders and other such areas of your engine. Your car needs lubrication before the oil reaches optimal temperature though.
This is where the "w" weight of an oil comes into play.
A long time ago (certainly before I started driving), oil was single weight. You stuck say 30 weight oil into your engine. It worked great at hot temperatures, but it took a while to get going. If the weather was really cold, the oil might not flow at all.
The modern solution to this is multiweight oils such as 5w-30.
5w-30 means that you have a bottle of 5 weight oil. This oil is going to be pretty thin and able to flow well in cold weather. This means faster lubrication at start up.
But if a 5 weight oil is already thin when cold, it'll be like water at operating temperature. This isn't good for lubrication either.
A 5w-30 oil will flow like a 5 weight oil in cold temperatures, and won't thin out to more than a 30 weight oil would in hot temperatures.
It does this by having a lot of long hydrocarbon polymer chains added to the oil. These molecular chains are like springs. When they're cold, they're bunched up in themselves and will flow easily (like ping pong balls poured out of a bucket). When they're hot, they stretch out and get tangled, making the oil they're in thicker.
But these polymer chains don't lubricate your car -- the oil does. The main argument against multiweight oils is that their additives will wear out and not give your engine protection. As the old saying goes, the more complicated something is, the more there is to break.
That's why you should use the smallest ranged oil your area needs. If you live in a hot climate like Houston, a 10w-30 oil will do just fine. It takes a lot more polymers to make a 5 weight oil stay thick at high temperatures than to make a 10 weight oil do the same.
If you live in a colder area, 5w-30 definitely.
You can draw two things from this that might make you wonder.
First of all, will switching to 10w-40 from 10w-30 give you more protection once the engine is up and running?
The answer yes, but with a caveat. Most modern cars no longer accept 10w-40 because the oil is too thick at operating temperature. The gap (tolerance) between parts in modern cars are very tiny and a thicker weight oil might not be able to flow effectively. Also, a thicker oil will be mean the engine will work a little harder and you'll get slightly lower mileage and performance.
The second thing is that you might have noticed Synthetic oil comes in really really wide ranges. Factory fill for Aston Martins is a 0w-50 oil. Synthetic oil doesn't suffer from the break down problems that conventional oil does (this is not true, everything breaks down; but synthetic takes a lot more beating). So you can safely choose a wide ranged synthetic oil with callous disregard for your normal operating temperatures.
Now I hope this was more clear than my last post!
08-04-2004, 11:24 PM
#6
Safety Car
I decided to split my post to get more posts to my count... Oh yeah, also to make it easier to read. 
In answer to Demon Rage's question, mixing oil like that won't be a problem.
However, it also means that you won't be able to get the full protection of synthetic, nor the added life span of it.
Synthetic is great because it doesn't shear under hard conditions (the film of oil doesn't tear, allowing metal to metal contact), it turns liquidy quicker (faster protection during startups, especially cold startups), and it is resistant to breaking down. You can run synthetic oil harder (for redline happy cars and folks) and longer (for people who think 3,000 miles goes by too quickly).
If you mix your oil, then you'll get partial benefits of having synthetic oil. I would say this is perfectly acceptable for the vast majority of drivers anyway. Actually, I would go so far as to say that having regularly changed normal oil would cut it for 95% of drivers.
For your information, companies have already beaten you to the punch. They sell "synthetic blends" that are just conventional oil mixed with synthetic oil.
Also for your information, did you know you can mix different octanes of gasoline? If I had a ten gallon tank and I filled it up with 5 gallons of 93 octane and 5 gallons of 89 octane, I would have 91 octane gas. For those who can't afford premium but don't want engine knock...
Oh yeah while on the subject, premium gasoline contains higher amounts of detergents. These are pretty much the same detergents found in those bottles of fuel injector cleaners at the auto parts stores. So when you see Shell advertise that their new V-Power gasoline cleans while you drive -- well all premiums do that.
In answer to Demon Rage's question, mixing oil like that won't be a problem.
However, it also means that you won't be able to get the full protection of synthetic, nor the added life span of it.
