15w40 is heavier than 10w40?

[JEDI]

my car's leaking and burning oil (1.5 quarts/1k miles). i've been told that switching to a heavier oil will slow it down.

15w40 is heavier than 10w40, right? And 15 is the weight when the engine is cold, and it gets thicker (40 weight) as the engine gets hotter?

thx

 

[308nato]

It doesn't get "thicker". It performs like the higher viscosity number when it physically "feels" like the lower number.

 

[JC]

I don't think changing to another grade of oil will help, unless you switch to 90W

 

[geno]

yes.

 

[Harvey]

15W40 is only heavier than 10W40 when it's cold. The two numbers refer to it's thickness over temperature. They are the same weight when hot.

 

[JEDI]

but 40 weight is heavier than 15, right? so it should leak/burn less oil as the engine gets hotter?

 

[Colt45]

its like this

XXwYY

XX= cold visc.
YY= hot visc.

they're both 40 hot, so no difference when your car is running..

still, thicker oil is no soloution for dead seals/etc.

 

[Mister T]

I used to have a Lincoln Town Car, 1985 back in the high school days.

It would leak about 1 quart every 250 miles. I used 20W50 oil for over 2 years. Ran like a champ.
We finally junked it because the transmission and the brakes were shot. Engine still rans even at 165K miles.
It had leaked since 120K miles and I switched to 20W50 at about 130K.

I remember I once brought it in for an oil change and I asked the guy to use 20W50. He did a double take and asked me
what kind of truck I drove. When I told him a town car, he refused to do the oil change because he said with an oil that heavy, the engine would not turn. After yelling at him for about 10 minutes he finally changed the oil.... lol

 

[yakko]

<< I used to have a Lincoln Town Car, 1985 back in the high school days.

It would leak about 1 quart every 250 miles. I used 20W50 oil for over 2 years. Ran like a champ.
We finally junked it because the transmission and the brakes were shot. Engine still rans even at 165K miles.
It had leaked since 120K miles and I switched to 20W50 at about 130K.

I remember I once brought it in for an oil change and I asked the guy to use 20W50. He did a double take and asked me
what kind of truck I drove. When I told him a town car, he refused to do the oil change because he said with an oil that heavy, the engine would not turn. After yelling at him for about 10 minutes he finally changed the oil.... lol >>

That's funny because my Jetta takes 20w50.