Motor Vehicle Maintenance & Repair Stack Exchange
Motor Vehicle Maintenance & Repair Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [oil-viscosity]

The viscosity of oil is the measure of its resistance to flow.

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Why don`t we use extremely thin oils in engines

I understand that lower viscosity oils are way easier to pump and move around engine parts, also they form a thinner "film" on friction surfaces which could improve parts measurements precision etc. Is it only due to increased piston rings leakage…
kokobill
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Oil evaporates/burns-off (becomes thicker), should top-up be thinner?

I read somewhere that when the oil evaporates, the leftover oil is effectively thicker, e.g., to extrapolate, 5W40 may be closer to 5W50 after the evaporation takes place than before so. I use Redline Oil 5W40 (fully-synthetic ester) in my 2008…
cnst
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Is it beneficial to run high viscosity oil in an old engine near the end of its useful life?

I have often heard that high viscosity oil (higher than what the manufacturer recommends) is good for old engines, engines that are nearing the end of useful life. So, for example let's consider a 1989 Opel Vectra (a car I used to have). The…
juhist
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Engine oil requirements

I ride a 2015 Yamaha FZ-07 (around San Francisco / Bay Area), which is water-cooled and supports 10w30, 10w40, 10w50, and 20w50 motorcycle oils. However, the manual says not use 10w30 oil when the ambient temperature exceeds 70F/21C (and recommends…
ManRow
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Mixing oils of different viscosity

Hi everybody i am asking this question mostly in the context of motorcycle engine but i think the same basic principles apply on a car engine as well. I have changed my motorcycle engine oil with ~3lt of Ipone 10.4 semi synthetic oil. I have a…
kokobill
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Does having no oil/thinner oil make an engine feel more revvy/lively?

I saw a comment which said if you run with no oil this would make a car sound and feel more revy and lively etc(though it wouldn't last very long). Is this true? Personally when I've been low on oil and then added oil I've noticed the oil has…
James Wilson
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Oil Change in new car

My New car says it takes 5w-20 and I just accidentally put 5w-30 in my car... now I'm worried. I heard that 5w-0 is used in the winter because it has a lower viscosity which allows the fluid to move easier in the winter, and 5w-20 is used in the…
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Do oil grades for car change when they become older?

Car is a civic vti 1999. I've asked on forums and honda themselves who said so long as my weather isn't extreme one way or another, I should use 0w30 or 5w30 engine oil. When I went to pickup the oil from my local parts store they told me I need to…
James Wilson
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To change viscocity or not

I recently made a post about switching to synthetic, but looking at the answers and information all around i decided that it was not worth it for me. I have an 115.000 kms (70k miles more or less) 10 year old Honda Fit GD01 (2008) and in the manual…
Jh62
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Engine warm up before oil change

It is advised to warm up the engine before oil change to ease up the oil drain. For a multi grade oil say 10W-30 at cold temperature the viscosity is 10(thinner) and if the engine warms up the viscosity would be 30(thicker) so it would flow more…
DhKo
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Oil viscosity 0w30 vs 5w30

There a a lot of articles about viscosity, but I cant find clearly, do I lose anything when I use 0w30 instead of 5w30? In my climate winter temperatures usually doesn't fall below -20 degrees celsius, but it is possibility to have few nights at -26…
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Engine oil change from 15w50 to a higher viscosity

I have a 2000 Mitsubishi Lancer CK2 with a 4g15 dohc 16 valve engine. I've been using Valvoline VR1 15w40 engine oil and recently noticed its burning a bit more oil than usual. The tailpipe is clean with no oil residue and there are no leaks and…
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