PimpRod92RS

Hey,
I was doing an underhood checkup in my driveway a day after I had my oil changed. I looked on the radiator support to find a sticker that my mechanic puts on the car after every service. It says: Changed oil-10W-40. After reading the oil cap I realize that 5W-30 is supposed to go in there. My engine has 72,000 on it and I want it to last me a long time, does anybody know if 10W-40 is bad for my engine? Or should it be like this because it is older or something. Last time it was changed he put 10W-30 in it and it lasted well. Any help or knowledge is greatly appreciated.

PhilM

plenty of people will come on here and say a world of stuff about why you shouldn't run it, but in all reality it won't hurt a thing.

RB83L69

OOOOHHHHHH NNNNNOOOOOOO!!!!!! the next scheduled big asteroid impact on the Earth just got moved up a couple of weeks!!! Do you realize the death and destruction this could cause? Shoot it! Drive it off a cliff!! Burn it to ashes in a government-approved hazardous waste incinerator!!! Above all, don't go posting this on the Internet any more, the black helicopters will follow you around the rest of your life if they find out!!!

Don't worry about it. It'll be fine. It might not be the best choice, but it's better than dirty oil.

SSC

LOL you beat me too it RB.

It's actually better then 5w 30 in the summer months as far as dino juice goes.

camaropowerZ28

What about if they put 15w 40 in?

Vader

I am afraid you are too late, my apprentice. The power of the Dark Side has already foreseen this. We used a mind trick to persuade the mechanic to fill it with the dreaded 10-W-4-D in the first place.

We need only to overpower the weak-minded C-O-P-3s, and we will once again control the entire Empire...

Vader

If that is true, you should be using synthetic 10W30, 15W50, or 20W50. 72,000 miles is not too late to change and reap the benefits.

ATOMonkey

We did some studies on oil and even had a long talk with some Mobile reps. Even they say oil is pretty much so oil once it gets hot. After our test I'm inclined to agree. The only big diff is how it acts when it's super cold out. You definately want a light oil in the winter or you'll just be cranking and pumping jellly.

I've run 5W30 10W40 and straight SAE50 in my Turbo Coupe and my SBC and neither of them ever so much as hiccuped.

Vader

All molecular motion in the sump would cease, causing the oil and sump to reach absolute zero almost instantly. The rapid cooling of the sump would cause immensely fast thermal contraction of the sump, creating a gravitational anomaly. The sump would implode upon itself, feeding the gravitational concentration, which would expand, drawing in the rest of the engine, transmission, vehicle, any small animals and children in the vicinity, etc. As the black hole became more intense, entire neighborhoods, cities, countries and planets would be sucked in. Fissionable material would be drawn away from the sun, collapsing it to an unshielded fusion reaction.

This is where it would get interesting.

The highly compressed fused core material of the sun would be drawn in and accelerate the gravitationl forces. The complete Milky Way galaxy, Andromeda, Pleiades, all Ford Galaxies, and all stellar matter would be compressed into a space roughly the size of a golf ball, until forces were so great it would fuse and release the energy of a million-trillion stars in an instant, starting the cycle all over again. You'd have to invent the ThirdGen all over again.

I saw it happen once when a guy put straight 40 in a Chrysler 340. Or not...

Greasemonkey

:sillylol:

Dan88IrocZ

^^ I had to read that twice before I said to myself "DUUUH ahaha" I took it all seriously

Dirty Rob

And for ***'s sake, put SFC's on it this time.

RMK

Vader,

Is that a photo of you you posted? I think I saw you in Sears on Wednesday afternoon.

AJ_92RS

No..... that's his brother.

Vader's much better looking, but more well "rounded".

If you really want to mess with the mechanic, ask him what eye doctor he goes to. If he looks at you funny just say "I just want to make sure I never go to that doctor. " :sillylol:

It's not bad at all. AAMOF, the slightly thicker oil will be more slicker in the heat of the summer.

Vader

Unless Sears had a Hallowe'en party Wednesday, probably not. That costume is almost too hot to wear even at the end of October, let alone April.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

AJ got it backward. My brother is a bit more "well-rounded", and I'm a bit more svelt. (6'4" and 190# doesn't leave a lot of excess). We old-fart amateur hockey players have to stay a little more lean to even have a chance to keep up with the 22-year-old "punk" kids, less than half our ages.

five7kid

iTrader: (14)

Using 10W40 may void your warranty.

Other than being a rather amusing thread, there are unfortunately plenty of mis-statements amoung the serious responses (I really like the one from the "Mobil reps"). Since I've probably covered each of them at least once in past responses in the past couple of years, I won't bother doing so now.

