[lucidequilibrium]

I soon plan on getting a job as a pizza delivery person. I hear a lot that short trips are hard on the car, and I was wondering if it would be a wise investment to upgrade my oil, or if regular 10W30 would be okay. I'm really concerned about the stability of my car, and I would like to keep it smooth-running for quite a while. Thanks for your help.

Lucid

 

[jrh382]

Depending on where you live is the viscosity type of oil to use. If you have hot summers and cold winters such as here in NJ, then this is what I would follow:

Summertime: 10W40
Winter: 10W30

The viscosity of each type of oil is better for colder/warmer weather. As far as brand goes, my personal preference is Quaker State or Castrol. I have gone close to 5,000 miles on my older cars and the oil is still pretty clean and looks like I can go another few thousand miles no problem. But any brand will do. I mean I put Sunoco oil in my Jeep because I found it in my grandfathers basement while cleaning it out and it was still good. But my Hyundai Elantra only gets Castrol or Quaker State. Oil Filters. I like Purolater. Now, if you had a Corvette or some other high performance automobile, I would put in more expensive stuff. The engine is working much harder and running at a much higher level requiring stronger stuff. But this is an excel here that you have. Normal oil should be fine for you.

 

[TJ Tib]

Its up to you and what you want to spend on oil. Know this though, synthetic oils are superior to the "dino" stuff any day of the week.

2000 5-speed, mostly stock.

 

[jrh382]

Oil is oil. I never tried synthetic oil because I have been fine with using normal motor oil. As I said before, this is an Excel, an economy car. If you were asking me what to put in your Lindenfiger Corvette with a twin turbo V8 pumping out around 650hp and 600lbs of torque....well, maybe then I would put in synthetic oil or something better then what I use now <img src=icon_smile_big.gif border=0 align=middle> But for an economy 4 cyclinder automobile. Normal motor oil is all you need. And thats what I would put in. Go buy whatever is on sale at Pep Boys. As long as you change it every 3-5000 miles, your car will last a long time.

 

[Random]

I usually tell people to buy the best oil they can afford.

If you are a college student, eatin' ramen noodels and mac and cheese 24x7, it doesn't make a lot of sense to buy "Royal Purple" syntheic oil at $10 a quart and change it every 3000 miles.

Being a pizza delivery driver is hard on an engine, but if you can, get an extra key. Leave one in the ignition so you can leave the car running, then use the extra key to lock/unlock the doors.

Regular old oil, changed every 3000 miles should do you fine. If you wanna go the extra mile, upgrade to the cheapest synthetic you can find.

Once you start to modify your car, upgrading your oil with your mods is a wise investment too!

Leave it to Random to Needlessly complicate things.

 

[Decrum]

Regular oil should do... but for summer months I upgrade to synthetic, since I drive my car harder and do a lot of city driving... while I'm at school I mostly drive on highways.

 

[jrh382]

Random addressed a good point which I should have mentioned. Making a duplicate key and locking the door while the engine is running and then unlocking it while making deliveries is a great idea. You burn up more gas starting/turning off the engine then you do letting it sit and run. It puts more wear starting it 15 times a day or however many deliveries you do. then letting it idle while you deliver. I tell my friend at college (He lives there, I commute) how he burns up more gas running the engine cold driving a quarter of a mile from class to class never letting the engine fully warm-up then I do commuting to school ONCE. He don't listen. That lazy ass. The same concept applies to the air conditioner and windows open. On the highway, using the A/C and having the windows open uses up the same amount of gas. The drag from windows being open equals the amount of fuel being consumed by the AC.

 

[KrnQuietGuy]

Wait a minute, short trips are bad for your car? I drive from my house to school, to the library, to church, and maybe Popeyes now and then and I never drive for more than twenty minutes.

Does this mean when I get my Tiburon, I'll be killing it!?

 

[MySilverTiburon]

if 10w-40 is for winter and 10w-30 is for summer, then why would all the manufacturer's recomend using 5w-30? I have always used 10w-30 until i used the mobile 1, then i changed to 5w-30. I don't think mobile 1 even make 10w-40

I love my Tib

 

[Random]

<BLOCKQUOTE id=quote><font size=1 face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id=quote>quote:<hr height=1 noshade id=quote>
Wait a minute, short trips are bad for your car? I drive from my house to school, to the library, to church, and maybe Popeyes now and then and I never drive for more than twenty minutes.

Does this mean when I get my Tiburon, I'll be killing it!?<hr height=1 noshade id=quote></BLOCKQUOTE id=quote></font id=quote><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" size=1 id=quote>

No, Pizza driving is SHORT trips. 90% are less than 5-10 mintues long, then you stop the car, let it sit for 2 minutes max, then start it up again, then do another 5-10 minute drive, stop for 2...repeat....

All that starting and short trips hurt the car. All the pizza drivers I used to work with just let their cars run, rather than shutting them off/restarting them every time.

Just make sure you put your spare key around a rope tied to a belt loop. That way you never lock your "spare" key in the car with the key in it and the ignition running....

Leave it to Random to Needlessly complicate things.

 

[Paige]

I have been delivering pizza with my 99 accent for the past 2 years

Mobil One 5w30. Change oil every 3k. My accent now has 106k on it and is running great!

"Help a fellow Tuner; Be helped by a fellow Tuner."