WHICH OIL TO USE FOR MY ENGINE
19/04/2019
After reading this post, you will be able to choose the right oil for your car as a professional !
Do you also think that look likes hieroglyph the inscription on your oil can? What do these codifications mean: 5W 40, 10W 40, 15W 40, etc. What are their advanatages and drawbacks? This soon won't be a secret for you - your mechanic should strongly start to worry ??!
HOW TO DECODE MY OIL CAN?
Codings refers to your oil viscosity, this means the fluidity of your oil or its ability to flow. These index allow knowing the ability of your oil to protect your engine depending on the use profiles. 1st Index meaning Let's take for instance the oil commonly called 5W 40. The first number "5" correspond to the viscosity of your oil in cold condition. "W" means Winter and indicates the protection level of your motor in cold condition. In case of motor ignition in hard winter with temperature of -30°C. I can see some of you laughing ?, but these temperatures are likely to happen in countries in Russia or Canada ❄️☃️⛄. In these hard winter conditions, your oil must remain liquid to allow your engine to start. To sum up, the more the value is low, better will be your motor ignition. |
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2nd Index meaning
The 2nd indew "40" corresponds to the oil viscosity at 100°C. This number indicates the protection level of your engine in warm condition ☀️☀️. Your oil could operate at temperature high temperature up to 120°C, therefore more the index is high, better is tjhe protection of your engine.
In summary
Using a more technical vocabulary, remember that the indew « 5 » corresponds to the oil dynamic viscosity and the index « 40 » to the kinematic viscosity.
HOW TO CHOOSE MY OIL?
I promised that it would be easy, so let's stop sciences and come back to more basic vocabulary ? ! I can hear some of you saying, I still don't know how to choose my oil. Yeah yeah you are right: so which oil for which car in Sénégal? It is no easy to answer simply yo this question, but below indications could help you in your choice :
Choice of the Winter index:
Aprox. -30°C | Aprox. -25°C | Aprox. -20°C | Aprox. -15°C |
0W | 5W | 10W | 15W |
Thus for Sénégal 15W would rather be fine the majority of the uses - Thank you Mr. weather ? . You can use lower value, it will help your engine starts easier, but it is clearly not mandatory exept if you have big engine an you enjoy to show off - Off course I am kidding, little sensations of sports cars are quit fun!
Choice of the warm index:
20, 30, 40, 50, 60. Higher is the number, thicker is your oil at high temperature. It
Plus le nombre est élevé, plus épais sera le film d'huile à chaud. It promotes protection and the motor sealing. The lower is th enumber, lower will be the friction at high temperature. To sum up, if the number is low you consumption will be lower but you will have to change more often your oil (approximately 7.500 km), the higher is the number, the lower you will have to change your oil because the protection of your engine will be better (Up to 15.000 - 20.000 km) this explain the appelation "Long life oil" marked on some oil cans.
Sen’Drive Solutions advice: 15W 40 or 5W 20 oil for an intensive urban use but more oil maintenance.
Do not hesitate to contact us for advices or to suggest subjects for next articles.
Technical team - Sen'Drive Solutions