I have in the past used 5W20 (recommended grade) RedLine oil in my 05 Si. I was noticing burn off. The oil change shop recommended a heavier oil to prevent burnoff. I switched to 5w40 RedLine. Is this change okay? I have had some telling that it is too heavy at operating temp. I want the best overall oil to protect the engine. I live in Texas, so the summers are hot, but like right now it has been below freezing for the last few days. Is 5W40 a bad choice?

 

it might be in the winter time, but you could use it during the summer time.

it gets thinner at higher temps, so it wouldnt be as hard on your engine. imagine running through wet cement 4 inches deep and running through water 4 inches deep. running through wet cement would be a lot harder. this would how your engine would have to work with a thicker oil.


Modified by eMpAtHy at 1:10 AM 1/18/2007

 

i assume redline is synthetic? i would of went with 5w-30 before 5w-40.

 

It seems the larger the spread between low and high numbers, the gretaer chance for the polymer chains to break down. And, a thicker oil is not the best way to adress an oil consumption problem, especially on these Honda engines with their tight clearances. 5W-30 is what I would Use.

 

5w30 is the way i would go as well ... and make sure its synthetic or else you may hurt your engine ... your an SI so synthetic is the way to go ... ROYAL PURPLE

 

use factory oil if not sure.. i say 5 30

 

factory oil has to much minerals in them ... but i guess if your really not sure what you want to you then do it

 

that grade is perfectly fine. Some have actually reccomended that us A3 owners use a heavier weight than the 5w-20 because of the cam issue. Chucky on ephatch.com used a 20w-50 in his motor and went 100k+ with kpro. He designed a set of cams and swore that the ep3 needed a heavier weight. Search for his posts on their if you have doubts.