Long trip and oil weight

We're about to embark on a 1,000 mile road trip (after previously posted CV Joint problem is repaired) that we hope to accomplish in one long day of driving. I'm gonna have the shop change the oil as well and wondered if I should go with something heavier (maybe 15-30 or

10-40) instead of Subaru's recommended 5-30. Car is 1999 Forester with 106K
Reply to
Rob1066
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Shouldn't make any difference. The lower viscosity number is in reference to need for cold cranking in very cold weather. Since it does not get super cold here, I routinely use 10W30 in my Forester. Frank

Reply to
Frank

Unless it's burning oil and smoking really bad, don't change to a heavier weight oil.

Reply to
nobody >

Hi,

Are you going to be driving thru some pretty good heat all day? Something like 100 deg F (38 deg C) kinda stuff? Loaded heavy? If so, you probably won't hurt anything going from a 5W-30 to a 10W-30.

Time was, Subaru and other mfrs didn't recommend the use of 5W-30 for extended highway driving, but oil, and engines, have changed enough that's valid advice today pretty much only if your owner's manual warns against it (it's probably ok'd by '99.) Building on what "Nobody" said, a healthy engine oughta do just fine on the "standard" recommended weight.

Considering how quickly you'll be piling on the miles on this trip, you may want to go the 10W-40 route, IF it's gonna be truly hot AND your engine's a bit loose (though it shouldn't be at 106k if it's been properly cared for) and the owners' manual specs it as ok. You won't hurt anything under those conditions, though it's POSSIBLE a very slight reduction in fuel economy could occur. Probably not enough to worry about, though.

My old '90 was one of the "don't use 5W-30 for extended highway use" models. So I normally ran 10W-30 during the winter. It's routinely 100 deg F and above here during the summer, and I've tried both 10W-40 and

15W-40 in the past to compare to 10W-30 performance. Interestingly, my fuel economy did go DOWN (tiny bit) w/ the 10w-40 but UP (tiny bit again) w/ the 15W-40! So it's truly a YMMV thing!

Some might recommend switching to a synthetic in the 5W-30 wt (if you've been using dino oil.) If you had some time to put some miles on BEFORE the trip to see if it leaked or anything else negative happened, I might join them. Otherwise dino oil's just fine.

Have a fun, and safe, trip!

Rick

Reply to
Rick Courtright

I prefer Mobil1 10-30, but that's just me.

Reply to
Jim Stewart

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