Should I get a winter oil change?

[kalniel]

I'm pretty religious about getting a proper independant vaux service every 10k or 1 year for my Astra 1.7dti, but with the cold weather starting to affect my economy to the tune of 3mpg or so, and a couple of extra turns needed to start the car in the mornings, should I go and get lower viscosity oil over the winter?

I'm doing about 10k a year anyway, but while I've seen lots of people saying (mostly over hyped I think) that petrol engines benefit from much shorter oil change intervals, there are also quite a few saying it's pointless for a diesel, even a turbo-diesel.

Current oil is GM 10W-40 semi (which seems to be one of the best oils out there )

[[GSV]Trig]

Just do a change for the oil that you usually use if your due for a change, since synthetics have been around theres not really any need for "winter" oil changes...

[kalniel]

Not due a change - this would be 6months/5k into the service interval.

Cheers.

[Howard]

I wouldn't bother either, just change it on time

[joshwa]

I changed mine about a week or two ago... and it's the cold weather, it was fine to start in the warm weather, now it's a bit slower to start because of the cold weather. So it's possible an oil change would make no difference for you. I change mine every 5k / 6 months myself as it's relatively straightforward (oil, oil filter etc), and relatively cheap from gsfcarparts. Mine's a Passat TDI.

Have you checked your tyre pressure as the weather could effect them as well, causing the lower mpgs?

Josh

[Salazaar]

We barely get the sort of cold winters that that sort of oil is designed for anyway. It's hardly like we spend all winter knee deep in snow!

[kalniel]

Have you checked your tyre pressure as the weather could effect them as well, causing the lower mpgs?

Yup - I make sure to adjust them for the weather quite often. 3mpg down is totally normal for my car over winter, which was why I was thinking about using lower viscosity oil. Though thinking about it it's probably transmission oil viscosity as much as anything so not much I can do about it. I just don't like breaking under the magic 60mpg barrier (at least the price has come down a bit recently).

[Howard]

I can understand why a Diesel might require an extra crank or two to start Nothing to worry about. The lesser MPG is down to extra use of heaters, AC, lights, etc. Totally normal now the nights are drawing in


No, it's not gonna stop me putting the roof down on my MX5

[Zak33]

Current oil is GM 10W-40 semi (which seems to be one of the best oils out there )

it is and thats the right oil for your engine. So dont change until it's due and use that again.

AND ALWAYS< ALWAYS ALWAYS use a factory oil filter. Always. Not something from your motor factor, ever. Buy from Vauxhall.