What Kind Of Oil And Oil Filter Do I Need

How to Choose the Right Car Oil and Filter

Updated: Oct. 22, 2018

Use the right oil and filter and make your machine last

FH13OCT_OILFIL_01-2 car oil Family Handyman

Is your car's oil all black and gunky? Better change information technology now. Hither'due south how to choose the correct oil and filter for your vehicle.

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Automobile oil and filters

There are lots of choices

Viscosity isn't the only option y'all'll have to make when ownership oil for your vehicle. Constructed, conventional, or synthetic blends are bachelor from a variety of manufacturers.

Whether you change your own oil or have a shop do it for you, choosing the right oil, filter and service interval has never been more challenging. Because even if you follow the oil type and viscosity recommendations shown in your owner's manual, you nevertheless take at least a dozen oil formulations to cull from. And oil filters come in just equally many flavors. Nosotros can help respond: What oil filter do I need. You can buy a $xiv filter with the highest dirt-holding specifications and the longest mileage rating. Simply practise you need to spend that much if you lot alter your oil on schedule? Then there'southward the issue of extended drain intervals. Can you actually go 12,000 to 15,000 miles between oil changes?

Nosotros contacted experts at Valvoline, Mobil 1, Pennzoil, Royal Purple, Fram and WIX Filters to get you upward-to-date advice that you can take to the bank. And we'll kill off a few myths in the procedure. Merely offset, a quick lesson in the basics of engine lubrication.

Engine oil primer

Oil's main task is to create an extremely thin cushioning picture to separate metallic components and prevent contact equally the parts rotate and bang against one some other. Inside the combustion bedchamber, the oil motion picture acts every bit a sealant to close the gap between the piston rings and the cylinder wall. That constant sliding, pounding and shearing friction creates heat. So oil'southward second job is to carry abroad the estrus of friction and cool metal parts.

Adjacent, oil has to clean the engine and carry dust, dirt, combustion past-products (soot and acid) and the remnants of degraded oil off to the filter to be captured. In addition, oil must neutralize acids, prevent metal from corroding, and proceed foaming equally whirling parts whip air into it. And it contains antioxidants to protect itself against breakdown.

Oil does all these things. Simply first information technology has to circulate. To do that, it must flow well. And that'southward where it gets complicated. Sparse oil (5-weight) pumps well when common cold. Just information technology thins out when hot, making information technology harder to maintain a cushioning picture. Thicker oil (30-weight), on the other hand, maintains a potent cushioning film that doesn't thin when hot. But information technology's near impossible to pump when cold.

To become the best of both worlds, carmakers specify a multi-viscosity oil (5W-xxx, for case). It's thin and pumps when cold, simply thickens as it heats up (come across "Regular Oil vs. Constructed" below). Engineers make up one's mind exactly what viscosity range is best suited for any particular engine.

Always follow the manufacturer's viscosity recommendation

Bated from neglect, using the wrong oil viscosity is the single about common cause of premature engine wear. And about of that wear occurs during common cold starts. What'southward considered a common cold start? If your vehicle hasn't run for iii or more than hours, it'south common cold—fifty-fifty if you live in Arizona!

The carmaker's recommendations are in your possessor's transmission or right on the oil filler cap. Never 2nd-estimate the carmaker's recommendations, even if your know-it-all buddy says a different viscosity oil volition work better. Ignore the carmaker's recommendations at your own risk.

Get rid of former oil

Old oil won't piece of work

If a canteen of oil'southward been in your garage for more than than v years, just become ahead and throw it out. If it's in a tin, send it to the Smithsonian. Always dispose of quondam oil properly.

Oil has a shelf life of about five years. And so if you lot bought a truckload of oil on sale 20 years agone, don't think you can cascade it in your 2013 truck. Oil degrades in the can or bottle only from sitting in your garage.

High-mileage question

Q: My motorcar has high miles and my buddy told me to switch from 5W-thirty to 20W-fifty oil to get better piston sealing.

A: A 20W-50 oil does provide better piston-to-cylinder film strength. But it'll crusade more engine wear at cold startup. Use a loftier mileage (HM) 5W-30 oil instead and get the same protection at outset-up and better movie forcefulness when hot.

Make full only to the tiptop line on the dipstick

Don't overfill

Even if your engine leaks or burns oil and you're tired of topping it off, overfilling isn't the answer.

