Knucklebus

You can also mix oil weights, making your own custom blend. I've mixed it for years to get what I wanted in regards to hot oil pressure in my old cars. For instance, I wanted thin cold start but thicker hot oil pressure. I mixed 3qts of 5W40 and 2qts of 10W50 for a blend of 7W44 with good results.

peasodos

iTrader: (1)

Stop overthinking, just use 0w-20, doesn't matter blend or full synthetic, all that matters is the viscosity, change every 10k or 1 year, whatever comes first. All the hoopla about other weights and blends is nonsense for this car, use what the owners manual recommends.

bclexus

0W-20 synthetic motor oil is perfectly fine for our engines when driven anywhere on plant Earth. The first number (0) gets the oil flowing at cold startup. The second number (20) is the oil's viscosity at 100°C (212°F), which is the typical operating temperature of engine oil. The GS 350 engine's rod and crank bearings, piston rings, valve guides and the VVT-i (Variable Valve Timing with intelligence) control solenoid valve, oil screen and actuator lock-up mechanism are designed for 20 weight oil.
.

• Will you get better lubrication at cold startup with a 5W (first number) motor oil? Absolutely not!
• Will you get better lubrication at typical operating temperature with a 30 weight (second number) motor oil? No, a 30 weight motor oil will not lubricate any better than the 20 weight the engine is designed to operate with. In fact, a higher viscosity motor oil will ramp-up at rod and crank bearings whereas the 20 weight will not. Also, the VVT-i control solenoid valve, oil screen and actuator lock-up mechanism will be impeded from operating as it should when the motor oil viscosity is too high.

You may think that you are treating your engine better when using a higher viscosity motor oil than the recommended 0W-20, but you are not!

Lastly, if you could drive your car back-n-forth cross country and only turned your engine Off to refill with gasoline your engine oil would test-out okay to continue using after driving more than 100,000 miles. It's the short trips (that causes condensation build-up where the oil temperature never reaches the typical 100°C (212°F) operating temperature) that primarily causes the need to change engine oil and filter every 10,000 miles or once- a-year, whichever comes first. And finally, for people living in colder climates where winter temperatures are low - it can take 20 or 30 miles (or more) of driving to get your engine oil up to the [desired] typical operating temperature of 100°C (212°F)...and your engine may not ever achieve that desired temperature. This, in particular, is the situation where changing engine oil and filter really matters the most.

praetor

Man I sure wish the car came with instructions on what type of oil to use and how often oil should be changed. That would make things so simple. Oh wait.

rjm

I bought my 2013 model GS350 brand new in 2012. If you open the hood, you should see a sticker on top of the radiator specifying what kind of oil and what weight oil you should use in your vehicle. I have followed that for the last 7 years with no problems. I change my oil every year or every 10,000 miles, whichever comes first. Lift your hood and check it out. Whenever you get your car serviced and the oil is changed, take a look at your invoice and it will tell you what kind of oil your dealer is putting in it.

GSRockstar

bclexus

The most wear done to an engine is at cold startup when engine oil is slow to circulate throughout the engine. This starvation of crucial lubrication happens the colder the ambient temperature becomes wherever your car sits overnight, and a big factor in oil starvation is a higher first number (than '0') oil viscosity if used. In other words, the chance of the engine's main crankshaft bearings and the rod bearings making metal-on-metal contact (instead of having a thin layer of engine oil separating the bearings from the crankshaft journals) are greatest the first moment the engine is cranked up after setting for awhile. One hundred cold startups may equal the wear of driving the car constantly at 70 mph for x miles 'if' the car sits overnight in an ambient temperature of 50° or higher when it is cold started. However, only fifty cold startups (or even fewer) may equal that same amount of wear 'if' the car is often subject to cold starts in sub-freezing ambient temperatures...and even more wear in lower ambient temperatures.

Most people think mileage alone is the primary reason for engine wear, but that's really not the case at all. The wear is caused primarily by the cold starts, but it is cold starts in very cold ambient temperatures and short trips where the engine oil never reaches typical operating temperature 100°C (212°F) that causes an excessive amount of engine wear. There is really no good way to determine how much oil-related wear has taken place unless the engine is torn down and measurements are taken, which of course is not practical.

If you have the choice of buying a used car that is from a warm climate area of the country (or is always parked overnight in a semi-heated garage) versus a car that is parked outside in cold climate areas of the country - definitely the former should be your choice. And likewise, if you have the choice of buying a used car that has most of its mileage from Interstate/highway driving versus a car that has most of its mileage from short, stop-n-go, city driving - definitely the former should be your choice. The reasons should be obvious...

bclexus

Your question is beyond obtuse and doesn't deserve a response...

praetor

I never really change the oil. I just top off what gets vaporized.

coolsaber

as long as you have it in writing meh. viscosity and regularity are probably the biggest factors with oil. IMHO synthetic, blend, or conventional really start mattering when the directive of the engine builder says so, or your specific use case, is demanding ie racing, towing, or anytime of engine use where your going to give the car the beans.

But even then, if the weight is speced right, and your regular oil changes are done, engine will purr on

coolsaber

I heard 75w90 is the best for cold climate engines. Keeps the oil passages well lubricated like cholesterol in arteries.....

Knucklebus

Have you ever changed rear gear fluid in a cold garage only a few degrees above freezing? That stuff is as thick as molasses.

Also, oil gets thicker with use, not thinner, due to particulate being held in suspension by the detergent additives. Ever seen a car with way too many miles between oil changes? When you pull the drain plug on a hot motor and it pours out like play doh, well, you get the idea.

chinee

Unless you have a Honda 1.5T. That oil poured like water out of the Civic, and clearly smelled of gas, talk about fuel dilution... :groan: Bought a Honda for my college daughter, for reliability and durability... shoulda stuck with a Toyota, but who wants to drive a Corolla?

coolsaber

I hope we both got the joke I was making.

coolsaber

the 1.5t is the recalled engine right, or rather lack of a recall due to Honda sayings its normal on Crvs the current gen lineup