should i put some 10w30 oil in my honda 250ex instead of 10w40 because of the cold weather???

 

how cold? honda suggests 10-w40 from 10 degrees on up. unless its colder than that i would stick with 10-w40

 

ok...well i live in kansas...so it wont get that cold for a while

 

i use 10w40 year round, i fired up my rubicon at -22F a few winters ago during a elk hunt and the oil light only stayed lit for 9 seconds- i should also note that the hunting was not alot of fun

 

You can look in your owner's manual and see what weights of oil are recommended for what temperatures. You want to be in the middle of the suggested range, and try to stay away from the two extremes. So, just because 10W40 can go to 15 degrees, that doesn't mean that running it at 15 is a good idea!

I live in the southwest, where winters at low altitude are relatively mild, but it can get very cold at high altitude. So, I run 10W30 for the desert, and if I go to high altitude where it is really cold, I can run 5W30 or even 0W30.

In summer it is very hot in the valleys so I run 15W50, and at altitude I run 10W40.

 

Remember....most engine wear occurs at a cold start! So, the thinner the oil, the quicker it is going to get pumping in the cold and get out there to protect your engine.

But, my experience has been that most folks are to freaking lazy to change oil once a year, much less for the changing seasons!

 

oh.... thanks for the help...ill do that

 

Another note....very cold and very hot conditions is where the synthetic oils are at their best!

 

It doesn't matter if you use 10W30 or 10W40......you're still using a 10W oil on the cold side. If you want thinner oil, try a 5W--. Personally I'd sitck with 10W40.

 

this topic got me wondering so i threw a quart of honda 10w40 and a quart of amsoil 0w40 in the freezer- the 10w40 would not make any noise when i shook it and acted like dry rubber cement. the 0w40 was much more fluid!
I will now start useing thiner oil in the winters!