A mechanic recommended I use 40W Gastrol Motor Oil in the Arizona heat. Temps here have been up to 114/115 degrees. And to change the oil later to 10-30W or 10-40W once it cools off. He could not have been more correct with the 40W this summer, as the car warms up quicker and engine lifters quiet faster. My Olds purrs... Anyone out there experience the benefits of something as simple as changing the weight of your motor oil?

 

thats wild but it hardly ever gets warm enough up here to worry about doing somthing like that.I use 10w40 year round in all my vehicles.I have one that recomends using 5w30 but it is too thin and would make things wear faster.this perticilar vehicle had the head gaskets replaced at the dealer and the guy was amazed at how clean and in good shape the engine was.though he put the 5w30 junk in there and that motor was running hot so I drained it and put the 10w40 back in.

 

last year mine was getting hot if it sat and idled too long , it was ok on the highway but putting around town on warm days was a concern. I changed the 2 row rad and now have a 4 row and changed from 10w30 to 10w40 and had it running for about half an hour in the garage in 90 degree heat and it never got over 200. Unfortunately one of the valve covers is a little warped and doesn't seal so I ordered new ones , hopefully get them on later this week.

 

good to hear you got it all ironed out.I bought chrome valve covers and put them on my 67 olds there was nothing wrong with the origional ones but liked the look better but keep the origional parts.the family had always used 10w40 but we used to use kendall motor oil now we use quakerstate.

 

I'm in LA and I find a heavy duty fan clutch is a good idea...

Just spin the fan when it is hot and if it spins real easy you should replace ...

 

my car doesn't have a fan clutch oddly enough just runs straight off the engine I may have to do somthing different with it someday.

 

Interesting comments. So,,,there isn't anyone out there using using straight 40W. I must be the only Arizonan on this forum!!

Thanks for your replies,
Dan

 

I have family in AZ but dont live there.I think there are more people from AZ though that are members.

 

I'm in Tucson and I just started using 15W-40 in mine. Seems to like it just fine. I was using 10W-30 but thought that was too thin for this heat.