Good day all,

Normally I have been running 5W-30 before I moved away from the moderate climate of Seattle. My car is a R53 JCW with a 17% pulley. But now I live in Reno, NV... an area with daily highs of 95+ degrees during the summer and daily lows of 0 degrees in the winter.

I believe I will change my oil again before winter, so let's not focus on the winter. Let's talk about summer oil. It gets hot everyday, I drive during these times, and my car just hit 100k miles. I have been using Royal Purple and change my oil every 5-6k miles or so.

I need to change my oil here soon so I was wondering if any of you would recommend switching from 5W-30 to something thicker (because of the heat) like 5W-40. Please let me know what you would do!

Thanks,

Ryan

 

Many euro oils ARE 5w-40 or 0w-40....
So it would be fine...heck it is a recommended weight oil in the r53...

 

Mobil 1 0-40 is a recommended oil for the Mini. On the bottle it will say euro formula.

 

What about 10w-40? Would that be a problem? The low temperature shouldn't ever go below 50 degrees.

 

In a full syenthic you will (hopefully) not find many 10w-40 oils....this weight is for older engines with wider tolerances.... I would NOT use a 10w oil in a mini....the builders specify a 5w or 0w and a 40 or 30....mix and match...but the oil galleries and bearings are all SIZED FOR those weights....

 

Thanks folks! I'll use the 5W-40 for summer use and then switch it up to 0W-30 for winter use. Sound like the best possible way to use these combinations?

 

I don't think any harm will come from it, but I don't think Mini recommends any 0W oils in the 1st gen cars - my R53 manual says only 5W-30 or 5W-40 for "all climates". I personally wouldn't use a non-recommended lower viscosity - you're more likely to do harm than good. I'd use either of these year-round, or if you want to try and refine things a bit, the 5W-30 in the winter and the 5W-40 in the summer.

I guess I'm saying you're probably overthinking this.

- Mark

 

I've heard this before, 10psi oil pressure per 1000 rpm at normal operating temperature.

-A couple months ago I was asking myself if royal purple, mobile one, or castrol would be best, and what weight. I came across this tech article which explains in great detail this "rule of thumb" that dad had told me long ago.

You might enjoy this:
http://new.minimania.com/article/289..._Misunderstood

 

I read that article, sounds to me that the 0W for startup would make most sense, and then 40 weight while at operating temperature during the summer. Mobil 1's 0W-40 it is. Then during the winter I'll do maybe a 0W-30 or a 5W-30 depending on how I feel the 0W went.

 

Let me know how you like the 0-40 Mobile-1 full synthetic.

I did consider using that, but decided to go with Castrol full synthetic 5-30

 

I switch over from the Mobil 1 0w 40 to the castrol 5w 50,, I am burning less oil, and my car has been running better then ever with 135k on it. Temps have been staying at 188 to 196 in 95+ heat that we have head here on the east coast for a week.