"Reality is for those who can't handle drugs." I can't handle drugs - really...

Mkos1980

iTrader: (8)

I'm running Mobil 1 15-50 in both my bird with 73,000 and my Lumina with 143,000 miles. 0 problems

bigals87z28

ahh.. vader you had me at absolute zero... That was awesome.. i gotta save that somewhere. I cant see or breath.. oh man that was great...

f-crazy

iTrader: (-1)

"punk" 21 yr old hockey player


i remember about 15 years ago my dad had this jeep that burned more oil then he could put in...so one winter he put in 50 or 80 weight,, im pretty sure it was 80..he put it in because winters in michigan are no joke...i wouldnt freeze my @ss of putting in oil every moring either lol

he cranked it over and the oil was so sledgy that the timing chain broke...

when i had to drive my car 46 miles to get it back to my house with a broken rod bolt i put in 20 w...worked like a charm

SLP IROC-Z

iTrader: (1)

im running 20-50 right now, i wouldnt recommend it, i also have 74K and the oil is way to thick in the morning and when ever the car is cold, it takes for ever for it to get warm enough where the oil pressure is 35psi at idle. once its warm its ok, but its real thick when cold, makes my motor rap every now and then when its real cold. time to put in 5-30

Zepher

iTrader: (1)

Vader needs to put down those sci-fi magazines and come back to the real world.

Riley's35089rs+

Gotta admit ...its better than wd-40....

bigals87z28

exactly how many cans would it take to change your oil with wd-40?

Odyssey

You can't even spell the name of the company correctly and you want us to believe you talked to Mobil One reps ? LOL...

Jim85IROC

iTrader: (2)

when your cars leak and/or burn as much oil as some of mine, 10w40 will become your friend.

I run 10w40 in my GTA and I ran it in my Sport Coupe forever. I put 40k HARD miles on my sport coupe since I owned it, and it now sits at 165k miles and still runs like brand new. Oh, and I probably only did 5 oil changes on it in those 40k miles.

Vader

For real? My car is old enough to drive itself. Warranty hasn't been an issue for a long time now.

I'll agree that this has been covered probably 100 times or more in some detail. Maybe it's time for a Tech Article on lubrication. Then again, there are already numerous web pages on that very topic, and still no one seems to believe them. Unless there is an ISO spec on the oil container, I don't use it. As soon as SAE gets with the program, I might start believing them again.

Riley's35089rs+

Cool !!!I think I know her!!!!

SSC

Skip the SFC's and this time and just build a real frame.

hank

lol hey vader i just read your reply and the big bang/crunch analogy and where else in the world can you discuss physics/cosmology and top it off with a purple haried bouncey chick. What a world we live in aint it great

Mark W. Winning

Add SFC's, ditch the 305's and put a real manual transmission in them this time!


LOL, when I read the post title I thought it said WD40!

Riley's35089rs+

Me Too!!

3.1EyeCandy

iTrader: (3)

I run Castrol GTX 20W-50 in my GTA. The car's old enough and burns enough oil that I needed the heavier oil to keep from having to put more in every time I stop to get gasoline.

oh....and nice sig pic there Vader

Riley's35089rs+

check the gas and fill the oil!!!:sillylol:

rx7speed

um five7 doesn't look like your doing your job here in the past
and mr vader as a mod seems to be helping out the going against the rules
but man this was a good post from the good old days


my question though after reading this thread is about the 10w-40
as a dino juice I hear it's bad. too many polymers in them that lead to deposits
what about using 10w-40 synthetic?


another question I have regarding weight.

if lets say the car was said to run 10w-30 back in early 80's ok. since then oil has changed quite a bit and should be better at protecting might you be able to run a thinner oil in this case?

or what about if you switch from a dino to a synthetic would yo ube able to run a lighter oil at that point?

pvt num 11

I had the misfortune of being struck with an odd Stupidity Particle the other month, and bought a case of 20W-50, and used it on my wife's car, Lifters make some noise upon startup, but once it's warmed up, it's all good.

I had also committed the Cardinal Sin - I had topped off my GTA's oil with the same stuff, and it had been filled with 5W-30 Mobil 1 synthetic. Shoot, car still drives, just a puff of blue when started (always been like that) and I'll fix the problem when I change it again, anyway.

And if we have to redesign Third Gens again, can we include boosted V6 motors for EVERY year, as a high-end option or something...? Oh, and put a real boost gauge in there, too. I'm sure a lot of people would like a TTA without paying through the nose for it...

Dan8289gta

I run a combo of wd-40 and orange juice no problems yet.