Synthetic is great because it doesn't shear under hard conditions (the film of oil doesn't tear, allowing metal to metal contact), it turns liquidy quicker (faster protection during startups, especially cold startups), and it is resistant to breaking down. You can run synthetic oil harder (for redline happy cars and folks) and longer (for people who think 3,000 miles goes by too quickly).
If you mix your oil, then you'll get partial benefits of having synthetic oil. I would say this is perfectly acceptable for the vast majority of drivers anyway. Actually, I would go so far as to say that having regularly changed normal oil would cut it for 95% of drivers.
For your information, companies have already beaten you to the punch. They sell "synthetic blends" that are just conventional oil mixed with synthetic oil.
Also for your information, did you know you can mix different octanes of gasoline? If I had a ten gallon tank and I filled it up with 5 gallons of 93 octane and 5 gallons of 89 octane, I would have 91 octane gas. For those who can't afford premium but don't want engine knock...
Oh yeah while on the subject, premium gasoline contains higher amounts of detergents. These are pretty much the same detergents found in those bottles of fuel injector cleaners at the auto parts stores. So when you see Shell advertise that their new V-Power gasoline cleans while you drive -- well all premiums do that.
08-04-2004, 11:36 PM
#7
Safety Car
I'm going to keep going with this oil thing because man I am bored tonight (middle of the week, that sort of thing).
Castrol synthetic IS NOT real synthetic oil. Don't pay 20 for 5 quarts thinking it's the same as Mobil 1. (I don't work for Mobil 1).
Mobil 1 took Castrol to court because Castrol was calling its highly refined oil "synthetic." Mobil 1's oil (and any other true synthetic) is built in labs at the molecular level. Now this is where my knowledge runs out and I have no idea how they build molecules. I just know that Castrol isn't the real stuff. In my opinion, this puts Castrol "synthetic" in the same cart as those synthetic blends.
Castrol synthetic IS NOT real synthetic oil. Don't pay 20 for 5 quarts thinking it's the same as Mobil 1. (I don't work for Mobil 1).
Mobil 1 took Castrol to court because Castrol was calling its highly refined oil "synthetic." Mobil 1's oil (and any other true synthetic) is built in labs at the molecular level. Now this is where my knowledge runs out and I have no idea how they build molecules. I just know that Castrol isn't the real stuff. In my opinion, this puts Castrol "synthetic" in the same cart as those synthetic blends.
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08-04-2004, 11:39 PM
#8
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wackjum do you happen to visit http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/ cus i havent ever seen anyone explain oil other then on that forum...but i get sick of reading so i never learn it anyways...
08-04-2004, 11:41 PM
#9
so just to clarify, its perfectly safe to put in mobil 1 5w-30 into my car when it currently has some mobil brand of 5w-30? cuz i have a oil leak near my tranny area, and they need to pop out the tranny to fix it, so im leaving it for now. so consequently, my oil tends to run low after a while...
08-05-2004, 12:51 AM
#10
Safety Car
Never been to that website. I hope I'm doing a good job explaining though. I just have an interest in these things. That's all.
And yes, you can mix synthetic and conventional.
And yes, you can mix synthetic and conventional.
08-05-2004, 09:06 AM
#14
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Since my TL has 90K+ miles, I use the Valvoline Max Life Synthetic 5W-30. I've been using it for about a year now and I love it. Before that, I used Mobile 1 5W-30 Synthetic. Not sure if the switch made any difference, but I'm planning on keeping her for another 90K miles!
08-05-2004, 10:45 AM
#15
Safety Car
The high mileage types of oil have stuff in them that swell the seals of your car. As the car gets older, the seals become hard and brittle. Basically the high mileage oil has conditioners to make them softer and expand. When they expand, hopefully they'll do a better job of sealing. That's the theory behind high mileage oil anyhow.
Additionally, high mileage oil has engine cleaning stuff in it that will help it dissolve buildup.
Normal synthetic oil also does this. Some people say that you should never switch to Synthetic in a high mileage car because the Synthetic will flush the engine. It's possible that some of that buildup is helping the seals do their job and when you remove them, you'll start an oil leak. I haven't had any experience with this problem though.
