Oil changes12/24/2023 It’s technically attached to the first number, which is why you’ll often see “5W30” written as “5W-30”. You’ll notice the “W” in the multigrade oil’s description. See the graph to understand that a little more clearly. To achieve this behavior, oil-producing companies use a wide range of additives to manipulate For example, 10W20 behaves like SAE 10 when cold and like SAE 20 at operating temperatures. Specifically, it has different viscosities when cold (at 0 degrees Celcius – freezing) and at operational engine temperatures. Multigrade oil behaves differently at different temperatures. We’ll explain more about multigrade oils in the next section. For example, you might see a container of 5W30 (one of the most common oils). SAE 20 or SAE 15 motor oils are examples of “single-grade” or “monograde” oils. Click here to go to the Wikipedia page on Motor Oil – scroll down to the section on “single-grade”. SAE 20 would be more viscous (“thicker”) than SAE 15, for example. This represents an SAE-based relative viscosity of 20. These tests give the oil its “grade” based on how long the oil took to flow through a particular SAE-developed tube-like device.įor example, you might see SAE 20 motor oil on the shelf. Two of these are done at “cold” temperatures, while the other two are done at engine operating temperatures. When a company produces a new motor oil, it must go through four SAE-set tests. These numbers are based on tests and standards set by the Society of Automotive Engineers ( SAE). The grades on the side of oil containers refer to their relative viscosities. As we apply this principle to motor oil, we can see that the “thicker” motor oils are more viscous. As long as you remember that these are all referring to the same thing, you’ll be fine. This isn’t quite technically correct, but it doesn’t matter. Most people use words such as “heavy” or “thick” to describe “viscous” fluids. Gases also have viscosity levels, but they’re usually small enough to be virtually negligible.) (As an aside note, although, in everyday English, the word “fluid” brings up ideas of liquids only, in the scientific world, “fluid” can refer to either liquids or gases. You might think of viscosity as “how much a fluid slows itself down while flowing”. It describes the internal friction of a moving fluid. Viscosity is a measure of a fluid’s resistance to flow. If you clicked on the link in the above section, which takes you to Princeton’s website, you’d have seen the definition there. Take a look at the first few seconds from this YouTube clip. All of this is why motor oil is so essential and why you must look it after. And that’s something that’s not too kind on your bank account. If this happened, you would need to pay for a full engine rebuild or replacement. Eventually, they would begin to scrape against each other and collide, causing (likely irreparable) damage to your engine. Without the oil, the parts might begin to expand with the heat (as metal things do). As the motor oil coats the surfaces of the moving metal engine components, it provides a sort of barrier between them. In some ways, it’s the janitor of the engine. In modern engines and oils, the oil is also responsible for preventing rust buildup, cleaning out harmful sludge, and other similar jobs. We will briefly look into the concept of viscosity in the next section of this article.Įngine oil functions as a lubricant between metal surfaces. Equally, thin oil doesn’t have a very high viscosity. The more viscous oil is, the “thicker” you might consider it to be. We refer to the “thickness” or “thinness” of the oil as its viscosity. Its job is to cling to the metal surfaces within the engine as a semi-thick fluid. It carries a crucial role, and without it, the car wouldn’t get a mile without breaking down – or, more accurately, just breaking. Motor oil is the lubricant of the engine. Or, should you have otherwise considered doing an oil change yourself, anyway? And, we’ll even look at the pros and cons of sending your car to Walmart for an oil change. That being said, besides looking at the Walmart oil change cost, we’ll also discuss Walmart’s other auto services. To skip the introduction and jump straight to looking at the cost of an oil change at Walmart specifically, click the second link in the list below. Finally, we’ll explore whether you can change your own oil, and how much that costs. We’ll also consider the basic principles of motor oil. In this article, we’ll look at how much it costs for an oil change at Walmart. Avoiding it leads to more significant damage and costs down the road. Everyone needs to get their oil changed at some point. You can typically get your Walmart oil change cost for a reasonable price.
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