What is the best weight of oil to use in the summer?

 

5w30

 

what is the comarison between 5w30 and 10w30?

 

Why you wanna know about summer oil on Sept 2???

 

uummmmmmmmmmmmm, for next year. It's still pretty hot over here and my car is giving some funny sounds the hotter it gets so I am trying to narrow it down. I am running 10W40, but was curious if anyone ran 20w50 or something that doesn't break down so quickly

 

Break down? How often are you changing your oil? This isn't an issue unless you're getting a lot of oil contamination or running your oil way too long. You shouldn't need to run some really thick oil like 20w50 unless you're intentionally masking problems. If your 10w40 is really old too it's less stable than 10w30 because of the viscosity spread.

 

There is a forum for fluids and lubricants here on the .org.

I change my oil about every 6 months and I only drive about 1500 miles a year. A bit of overkill, but I put in 10w30 for the summer (I live in the desert) and 5w30 for the rest of the year, but I had put in the thinner 5w30 only recently because my VTCs were ticking pretty bad.

Usually 10w30 is fine for both summer and winter. IIRC, you should go with 10w30 if temperatures frequently rise about 100 degrees, which they probably do in Utah. You should also go with a thinner oil like 5w30 or some synthetic in the winter, since I know it gets hella cold there, too...

I believe there is information about this stuff in the owner's manual of your car, too.