Something came to me today while I was bored. The oil cooler holds a lot of oil, probably at least a good half a quart? Would there be any benefit to draining oil out of the oil cooler while doing an oil change? Enought o justify the hassle anyway just to get the old oil out?

 

not worth the time. just change the oil often ~2k miles

 

The dilution factor is not worth it

 

Yeah, I figured as much. Every time I have changed my oil, it ended up coming up totally clear on the dipstick, so I wasn't deeply concerned.

 

Why dont you do this:

Drop the current oil in the pan, leaving the filter on.
Fill it up with fresh oil.
Run the car for a few minutes.
Drain that oil, and change the filter, continue with your change as normal.

I get oil for cheap via work, so it's no big deal to me.

Quite honestly each time I did that I was completely shocked at how diluted the new oil got in 2 minutes of mating with the rest of the old oil in the system. It honestly made it look like it was time to change the oil again because it was so dark!

 

Question. I'm currently running 20W50 oil and am going to change to 10W30 today because of the cold weather. That means their is going to be 20W50 oil in the cooler and it will mix with the new 10W30. Is this bad to have 2 weights of oil, even though one weight is probably only half a quart?

 

Not a big deal. I make this change all the time...

 

yeah I just did that today and it ran fine.

 

anyone ever try Castrol Gtx High Mileage oil? just put some in today, suppose to be good for motors with high mileage, reconditions seals, and prevents oil burning.

 

It will be fine but why are you going to 10W30 in California? How cold does it get in the Bay area? If it doesn't get any colder than 20 or 30 degrees or so you could run 20W50 year round.

 

All "High Mileage" oils have additives that make soft seals swell up causing them to seal somewhat better. Drawback is you must keep using these oils or the original problem of leaky seals will return. Also something else there is not any data on that I know of is the fact that our engines inject oil into the combustion chamber for apex seal lubrication. I don`t think the oil additives are going to burn very clean, leaving residues behind.

I use nothing but Castrol 20W50 at every oil change.

 

It gets pretty cold, especially in the mornings when I start the car. The highs this time of year are mid 50s but when I start the car in the morning it's about 35 degrees.

The FAQ says So I just figured 10W30 for winter, 20W50 for summer.

 

maybe for you but most people can't justify spending $15 extra on oil just to clean out a little carbon deposits in the oil which will reform soon anyways.

 

My FSM shows 20W50 being good from 25 degrees up so I would say you'd be fine with it. I've used it In TN. year round without any known problems and it sporadically can get to around 0 here but normally teens is as cold as it gets. I run 10W40 now though cause it flows better in winter but is still heavier than 10W30 once warmed up.