ClubCJ - The CJ Lancer Club

hey everyone so i bought my sx 2011 in january and i ended up having to top up my oil after about a month into having him so i checked at the supercheap recommendations and it came up with 5w30 so i bought that noticed on a different forum some were recommending 5w30 as well so i thought i was all clear but then i had smoke blow from my exhaust mainly only when starting and accelerating so i called the dealer whom i bought it from and everyone thought it was piston rings so i drove it back to the dealer they replaced the oil filter, pistons, gasket, belts and oil. then they told me that the oil i was putting in was too thin and now im running 15w50 i just wanted to see if anyone else had a similar experience? thanks guys

by the way he is running smoother and no oil leakage now and it was still covered under two different warranties.

wow dude thats thick!

10-40 or 5-40 should be fine.

Seems like your burning oil internally.

also i little birdy told me the only difference to using thicker oil would be a slightly higher use of fuel... is this a myth?

Not a myth.

If using thicker oil than recommended can actually do more damage than good to your engine. Lack of lubrication because its thinker and the oil pump can not pump fast enough. Also if thicker , oil pump is working harder which causes worse fuel consumption.

I dont see why anyone with a lancer should go over 40 weight. Which is the 2nd number. 5/40 or 10/40 is fine. First number is for Winter anyways. 40 is the important number. Which works at operating temperature.

15w50 is thick, what is recommended in the manual? Oil goes thinner when heated to run through and properly lube the engine, so some parts could have friction before oil gets thin enough to lubricate it. If its too thick, it can take some time to break down... thus also increasing fuel consumption. Engine parts are forces to work harder.

well thats lame mines an automatic by the way... Mitsubishi put that oil in. :s

Cassie,
there are a lot of good threads on the forum that were posted yrs ago that cover oil grades and types etc that can be used.
There is also a lot of ill informed misinformation too that has been circulating for decades.

Best advice I can give you is-
1) Use a good quality oil, semi synthetic that many dealers use is PERFECTLY OK and a reasonable price.
Fully synthetic is usually much more expensive and if you keep to a short change interval largely a total waste of money compared to a semi syn!!
Why spend twice the price and throw it out every 5-7500km??
If you are going to keep it in for a very long distance, ie, 15-20,000km and you do harsh driving, heavy towing etc then it may,... may,... be of some additional benefit.
Don't forget that for average drivers in average conditions the benefits are what you think they may be based on all the advertising hype!! REMEMBER- The oil companies want you to spend as much money as possible on their products!!

2) As for viscosity, best is to consult the manual and use an oil recommended for the climatic temp range you are operating the car in!!
For Australian climatic temp ranges a 15W -40 is ideal, I have been using it for years. This covers IIRC, approx -10C to over 40C, IE Aussie temps!!

0 and 5W-30 oils are designed for -40C ish lower end to approx 30C MAX.
Seriously, even a 10W-30 is designed for approx ranges -30 to -20C at the lower end.

Seriously,in Australia, when have we ever had those temps???

Since Aussie temps are usually at the lowest, depending where you live approx 0C to maybe -5C in winter but summer temps can easily be way over 40C you need a thicker oil to handle the higher temps that prevail for most of the year over most of the continent.

I have had 4 Mitsu cars over my life and NEVER had any kind of issue with an engine following the above advise nor has anyone I have ever known.
I hope that helps. cheers

if they replaced the piston rings at the dealer to solve the oil burning then why did they feel the need to use a 15w50. i agree with Denis, 15w40 is far too thick for these engines. they should run a 5w40 fully synthetic or a 10w40 semi synthetic. this is what is recommended by every oil catalogue i have looked at (4 years working in the automotive industry).

the temperature is only one part of considering the weight of oil to use. the second part is newer engines are made better and have less gap between moving parts than older built engines. smaller gap means thinner oil is needed to get between the two parts to stop contact. this is why a 20 year old VS commodore uses 15w40 from new and a brand new Toyota corolla uses 5w30.

the need to use a 15w40 in a modern engine to control smoke caused by oil burn would be a sign that some form of engine damage or wear has occurred

alrighty guys thanks for the advice i love how you used a vs commodore as an example my old car was a vs haha. cheers!