i knew the title would get your attenttion
as soon as i get my next paycheck, i'm gonna be replacing a few items on the car, and want to change the fluids first.
what oil is good for winter? cincy winters are cold, and my car is a slug till it warms up, so what oil is the best? with 200k miles, is it worth it to buy one of those high-milage oils?
and what tranny fluid? my tranny is loud and shifting feels extremely chunky, and looking at my records, a change is a little overdue. im willing to spend as much $ as necessary to get whatever is going to make my trans last longest. i like the looks of the Redline MT suggested on clarks-garage, any thoughts?
what abgout powersteering? Clutch fluid? coolant? i want my car ready for the cold weather.

 

0 weight Mobil 1 is what I run for the winter. I still replace it 4 times a year in the daily driver regardless of miles.
PS fluid, a good Dextron ATF will work, Coolant- get Phosphate free.

 

Sorry to hijack the thread, but do i need to change my oil from synthetic 20W 50 to something else for the winter??? NOTE* the car will be in a heated garage and covered, and i will only start it up to recharge the battery, etc probly once a month. (so it won't leave the warmth of the garage)

 

Ghost944, you want something like 5W50, 5W40, etc., at least IMO. You want to be sure the oil is OK at the lower end of the operation range for the cold ambient temps you are expecting.

I just put Redline Synthetic (make sure you get the right kind for your tranny) in a couple weeks ago, and I could feel the difference in my first drive. There's another synthetic (Swepco?) that other's swear by, too.

Hockeydude, you don't have to swap oils (assuming your garage will be heated enough to be in the normal operating range for 20W50) but it's a good idea. There are some good oils for cold weather out there (I used Castrol Synthetic 5W50 last winter; it's the same price as the 20W50 synthetic).

This year, I plan on changing the oil, disconnecting the battery and not starting the car in the winter.

From what I've read, running the car will cause the engine to get hot (duh, I know) - when it cools off, moisture will condensate in the oil and over time (since you won't be running the car frequently) it will combine in the engine and form acids. I'll use a charger on the battery if needed, but I expect it'll be fine if there's no drain on it.

Opinions?

 

If you store the car over winter don't count on the alternator to charge it at all once a month. You are much better off putting a 500 mA trickle charger ( Battery Minder) with auto shutoff and keep it on there all Winter. Batteries hate inactivity from long storage.

 

correct me if i'm wrong, but the notation for oil (#W#) means the viscosity at warm and cold, respectively. so if i got a 5w50, then the oil would be even thicker at startup than my current 20w40, ja? like i said before, my car is a slug until the oil warms up, so in the winter this would be even more of a problem, should i get something with a lower viscocity at startup?

 

correct me if i'm wrong, but the notation for oil (#W#) means the viscosity at warm and cold, respectively. so if i got a 5w50, then the oil would be even thicker at startup than my current 20w40, ja? like i said before, my car is a slug until the oil warms up, so in the winter this would be even more of a problem, should i get something with a lower viscocity at startup?

 

Sure - that's backwards.
The first number is the cold number, lower is better for cold temps, the second number is the warm one, you want to be in the 40-50 range for most use. Some of the racers here are in 20W60 or something like that.

Oil Weights

So, 5w50 would be flow better at cold startups than 20w50, be the same once it's warmed up. Chris_924S has run 0W Mobil oil in his car for... what, 10 winters? in his car, hasn't done his engine any harm

BTW, the car being a slug until warmed up is probably something other than your oil. My normal "warmup" is... I get in, start the car, open the garage door, buckle the seat belt, back out, turn around, head down the driveway. By the time I hit the end of the drive, it's been about 30 seconds (looong driveway). I live off a country 2 lane highway, accelerate mildly to 55-60, never getting over 3k rpm.

Even though it's "cold" at that point, it is not significantly less powerful than when fully warmed. HTH