What type of oil should I be putting in my 1997 Chevy Silverado?

Question

THe truck has 109500 miles on the clock. The manufacturers recommendation is 5w30. I have a friend who owns a lube shop and he says that I should be using 15w40 and that the only reason that the manufacturers recommend 5w30 is because that is how they maximize mpg and in order to advertise that they get that much per gallon they have to reccomend the oil type that will allow that, but thicker oil is better for the engine. A mechanic friend of mine said I should use thicker oil like 10w30 or 10w40. I aksed the people at Jiffy Lube and they said that I should use 5w30 and that if I use thicker oil it is going to make my engine wear quicker because the engine will have to work harder. I am getting mixed information here. I just need someone who knows what the hell they are talking about to explain to me what to use and why. Are there any experts out there who can please help me? Thanks.

Answer 1

ill make it real simple for you, use 10/40 in the summer and 5/30 in the winter and you will be good to go.

Answer 2

I know the newer cars and trucks have much smaller holes in the heads than the old ones so they recommend the oils like 5w-30 but an old truck like yours should probably have at least a 30 weight oil and It won't hurt it to put in 40 or 50 weight oil. If the motor has a lot of miles on it, the high mileage oil will help keep it from wearing out sooner (they put a little bit of brake fluid in it to make the seals expand). The most important thing is to change it on a regular basis. Good Luck!

Answer 3

I use mobil one synthetic in all my motors, in the weight recomended by the manufacturer. I usually get very close to 300,000 miles on them before I trade them off.
When in doubt, always go with what the manufacturer recommends. Don't listen to these rip off lube shops, they tell you that you must change your oil every 3000 miles, but the manufacturer says 7500 miles. The lube shops only say that so that they get twice as much of your hard earned money for no real reason. Also, the "techs" who work 90% of the lube shops, don't know anything about oil, they just do what the "boss" tells em too.

Answer 4

I'm not an expert, but I've been using Valvoline 10w40 on my 93 with over 200k for a few years now. My mechanic recommended this cause of the miles on my truck and the weather we have in AZ.

Answer 5

Go for the 10w30 or 10w40. Motors with half a million miles have been using these oils. Change every 3,000. 4,000 if you use 6 qts.

Answer 6

10-40 or in hot weather maybe 20-50

If it tends to burn a little oil using 10-40... use 20-50 all the time

You can also put a can of slick-50 in to reduce oil burning (not what the can says its for... but it works.)

Answer 7

use strait 30wt. the rest is sewing machine oil. as long as it has an API rating like sf/cd or higher. i have a 1994 park ave with about 206k and use cheap walmart 30 hd. runs great.