10W40 Oil replaced with 5W30

C4Kid

Hey guys,

Basically Is 5W30 lighter than 10W40? I presume it is

Got the car serviced about two weeks ago, I was told that the oil would be replaced with a thicker oil for a little extra protection. I had 10W40 in it which is the right spec.

00 Golf 1.4 petrol (enough said):rolleyes:

Valvoline Synpower 5W30 in it since the service.

I've noticed it's not burning as much oil as it used to running on 10W40 which I put down to the fact the oil is thicker and didn't think too much about it until yesterday. I went into the local motor factors to buy the oil, and the guy serving me I should flush it immediately and replace with 10W40 as 5W30 is too light for the engine.

ballsymchugh

went into halfords today to buy castrol and used their guide to what the car manufacturers specify, and it was 5W30. hadn't even noticed it before. will be keeping an eye on this thread!

C4Kid

C4Kid wrote: »

, I was told that the oil would be replaced with a thicker oil for a little extra protection.

Thicker oil won't give extra protection, a thinner oil will provide more protection from start up.
I wouldn't be overly concerned with the lad's advice from the factors, if your Golf burned 10w40 noticeably in a few weeks 5w30 won't do it any harm at all.

Tefral

5w30 oil is "lighter" than 10w40. The numbers are the rating of the oils Viscosity and the W stands for Winter. The 5 stands for the viscosity when its Cold and the 30 stands for the Viscosity when its Hot. The number does not indicate the actual viscosity in high and low temperature extremes of the oil. It represents the rate of viscosity change with temperature change.

Normally, the older the car and the higher the mileage, you put in an oil with a higher "weight" because as the engines wear, the tolerances are not as close and oil can seep past rings and bearings.

I wouldnt use 5w30 in the engine of an older car. Are you sure the mechanic didnt mean he used 15w40 or 15w60?

C4Kid

a thinner oil will provide more protection from start up.

Thats probably exactly what was implied and I picked up on it wrong .

I wouldnt use 5w30 in the engine of an older car. Are you sure the mechanic didnt mean he used 15w40 or 15w60?

Thanks for the info cronnin_j, Yeah the car has over 130,000 miles !! I assumed from my previous knowledge that surely 15W40 had to be what was put in based on what I was told, might give them a ring and clarify it.

Tefral

C4Kid wrote: »

Thats probably exactly what was implied and I picked up on it wrong .



Thanks for the info cronnin_j, Yeah the car has over 130,000 miles !! I assumed from my previous knowledge that surely 15W40 had to be what was put in based on what I was told, might give them a ring and clarify it.

Do, let us know how you get on! Being honest its not gonna make a whole pile of difference in the space of one service anyway, if it is 5w30, just make sure to check it every week, a "thinner" oil would tend to burn off that bit quicker.

Seth Brundle

http://www.carbibles.com/engineoil_bible.html

C4Kid

Being honest its not gonna make a whole pile of difference

Yeah, I'm not too worried and there isn't much between them,

I'd say I got confused because so far it seems to burn slightly less than before but I'm doing less milage so that could be it as well

lomb

5/40 is the correct oil for that engine with i think vw502 written on the back of the bottle. I would only run it on that and keep topping it up, they do use oil for sure. 1.4 golf engines are soft and shouldn't be run on non fully synth. Its not that dear, lidl to 1 liter top ups for 5 euros with that spec.