Sunday, August 7, 2011

Can I use 5W-20 or 5W-30 oil when my engine calls for 10W-30?

I'm short on cash but I know the car needs an oil change. I can get a gallon of 5W-20 or 5W-30 Castrol GTX on sale right now for $10.88 vs. the regular $30 or $40 or so I'd pay for my oil. Problem is my engine calls for 10W-30. I have a '92 Buick Regal with the great 3.8 engine. What will happen if I were to use 5W-20 or 5W-30 oil in it? I also plan on adding Lucas oil stabilizer which I always have since the engine is old and has high millage. Right now I'm using a mix of 10W-30 and 10W-40 oil with the Lucas stabilizer and even though a lot of the oil is fairly new I still want to do a proper oil and filter change. Should I just wait 3-5 weeks until I can afford the good stuff? I'm currently putting less than 100 miles on it a week but with summer coming up that will rise. Note the engine slowly eats or burns the oil (at least I think it burned 1 quart or so in 6-8 months) which is why I have the Lucas thickener in there and the current oil has at least a quart of newer 10W-40. Thanks.

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