I just changed my oil for the first time, and instead of putting in 5w-30 like the "how to" instructed, I put in 10w-30. About 6.5 quarts.

Now my engine is running at about 180-190-210 degrees, instead of the normal 170-180 degrees.

Is this because I put the different oil in? Or should it not really make much of a difference.

I had been driving kinda rough last night when I first noticed the increase in temperature, so I just thought that was why. But then after I drove normally for a half hour, and the temp still wasnt dropping, I began to worry.

Should I change the oil back to 5w-30?

 

yeah change it back in my opinion especially if you have noticed a difference in coolant temps 200 degree coolant isnt good i get that from leaving my car in neutral for like 15 mins and i live in HEAT

 

If you have the 2.0, you should swap to 5w Synthetic ASAP

 

coolant changes...i use the right oil and in idle it can get to 210 215, normal cruising usually 180's so your temp is basically fine.... why did you use that oil? your car will live however and you should be fine..just change it back next time and welcome to the site

 

I didnt bring the the how-to print out with me, and for my other cars i used to own(which were pieces of crap) I used 10w-30.

Yeah, I should have followed directions. I think I will switch back to the 5w-30....


What a waste of money. Oh well...


Oh, and thanks for the welcome

 

not to be a dick or anything but , it says what oil you need on the flippin cap you take off to put in more oil , it says mobil 1 5w-30

 

unfortunately I didn't bring the oil cap into the store either...

 

haha yeah...

 

i dont know what to tell you man i think common sense kicked your ass on this one , round 2 is in 2,900 miles get ready

 

as a rule of "thumb" (my disregard to the women this rule applied to women getting beated by a stick no thicker then the thumb)...(although i like the idea)

always know what your supposed to get when you get to your auto sports store....please tell me you used synthetic?

 

yeah if you didnt use 5w 30 synthetic then i would highly suggest another oil change 10w 30 synthetic shouldnt be bad but im not sure

 

This wasnt the most planned out oil change obviously. I ended up doing it at like 6pm, so it got dark, and i spilled half the freakin oil on the ground, not to mention mess up every possible thing you can mess up in an oil change...

I guess it'll give me another reason to get back under the car....

 

i got my oil changed yesterday and the guy was gonna use 10 w 30 good thing i know the guy and am allowed in the bays

 

^^ i agree with what he said, the oil type is on the cap. LOL!!

 

using 5w 30 is not going to be a huge difference from usng 10w 30. i have had my car for 30,000 miles and done about 10 oil changes. i avealways used 10w 30. the only difference is that the 5w 30 is slightly lighter when the engine is not yet at opperating temp (180 to 215. when the car is running at opperating temp, they are both 30 weight.

also if your car was running between 170 and 180, is too cold. it should be between 180 and 215.

 

200 is fine. the cooling fans don't kick on untill 230. anything below that is not a problem. not sure what makes you think that 200 is bad, but it's not. anywhere from 170-220 is nothing to worry about.

 

The reason the manufacturer tells you what type of oil to put in is because the 2.0 uses metric oil rings which most car manufacturer's use now. These are thinner rings than your old rings made 10 years ago for compact vehicles. Also for the synthetic purpose is heat inside the engine. Synthetic oils run cooler than conventional. You probably haven't hurt anything but always stick with one brand and weight for the longevity purpose. If you change brands over and over it will eventually wear your engine down.

 

Many people believe viscosity (resistance to flow or thickness if you will) = film strength. This is not the case. If this were true we would have grease fittings on our engine or we would all be running 90wt. Heavy weight gear oil does have properties designed to best protect transmissions, but the forces affecting transmissions are different than those in your engine.

Film strength is the ability of an oil to seperate 2 surfaces before metal to metal contact is reached, and engine damage occurs. A heaver weight (more viscous) oil will not protect your engine any better than a light weight oil will. However it will cause more drag on an engine than a lighter weight oil, reducing horsepower and increasing heat through added friction and deminished oil volume (which also acts to cool critical bearing surfaces.) Not good.

Going to a synthetic oil of the proper viscocity will offer greater protection against bearing failure because the film strength is higher (usually 375-450psi vs 200-210psi for petroleum oils.) This means that each square inch of bearing surface will support about double the load with a synthetic. This is especially important on plain bearing surfaces such as main and rod bearings, cam and rocker bearings and the thrust side of piston to cylinder walls which are all subject to high pressure - especially in a performance/high rpm engine. It's why GM insists on its use in the 2.0l engine.

Normal engine wear, on the other hand is determined by the amount, size and type of abrasive contaminents in the oil. A good oil filtration system coupled with frequent oil changes will greatly reduce normal wear, extending engine life.

Back in the 80's I had a motorcycle shop and built many race bikes. One of our favorite racing oils was a synthetic called Zenex, which had a film strength of 2,100psi. However it was a special purpose oil that lacked in other areas, making it only marginally better than petroluem oils for street engines - and it was super expensive too.

There are many other factors to consider such as: shear strength, the oil's chemical resistance to breakdown, detergent properties, mechanical and heat stability, to mention a few. So upgrading to a good, modern synthetic that balances these properties, such as Mobil 1, Amsoil or my favorite, Royal Purple, makes sense. Changing the viscocity from manufacturer's specs doesn't.