What would happen to the viscosity of your car's egine oil durng cold winter months. Could this harm your car?

big time, maybe not where u live but it gets to -40 celcius where i do. we plug our cars in, they have block heaters that keep your engine warm.





basically the engine oil gets thick and will take a few minutes to warm up so it can properly lubricate your engine. meanwhile metal on metal parts are wearing against eachother without lube, such as pistons to the cylinders quickly loosing engine compression





check if you have a block heater, i read you should plug in at 20 f, or -7 deg celcius.





take a container of the oil you put in your car , and let it sit overnight in winter, examine how thick it is after ;)What would happen to the viscosity of your car's egine oil durng cold winter months. Could this harm your car?
During the cold winter months, the viscosity of the oil will thicken. For example a 10w30 maybe more like 10w40 or 5w30 like 10w30. If you don't have the proper viscosity for your engine (especially if is thicker) it won't be able to properly lube your engine Honestly, depnding on where you live this could not be a big deal (if you're living in an area where the tempature doesn't really change a lot during winter). If you live in a place where the winter get freezing and below it could do some real damage. For example: if the piston is not properly lubrcated it will get really hot, hot enough to weld itself to the cyclinder cause your moter to freeze therefor you have to replace a moter all because you didn't have the proper visocity. That would not be cool.


Check your manual or a local Auto parts store for the proper viscosity for your vehicle for warm tempatures and cold tematures as well. ;-)What would happen to the viscosity of your car's egine oil durng cold winter months. Could this harm your car?
Engine oil of different viscosity is suitable for usage with different ambient temperature





Engine oil with multi-grades viscosity allows usage over a wider range of ambient temperatures (usually more costly)





Engine lubrication failure can happen during winter months if the engine oil becomes too thick to be pumped for lubricating the engine. The engine would not starts, or siezed up soon after starting often with broken connecting rod(s), Piston(s), cylinder(s), main bearings, are sometimes damaged too
Oil's viscosity does not change... unless it is a multigrade. Most are.


Just ensure you have the oil that the manufacturer recommends, to suit the local driving conditions.


Oil is naturally ';thicker'; when cold. Unless it freezes, so long as it allows the engine to crank and start, it should be fine.
always consult your owners manual, cold makes oil thicker so some people switch to a lighter viscosity during the winter months this makes the car easier to start mostly, you should let your car warm up before you start to drive in any climate
It gets thicker that's why they make multi viscosity oil like 5W-20 and such. when it's cold it acts like a 5 wt warm it's like a 20 wt. Make sense.