Joe Boulay

I received an email from Sandra G. She went to have her vehicles oil changed, and she was asked what type of oil she wanted to use in her car. Not exactly knowing what type of oil her car took she simply said; I do not know. She explained to me that she was asked if she wanted synthetic oil or conventional oil, and the she was asked what grade of oil. The shop she went to found out what grade of oil her cars engine took and replaced it with the proper type and grade. In this case it was 5 W 20 conventional  motor oil. Knowing what kind of engine oil is very important today to get maximum fuel economy and performance from your vehicles engine.

The shop that she went to was aware enough to ask her if she had a preference, and then they educated her about what type of oil her vehicle was engineered to use. She asked me for a second opinion so here it goes. In case you ever wondered what 5W20 means I am going to explain it to you in layman’s terms so you can understand what engine oil is all about. When you see a W on the viscosity rating it means that the oil has been tested in colder temperatures. The oil without the W are all tested at 210 degrees F. So in other words SAE 30 motor oil is the same viscosity as 10W30 and 5W30 at 200 degrees. So what does viscosity mean? Viscosity is basically the oils resistance to flow, when the engine is first started to when it is fully warmed up. It is very important especially today to have the proper oil in your vehicles engine. If you look at the picture above in this post you can see that this automaker of this engine has what oil type of oil it takes stamped right on the cap. Most automakers will have this information in the owner’s manual if it is not stamped on the cap.