Overfilling the crankcase is actually bad for your engine. Fifty-fifty if your engine leaks or burns oil and y'all're tired of topping it off, overfilling isn't the answer. Running an overfilled engine really causes excessive oil consumption that tin can destroy your catalytic converter (about $1,000 to repair). And, when the oil level is too loftier, rotating engine parts whip air into it, turning information technology into foam. Cream doesn't lubricate or cool, so engine parts overheat, wear and fail.

Adding the wrong oil is better than driving with no oil

The incorrect oil is improve than no oil

If you can't observe the right oil at the nearest convenience store, it's better to add the wrong oil than to proceed driving on oil vapor.

You're supposed to check your oil level regularly. But most of the states don't. If y'all're driving a leaker or an oil burner and notice yourself critically depression on oil, you lot've got to human activity fast or you'll destroy the engine. If you lot can't find the correct oil at the nearest convenience store, information technology's ameliorate to add the wrong oil than to proceed driving on oil vapor. Catch a bottle of multiviscosity oil that'south the closest to the manufacturer's recommendation and pour in enough to restore the oil level. If you only added 1 qt., you can expect until your next oil modify. Only if y'all've added 2 or more quarts of the wrong oil, go your vehicle in for an oil change soon.

Oh, and fix the leak that caused the low oil condition.

Do oil brands thing?

Q: My engine needs oil. I take a bottle with the correct viscosity and the current 'SN' rating, but it's a different brand. Can I utilize it to elevation off my engine?

A: Mixing different brands is fine.

Car oil for high-mileage cars

High-mileage (HM) oil contains seal conditioners that rejuvenate brittle aged seals. And it contains additives to improve moving picture strength when the oil is hot. Depending on the brand, HM car oil may besides include more than anticorrosive, acid-neutralizing and antiwear additives. If you accept a loftier-mileage engine and desire to keep it running, HM oil is worth the higher toll.

Synthetic oil mileage

Q: If I switch to synthetic oil, can I extend the drain intervals?

A: If your vehicle is covered past a warranty (factory or extended), you MUST follow the vehicle manufacturer'due south recommended oil-change intervals fifty-fifty with synthetic oil. If you're not covered by a warranty, consult the oil manufacturer for its recommended bleed intervals.

Regular oil vs. synthetic

Regular oil molecules

Regular oil is a natural, mineral-based material, with molecules that vary in size. These brawl bearings give you lot the picture. Imagine trying to slide on them!

Constructed oil molecules

Synthetic oil is made from oil and gas that have been broken apart and reassembled, molecule past molecule. The molecules are a uniform size, and then the oil pumps better when cold and maintains a strong pic when hot.

How can I switch from conventional to constructed?

Q: I'd like to switch to synthetic car oil and read that because synthetics accept better detergents, I demand to flush my engine with solvents first.

A: Just make the switch—don't always affluent your engine with solvents.

Buy a good motorcar oil filter for synthetic oil

Filter manufacturers normally make several grades of filters—good, better, best. If you use a mineral oil and change it and your filter on schedule, y'all don't need to spend more for a amend filter. Merely if you use a synthetic oil or intend to become longer between oil changes, buy a superlative-of-the-line name-make filter.

Installing a cartridge filter

Many newer engines use a cartridge filter instead of a spin-on design. Always note the location of the O-ring as you lot remove the cap and replace it with the new O-band in the filter box. Lube the O-ring with oil, and use a torque wrench set to the manufacturer'due south specifications to tighten the cap.

Mark the contact position when installing a new filter

Mark the car oil filter'south position when the filter gasket first makes contact

A white paint pen works well for black or other nighttime-colored filters. Black felt pens piece of work well on brighter-colored auto oil filters.

Loose auto oil filters are the No. ane cause of oil leaks. Follow the tightening instructions on the box. Spin information technology on until the gasket contacts the mounting surface. Describe a line on the filter in the 12 o'clock position. Mitt-tighten the recommended number of turns then finish.

Bigger is not better

Follow the manufacturer's recommendations when choosing a car oil filter

Don't think you're getting better filtration by substituting a larger filter only because information technology fits the threads on your engine.

Oil filters are application-specific. Don't retrieve y'all're getting meliorate filtration by substituting a larger filter merely because it fits the threads on your engine. It may have a unlike filter media, menses rate or featherbed valve rating than the correct filter. Don't second-gauge the filter manufacturer.

Originally Published: Oct 20, 2018