Jersey Guy Automotive OLD

Should You Switch Engine Oil Types In Winter?

Winter means cold temperatures, and cold temperatures mean that the oil in your engine gets thicker. In the past, this typically made it more difficult for your engine to turn over when you started your vehicle. Using a type of engine oil that maintained adequate viscosity in cold temperatures was important to stay on the road and avoid engine damage.

Prior to about 1970, many vehicles required single-grade engine oil. Single-grade engine oil came in different viscosities to accommodate different engine sizes and temperature extremes. During this era, motorists in areas with cold winters did, indeed, need to change to a winter-rated oil, such as SAE 10W, when the cold weather months approached. When the weather warmed again, the winter oil needed to be swapped out for thicker oil, such as SAE 40, that didn't break down and lose its lubricating properties in the summer heat.

Today, the addition of synthetic polymer additives to engine oil has given us multi-viscosity motor oil. These oils are sold with two different single-grade ratings. For example, 10W-30 oil has the properties of a single-grade 10W (for "winter") oil in cold weather, and a single-grade 30 oil in the summer. Virtually all vehicles manufactured in the world today are engineered to require multi-viscosity motor oil.

The bottom line: Check your vehicle's owner's manual, which will provide you with information about which multi-viscosity oil grades are acceptable and may provide guidelines that take your climate into consideration.

[Photo credit: Robert Couse-Baker via Flickr, used under CC-BY-2.0 license]