The winter can cause serious wear on your vehicle, and especially when you don’t have the proper motor oil running through your vehicle. There are many reasons that winter is very damaging to a vehicle and many of those outcomes can be related to engine oil.
When you start your engine every morning the oil in your vehicle is going to be the exact same temperature as it is outside. Lucky for you your oil does not freeze like water unless you are in very extreme weather. This is why people say to let the engine heat up before driving in the winter, what you are really doing is allowing the oil to heat up enough that it is flowing properly through the engine. When it is flowing properly your engine will have that protection it desires from the motor oil.
What is the best Motor Oil for Winter?
Without any doubt the best motor oil to be running in the winter is synthetic. This is for many reasons but mostly how it deals with temperature. There are two factors for assessing motor oil for temperature uses that matter.
The first factor is how well the motor oil flows when it is cold. Synthetic is always out performing conventional as it flows twice as fast in vertical speed test pouring. This means that even when it is very cold out and the engine oil has yet to warm up it is still giving your engine that level of protection that cannot be provided by conventional oil.
The other aspect of synthetic oil’s superiority is how it has less evaporation in the winter (also summer). Motor oil evaporates when it heats very high and this is often only achieved when the oil is damaged from being at extreme cold and extreme warm temperatures. This therefore happens lots in the winter and is what can lead to vehicle damage.
Should I get it Changed More in the Winter?
The short answer here is yes, but that is simply because the oil has a greater chance of being destabilized. What is most easy to help your engine oil this winter is to do two things.
The first is, like above, to use synthetic oil. That is because synthetic oil is better at high and low temps and does not destabilize from the temperature swings.
Secondly, we highly recommend that you check your dip stick for two things this winter. The first is so that you can check the oil level. There is a higher chance of evaporation in winter months due to the strain on the motor oil. The second is to check the colour of the motor oil. This is also because the winter will cause the oil to be strained and can loose its effectiveness quicker. The motor oil can be black but should have a slight tint of amber or dark gold. These colours signify the oil still has some life left.
Whichever choices you make about your motor oil this winter, make sure to have your winter supplies ready before the weather gets too bad.
