Hey, I have a 96 civic LX, the engine says to use 5w-30, and I accidently put 10w-40 oil in my engine.. is it okay? It works fine.

 

its fine.

 

The higher number means the oil is thicker "higher viscosity"
If you are really worried about it you could open the drain plug and drain it out, then put the right stuff in. But it will not hurt your engine. Might feel a little slugish on the petal thats all.

 

i would drain it if you dont want to continue to run 10w-40 your really not supposed to go back down if you continue to drive that motor with that thickness of oil.

 

^^^^ haha! i just came back to say that. to drain it and add his usual
beat me to it

 

these things will occur because of thicker weight:
more engine wear
less gas mileage
engine works harder

its very minimal but your call if you want to do a drain and fill.

 

if im not wrong it depend on where you live also.
like myself im from florida and i use 10w-40.

 

OP, listen to someone who knows something about oil. 10W-40 technically will be fine to use. Hell, you can use ANY kind of oil you want, oil is oil and there is just different aspects of different oils for different applications. First of, the oil IS NOT that thick. If anyone knew what 10W-40 stood for then they would tell you the 10 stands for the thickness, the W meaning it is a winter oil or just all season, and lastly the 40 standing for how much heat the oil can handle. Therefore, 10W-30 is the EXACT same oil besides the fact that the 40 weight holds more heat, and could possibility a diesel rated oil (like 15W-40 or something, since most diesel engines require a higher heat holding oil) That is why in some racing application they use a straight 40 weight oil or something since it does not need to be a winter oil. And lots of people use 10W-30 in their car! Well mostly old farmers since it's usually what they swear by. Point is you will be fine using 10W-40 if you cannot afford 5W-30 or something or don't wanna drain it since it's new, but if you can I myself would just put 5W-30 in if you don't mind buying new stuff

 

That's fine, as long as you don't put in something like 20w-50!

 

lol. i dont think ive ever seen that^^^^^^^^

 

Thank you! Someone who knows that they are talking about.

 

For a motor that calls for 5w-30 and know your going up to 10w-40. Yea there is something wrong with that it will put strain on the motor. Secondly if your regularly putting 10w-40 in your motor there must be a problem with the tapping there is no need for 10w-40 . You can always go one step ahead of what your oil specs say because after time the motor will eventually become out of spec's thus running a thicker oil such as 10w-30.

 

How can running slightly thicker oil change the spec of the motor? I run 10w-30 in my civic because it has high miles. I haven't run into any problems. Sometimes I will run 5w-30 if I have some laying around.

 

www.bobistheoilguy.com

STOP THE INSANITY!

 

yeah, I think it would be okay, I regularly use 10w-30 since its always cold down here, and I am getting up there in mileage. As long as there is no permnament motor damage, I will definatly go back to 10w-30 the next cycle.

 

wtf

 

10w-40 is ok don't use 2 high

 

That's not right, you should use thicker oil in HOT temperatures, not cold. Thicker oil is not great for cold starts..

 

I use to run thicker oil in the summer here as it was hot and my EF had 200+ miles on it. It helped to not burn as much oil. Just don't go insanely thick and it will be fine.

 

OH MY GOD YOUR GONNA BLOW IT UP!!!! AHHHH NOO!!! just kidding. The number plus the letter w stands for its weight below freezing in the winter. 10w30 would have an effect on your car if it was cold out because its thicker at lower temperatures, thus making it harder to move through the engine. Higher oil pressure, harder to flow= not as good engine lubrication. If you live in a warm area then its chill, but its its super cold where you live then i'd probably change it

 

OP

Read this and learn.
http://mysite.verizon.net/oldhokie/windyridge/oil.pdf

 

Yay i was right!