The Canadian owners manual for my 2004 Cavalier recommends 5W30. However, it also notes: "If it is going to be 0 degrees F (-18C) or above and SAE 5W30 is not available, you may use SAE 10W30."
Coincidentally, if you use the oil selector tool on the Castrol USA website for a 2004 Cavalier (2.2 ecotec) it recommends 10W30 if the temp is -18 or greater but that is referring to -18F and not -18C. (I checked with Castrol.)
Therefore, out of curiosity, I would appreciate if somebody with a US owners manual for a 2003 -2005 Cavalier with 2.2 ecotec would tell what it says in their manual.
Thanks for the offer of advice. However, what I really would like to know is whether the US owners manual for 2003-2005 Cavalier with 2.2 ecotec says that when 5w30 is not available, 10w30 is acceptable if the temperature is above 0F or does it say it is acceptable if the temperature is above -18F ?
The US owner's manual for my 2005 Chevy Cobalt, 2.2 Ecotec says:
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5W-30 is best for your vehicle.
Do not use 10W-40, 20W-50 or any other viscosity grade oil not recommended.
only use oils that meet the GM6094M specification.
If temperatures are below -20F (-29C), they recommend 5W-30 synthetic or 0W-30 oil.
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They don't mention 10W-30.
I just did this car's first oil change, at 4000 miles, with conventional 5W-30. At 8000 miles I'll put in one of the cheaper synthetic 5W-30's like Valvoline and use the Oil Life Monitor from then on which should be about 7000 miles each time. Once the car is out of warranty I'll probably go to a much better synthetic, such as Amsoil 5W-30, and go 9 months / 18000 miles on the oil and change the filter every three months. I did this on a previous car using Redline Synthetic Oil and it had a very long life and got great economy.
I don't know if I can mention this, but a great discussion forum for oil is www.bobistheoilguy.com
Beware that the oil-obsessed people on that board, including me, are INSANE!!
Steve,
Why don`t you just use the amsoil 5w30 now? why wait?
sapporo wrote:Steve,
Why don`t you just use the amsoil 5w30 now? why wait?
I want to use conventional oil until 8 or 9000 miles so that the engine will be broken in. Most of the way, at least. The powertrain warranty is 60,000 miles so I want to follow the Oil Life Monitor until then and have the oil and filter receipts to back it up. Someone could just ask friends and family to give them any oil receipts they get, but I'd rather do it the honest way. According to the BITOG forum, I mentioned above, Valvoline Synpower is a Group III oil (called synthetic in the US, but not a true synthetic) but is fine for 7500 mile drain intervals. At a drain interval of only 7500 miles, the Amsoil would be overkill.
Depending on shipping and any discounts, the Amsoil synthetic 5W-30 would be around $6 USD per quart compared to $4.68 for the Valvoline, not including tax. I believe the Amsoil is a mixture of Group IV and V oil. Five being the highest available. Also, with the exception of their XL Series oils, Amsoil products are not officially API approved. Although, Amsoil says they meet the specification.
I was using the Amsoil Series 3000 Heavy Duty Diesel Oil, 5W-30, in the VW Golf diesel that I just traded in. The normal change interval for the Golf TDI was 10,000 miles. I sent in a sample to a lab when I drained it and the report was excellent. The next load I left in for 15,000, changing the filter every 7500, and did another analysis when I drained. It was still great. I did that for a couple of years and was planning on going 20,000 with an extra filter change at 10,000. At 8000 miles into the load it developed other problems unrelated to the engine and I traded it in for the Cobalt. It only had 128,000 miles on it, young for a diesel, but I was fed up with the VW quirkiness.
Sorry for the long post. For the record I don't have any connection to Amsoil other than liking their products. You really can't buy a bad oil these days. As long as the viscosity is correct for the engine and you base the change interval on the quality of the oil, a person really can't go wrong. For this first change I used the Wal-Mart Supertech 5W-30 at $4.95 for a five quart jug. It meets the API SM spec. and will be fine for 4000 mi.
Steve,
Not an oil expert by any means. Just an oil nut.
Here's more info from the owners manual:
"If you cannot find such SAE 5W-30 oils, you can use an SAE 10W-30 oil which has the API Starburst symbol ,if it's going to be 0 F(-18C) or above. "
www.houston-domestics.com
Thanks for the replies folks! They indicate to me that my Canadian edition of the owner's manual is, with the exception of the Cobalt's manual not mentioning 10W30, consistent with the recommendations in the US edition of the owner's manuals. I therefore, expect that the error is in Castrol's website tool for selecting oil. I think they didn't correctly transfer the GM owner's manual information about 10w30 to their web selector tool.
Not that the above makes any real difference to me because I use the recommended 5W30 exclusively but curiosity got the best of me.
Anyhow, thanks again.