HawaiianRS

You've overlooked the biggest danger of 10-40, it's a "turbo" oil. When placed in a non-turbo engine it will continue to seek out the oil supply line to the turbo, eventually leading to oil leaks from every gasket . Kind of like when a male takes a Midol for pain, it doesn't know where to go!

kevinc

Mine's old enough to buy alcoholic beverages...

AJ_92RS

Jeeze. Even beverages are becoming alcoholics? Where does it end?

Instead of joining AA, do they join ABA (Alcoholic Beverages Anonymous)?

mike graycar

iTrader: (2)

Mine's finally old enough to stay home alone unsupervised,

Hey Kevin, could you shoot me an emai? mikeygraycar@aol.com
I have few questions about those AFR heads. My 383 is going together this week-Mikel

rx7speed

any ideas?

Meatwad

Oh oh and cupholders to! and a single din tape deck!

five7kid

iTrader: (14)

Depends upon the base being used. Some 10W-40 synthetics don't have any VI improvers (the polymers), while other cheaper base stocks have to be loaded with them to make the numbers. Stick with the good PAO types, it isn't a problem.

Viscosity is rated the same regardless of the base used. A 10W petroleum-based oil will be in the same viscosity range as a 10W synthetic at the rated low temperature. The difference comes when you go beyond the rated temperature, like -20F, where the synthetic will probably still pour but the petroleum-based oil may not. Similar story with the 30 weight at high temp; they'll both be in the same viscosity range, but the synthetic will typically be less prone to heat-related break-down than the petroleum based oil will be.

Personally, I think the high temp number is the more important (the "30" of 10W-30, for instance), than the low number. The low number is indicative of cold temp cranking and cold operation performance, and doesn't really pertain to warmed-up, steady state operation - unless the oil is loaded with VI improver polymers to give it a wide band between the two numbers (again, more of an issue with petroleum-based oils and the lower cost synthetics than PAO's).

Vader

What he said. If you don't believe it, get yourself a viscosity cup. It doesn't matter what kind, even a cheapie for paint spraying is fine. Freeze a quart of your favorite oil, and a quart of Mobil 1. Boil another quart of each (in the bottles - be careful). Start pouring and timing.

If you're lucky enough to have access to a cryo freezer (many workplaces with metallurgical test labs have them, in case you didn't know), freeze a quart of each at about -60°F. Try pouring each one. Don't worry about spilling any oil - It won't. The Mobil 1 may get messy if you're not careful, though.

5-7 outlines the basic reasons. That's why I frequently mention that synthetics "cheat" the SAE system, since they operate at temperatures at which SAE does not test, but your engine may frequently reach.

If you care even a little about keeping your engine for a long time, don't even mess with oil, or the wanna-be synthetics. Use AMSOIL or Mobil 1 to be certain you are getting pure PAO base stock, or read labels carefully to be certain what you're getting. For Heaven's sake, stay away from the Group III "synthetics" that are merely hydrocracked mineral oils. The FTC really needs to overrule the National Advertising Council and get this straight. Being able to call a mineral oil "synthetic" is just plain wrong. As long as we know the difference, we shouldn't fall victim to that advertising.

Because of that, we really need to stay away from Castrol Syntec, Pennzoil "synthetics" and most anything other than Amsoil, Mobil, some Red Line, and possibly Royal Purple. Read the labels carefully for your own sake. Otherwise, you may be getting screwed by "legal" advertising campaigns.

Viscosity of PAO is a totally different game from mineral oil. Start looking for ISO viscosity or SSU viscosity test results before you choose. SAE is just adding to the confusion and potential screwing we may get when selecting lubricants. That's why industry (even the automobile industry itself) ignores SAE for lubrication in their equipment. Try finding an SAE rating for hydraulic oil, turbine oil, etcetera.

Vader

Any advertisment notwithstanding, this one has it about right:

http://www.pecuniary.com/newsletters...ynthetics.html

rx7speed

so now that we covered that wanna cover synthetic ATF vs normal ATF?

4MULA88

LMFAO

84z28350

I run 15w40 in the summer and throw in 0-30 during the winter months. I dont drive it for the winter but i throw in the light oil because i fire it up every now and then.

five7kid

iTrader: (14)

Along with better wear protection, synthetic offers the huge benefit of higher temperature capability before break-down. I have not heard if the synthetic name war has carried over to that arena, as fewer outfits try to make synthetic ATF than those getting into the "synthetic" label motor oil.

Dana at Probuilt (freqentor on the Tranny forum) used to have unkind things to say about Mobil 1 ATF. Not sure if that still holds.

Vader

Any recollection of what they were talking about? I can understand that some level of friction between surfaces is necessary in an auto trans, but short of the synthetic running them out of business, I'm not sure what the problem(s) might be.