Additionally, high mileage oil has engine cleaning stuff in it that will help it dissolve buildup.
Normal synthetic oil also does this. Some people say that you should never switch to Synthetic in a high mileage car because the Synthetic will flush the engine. It's possible that some of that buildup is helping the seals do their job and when you remove them, you'll start an oil leak. I haven't had any experience with this problem though.
08-06-2004, 08:33 AM
#17
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Originally Posted by wackjum
The high mileage types of oil have stuff in them that swell the seals of your car. As the car gets older, the seals become hard and brittle. Basically the high mileage oil has conditioners to make them softer and expand. When they expand, hopefully they'll do a better job of sealing. That's the theory behind high mileage oil anyhow.
Additionally, high mileage oil has engine cleaning stuff in it that will help it dissolve buildup.
Normal synthetic oil also does this. Some people say that you should never switch to Synthetic in a high mileage car because the Synthetic will flush the engine. It's possible that some of that buildup is helping the seals do their job and when you remove them, you'll start an oil leak. I haven't had any experience with this problem though.
Additionally, high mileage oil has engine cleaning stuff in it that will help it dissolve buildup.
Normal synthetic oil also does this. Some people say that you should never switch to Synthetic in a high mileage car because the Synthetic will flush the engine. It's possible that some of that buildup is helping the seals do their job and when you remove them, you'll start an oil leak. I haven't had any experience with this problem though.
08-06-2004, 08:34 AM
#18
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And oh yeah, the TL now has 192000 KMS, redline's as frequently as I feel like it and (knock knock) pulls harder and passes emissions cleaner than ever before!!!! (There's also something to be said for letting your motor breath hard once in a while, cleans out all the carbon and crap)
11-22-2004, 01:25 PM
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I checked into this, i have a 2000 TL, and i just switched to 5w-30, engine purrs like a pussycat now. the 5w30 is better than the 10w30 because you can use it in greater temperature ranges, more extreme cold and heat, but it maintains its lubricating and viscous properties throughout the temperature range better than the 10w30, so use mobil 1 5w30, nothing is better, trust me. They did close engine loops for one million miles and it showed no wear after they opened it up, not even 5 thousandths of an inch.
This really isnt that impressive concidering 90% of engine wear is done on start up, but compared to the other oils, mobil 1 is the best.
Hey guys, try to go about your day without shutting your engine off for too long, because when your engine is really cold, like 1st thing in the morning, there is no oil between the sleeve and piston rings, so this is when most of the damage is done
This really isnt that impressive concidering 90% of engine wear is done on start up, but compared to the other oils, mobil 1 is the best.
Hey guys, try to go about your day without shutting your engine off for too long, because when your engine is really cold, like 1st thing in the morning, there is no oil between the sleeve and piston rings, so this is when most of the damage is done
11-22-2004, 01:53 PM
#21
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Mobile 1
5w-30
5w-30
11-22-2004, 03:51 PM
#22
Originally Posted by demons rage
just curious on what kinds of oil you guys put into your tl's...
*offtopic*
whats the diff between 5w-30 and 10w-30?
*offtopic*
whats the diff between 5w-30 and 10w-30?
11-22-2004, 03:57 PM
#23
Photoshops, and Polls!!!!
Originally Posted by TLBaller
thats awsome...i love forums.
im still lost on this "weight" and "thin" thingy here lol
im still lost on this "weight" and "thin" thingy here lol
sounds like a conversation girls at a gtm would be tallking about....
11-29-2004, 06:24 PM
#24
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I always use Castrol. I use regular 5W30 on my 3.2 I currently have 175k on my car. I have owned several cars for long mileage (currently have a toyota P/U w/265k); I have used Castrol since about 1985 or so on all my vehicles.
03-27-2010, 06:20 PM
#28
solace in privation
5w-20?
Hi im a new TL owner. I have an O6 manual and it says on the oil cap to put 5w-20 but im reading everyone puts 5w-30 in ? any clarification on this. thanks
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