ABARTH 500 ENGINE OIL
Author
Discussion

celtic cross

Original Poster:

30 posts

224 months

Saturday 12th April 2014
quotequote all
Hi everyone,
ive been the owner of a 2010 abarth 500 for around a month,it was bought from the Car People,who did a oil and filter change before I collected it.
It turns out they,ve used a 5W/30 fully synthetic oil as this is what they put in all their cars that are outside of warranty.
Does this oil differ enough from the 10W/50-10W/60 to cause problems?

Ozzie Osmond

21,189 posts

275 months

Saturday 12th April 2014
quotequote all
Does anyone really still build cars for 50s and 60s? I'm amazed.

The latest 30 weight synthetics are astoundingly good. However, they are very different from a 50 or 60.

davepoth

29,395 posts

228 months

Saturday 12th April 2014
quotequote all
True enough. A slight difference is OK, but the oil in there is half as thick as it should be. Get an oil change done.

TheRealFingers99

1,996 posts

157 months

Saturday 12th April 2014
quotequote all
Should be 5-40 fully synth, surely?

The poor wee thing has hydraulic tappets which may object to 10-50 or 10-60 before the rest of the engine.

Edited by TheRealFingers99 on Saturday 12th April 15:51

GC8

19,910 posts

219 months

Saturday 12th April 2014
quotequote all
Anyone who uses the word weight when talking about oil's opinion should be disregarded. The W stands for winter.

celtic cross

Original Poster:

30 posts

224 months

Saturday 12th April 2014
quotequote all
Ive got to admit im confused!!!
Every independent and abarth main dealer are saying Selinia 10/60!
Is,nt 5/40 still too far away?

GC8

19,910 posts

219 months

Saturday 12th April 2014
quotequote all
If the engine is intended to take 10W- then that's what I would want to put in it. The second figure relates to its hot performance, so a spec that requires an engine which remains thicker here isn't going to mix with an oil that is thinner at high temperatures.

Id suggest an oil and filter change to the correct grade and if it was mty car I wouldn't be driving it hard or making it hot through hard driving until I had done so.

I say this as someone whose turbocharged car needs 15W-60.

Alucidnation

16,810 posts

199 months

Saturday 12th April 2014
quotequote all
Its all in the vehicle handbook.

jkh112

23,933 posts

187 months

Saturday 12th April 2014
quotequote all
GC8 said:
Anyone who uses the word weight when talking about oil's opinion should be disregarded. The W stands for winter.
Using the word weight when referring to oils does not necessarily mean that there is a misunderstanding over the W. Weight is still used to refer to varying viscosities of oil by people who understand that the W stands for Winter.

Axionknight

8,505 posts

164 months

Saturday 12th April 2014
quotequote all
As a matter of course I would change the oil personally - if you can do it yourself, it's easy and cheap, if not, it'll obviously cost a bit more but the piece of mind gained from it would outweigh the financial outlay for me.

Get it changed for the "correct" stuff IMO.

Monty Python

4,813 posts

226 months

Saturday 12th April 2014
quotequote all
GC8 said:
Anyone who uses the word weight when talking about oil's opinion should be disregarded. The W stands for winter.
Likewise someone who puts an apostrophe in "oil's".


:-)

TheRealFingers99

1,996 posts

157 months

Saturday 12th April 2014
quotequote all
celtic cross said:
Ive got to admit im confused!!!
Every independent and abarth main dealer are saying Selinia 10/60!
Is,nt 5/40 still too far away?
What does it say in the handbook? smile

There are cars out there which really need a 10-60. But they tend to be ancient American V8s. Fiat certainly recommend 5-40 for the 500 Abarth in the States.

My MR2 turbo likes it, too, but that's beside the point...........

Ozzie Osmond

21,189 posts

275 months

Saturday 12th April 2014
quotequote all
GC8 said:
Anyone who uses the word weight when talking about oil's opinion should be disregarded. The W stands for winter.
Until your post no-one had implied any connection between W and "weight".....

GC8

19,910 posts

219 months

Saturday 12th April 2014
quotequote all
Its a stupid and ignorant term.


jimbobsimmonds

1,824 posts

194 months

Saturday 12th April 2014
quotequote all
FWIW the manual in mine says use 5W30 but I use 10W60 (Shell Helix) as it goes on track and have no adverse effects.

However, mine is a different, older engine design...

GC8

19,910 posts

219 months

Saturday 12th April 2014
quotequote all
Monty Python said:
GC8 said:
Anyone who uses the word weight when talking about oil's opinion should be disregarded. The W stands for winter.
Likewise someone who puts an apostrophe in "oil's".


:-)
I was shocked by that and had posted to the effect that my upgraded browser had added it for me (I never use apostrophes in internet chat apart from where theyre crucial but IE11 corrects me but doesn't get them all - I used to delete them but that rather undermines my argument for not doing so).

However, having taken time to actually read my post I believe that you have misread it: I have deliberately added the apostrophe and I believe it to be correct.

Ive included a quote below which I have embellished:

GC8 said:
Anyone-who-uses-the-word-weight-when-talking-about-oil's opinion should be disregarded. The W stands for winter.
With regards to 'weight': I maintain that it is a dumb American term which was rooted in their misunderstanding of the W in the specification.

imagineifyeswill

1,250 posts

195 months

Saturday 12th April 2014
quotequote all
The majority of modern cars run on 5w30 fully synthetic, up until the mid eighties 20w50 was the mainly used oil grade which then went to 10w40 and with the almost universal switch to twin cam engines came the mainly used 5w30. In forty years in the motor trade Ive never come across a 60 grade engine oil, there are quite a few Japanese vehicles use thinner gear oils than 60.

GC8

19,910 posts

219 months

Saturday 12th April 2014
quotequote all
Gloopy stuff, but Im guessing that it was specified because prolonged hard use of the turbocharger causes a difficult to deal with rise in oil temperatures.

Im accepting that the OP is correct when he lists the approved grades for his own cars engine.

TheRealFingers99

1,996 posts

157 months

Saturday 12th April 2014
quotequote all
GC8 said:
Im accepting that the OP is correct when he lists the approved grades for his own cars engine.
Why? He's been ringing round every miscreant and his dog and still has a Ford approved viscosity in the sump! (Mind you, that would be better than a 10-60!)


GC8 said:
Gloopy stuff, but Im guessing that it was specified because prolonged hard use of the turbocharger causes a difficult to deal with rise in oil temperatures.
On a racetrack -- maybe -- but it has no place whatsoever in a road car. It's an insane/inane choice.

GC8

19,910 posts

219 months

Saturday 12th April 2014
quotequote all
I have 10W-60 in my road car.