Motor oil: replacement and selection

When and why it is necessary to replace motor oil

It is recommended to perform motor oil replacement every 10,000 – 15,000 kilometers of mileage. This interval can be shorter if the engine is constantly withstanding high loads, the car is frequently used for short trips or operated in the heavily dusted area. Moreover, regular temperature variations and usage of poor-quality fuel affect negatively the condition of the technical liquid.

Increase of the hazardous substances emission level and fuel consumption indicates that new oil should be filled into the engine.

The oil filter is necessarily replaced during refilling of lubricant. It is strongly prohibited to mix oils of different types or of different manufacturers.

How to select motor oil

According to chemical contents there are three basic oil types: mineral, semi-synthetic and synthetic. The mineral motor oil has the most affordable price but requires more frequent replacement, heavily withstands high and low temperature.

The synthetic-based products have a longer operational lifetime and can be used in extreme operational conditions. Its disadvantage is high cost. The semi-synthetic motor oil is presented as a mixture of mineral basis with separate synthetic components. It has many advantages of synthetic lubricant, but is inferior to it by operating characteristics. At the same time it is more budget-friendly.

The market leaders produce high-quality lubricants both for the latest engines as well as for the previous generations of them. Hi-Tech products can be found in the assortment of such companies as Vaico, Febi Bilstein, Swag and others.

Selecting the lubricant, consider marking of its package. So, European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA) uses alphanumeric marking. Formulations of oils for diesel and gasoline engines are marked with “A” or “B” correspondingly. The “C” marking stands for the engines with the catalytic converter, “E” – for commercial vehicles. The digit coming after the letter points out generation and construction of the engine, for which this product is suitable, and content peculiarities, operational characteristics and oil replacement intervals. The digit marked with a hyphen, indicates the year of introduction of the lubricant category.

SAE marking considers dependency of liquid viscosity on environmental temperature. Products meant for summer are marked with digits. The higher the digit is, the higher the temperature at which the oil remains efficient. Winter lubricating materials have an alphanumeric marking such as 0W, 5W, 20W («W» — stands for «winter»). All-season products have double marking, as, for instance, 10w40 or 5w30 synthetic motor oil.

API marking usually includes two letters. The first stands for applicability of the lubricating material: “S” (Service) – for the cars with the gasoline engine, “C” (Commercial) – with the diesel engine. The second letter in marking points out generation and constructional peculiarities of the engine the material is suitable for. Multi-purpose products have double marking. Lubricating fluids for diesel engines can be additionally marked with digits “2” or “4” for two-stroke and four-stroke engines correspondingly. The newest energy-conserving motor oils category for gasoline engines got “EC” marking (Energy Conserving).

During selection of motor oil for an engine you should give preference to original products recommended by the car manufacturer. You can also use analog which was approved by the vehicle manufacturer.

Approved viscosity grades of motor oil: SAE 0w-30; SAE 5w-40; SAE 0w-20; SAE 10w-30; SAE 15w-40; SAE 5w-50; SAE 10w-60; SAE 0w-40