What do all those numbers mean and what do i need for my car? Which brand is best? Do I need to have a different oil for the winter? The most common questions I hear are to do with engine oil. Its because engine oil is the most common thing you have to do put in your car, besides washing it of course, but I'm pretty sure you don't need my help with that. If not, drive to the nearest car wash, you'll figure it out I hope.
Engine oils are meant to keep all parts lubricated. Not having oil in your engine is like trying to do a marathon without ever having exercised before, and without even warming up or stretching (something very bad will happen). The oil keeps all those metal parts from making direct contact and rubbing into each other, which creates small shards of metal everywhere, which basically means that your engine will eat itself up!
Engine oils usually have numbers and an occasional letter associated with the type of engine oil. These determine viscosity, and resistance to extreme temperatures. I'm not going to bore you with all the details here, but I'll just explain enough for you to be able to make the right decision.
This is an example of the format: 5W-20
Engine oils are meant to keep all parts lubricated. Not having oil in your engine is like trying to do a marathon without ever having exercised before, and without even warming up or stretching (something very bad will happen). The oil keeps all those metal parts from making direct contact and rubbing into each other, which creates small shards of metal everywhere, which basically means that your engine will eat itself up!
Engine oils usually have numbers and an occasional letter associated with the type of engine oil. These determine viscosity, and resistance to extreme temperatures. I'm not going to bore you with all the details here, but I'll just explain enough for you to be able to make the right decision.
This is an example of the format: 5W-20
- 5 stands for the level of viscosity at 0 Fahrenheit
- W stands for Winter
- 20 stands for the level of viscosity at 212 Fahrenheit
What should all these numbers mean to you? Well, not much, you're not the one to determine what engine oil your car needs. Each car has its own specific needs. So what you can do is check your car manual, or call your local dealership. Once they give you the right classification, you're essentially free to pick the brand you want. The choice that you can make is whether you want oil for winter or not, and going up or down one unit in #'s shouldn't affect your car if you're looking to buy something cheaper. The only exception is high performance cars, you'll need to stick with exactly what the manufacturer says letter by letter.
Which brand is best? There's no such thing, you might as well ask what flavor of ice cream is best. As long as you're picking the right classification, feel free to not listen to what anyone tells you you should use. I would however recommend any well known brand, because after all, your engine oil is whats gonna keep your engine safe from wrecking itself.
All in all, the easiest thing to do is to ask your local dealer what they think is best, you can't go wrong with that. But i would also suggest buying it from any store and pouring it in yourself, it'll be much cheaper, and it'll be one thing u can cross off the list of getting ripped off from.
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