I am just coming up on my first 3500 km's and the motor oil is starting to look dirty and I will be changing it this upcoming week. My question is that the local Mitsu dealer here only uses 10W-30, being located in the very hot and humid city of Panama City, I am looking for some additional protectection like a 10W-40 or 50.

Couple of things, the tempurature is always above 30 Celsius with the humidex is usually 35+, what type of motor oil would give me the best protection and should I change the oil more frequently then 5000 kms?

Also, I think I need 4 quarts of oil can someone confirm that? thanks guys.

 

not pretending to be an expert, but i've been told that these newer engines don't require the heavy weight oil that i used in my '93 expo's 4g64, which i changed every 3000 miles when i was putting alot of miles on it, and at least 3 times per year now that i don't. i changed the oil in my outlander last month at 1000 miles, using mobil 1 10w-30. since you're in the tropics, maybe 10w-40 synthetic should do, though any high-quality oil of at least 40w should as well. i always used 10w-40 in the winter and 20w-50 in the summer. my next change in the outlander will probably be the synthetic 10w-40. since the filter hangs straight down, i fill my mine with as much oil as it'll take before i install it; it reduces start-up engine wear that occurs after filter changes. the crankcase capacity of the 2.4l is 4.5 quarts; just make sure you don't overfill. you're better off a half-quart low than a half over as the crank counterweights can foam up any oil they touch as they spin, and foam can't lubricate....though i doubt that a half-quart over would raise the oil level high enough to cause that to happen, but hey, what do i know....

 

I would contact the local mitsu dealer and ask them what they suggest. I run the oil that is specified, but I run it as a partial synthetic and add a full synthetic Lucas additive(1 qt) since I like to play above the 3500RPM zone, my car likes the high RPM's with the mods

 

I go to the dealer and get my oil changed so whatever they use...

 

though i use the dealer for alot of maintainance, oil changes i did myself as my dealer used 10w-30 with a filter little better than the size of a shot glass! plus, i don't have to worry about one of their grease monkees stripping the plug, which one did about 10 years ago because i forgot to remind them not to change my oil when i had the expo in there for a service. being these engines are high revvers, i don't like using 10w-30 unless it's synthetic. anyway, as my expo's engine has 240,000+ and still going, i think my regular flushing and using only 40 or 50w oil did make a difference.

 

I had an 84 Volvo with 255,000 when I sold it...the previous owner put in only Mobil 1 synthetic and swore by it. LOL, by the time I got the car it was like putting filet mignon in a happy meal.
On a more serious note, will the dealer give you hell if they find you are no using the specified oil grade? I do carry my car into the higher RPM's rather often and if something does go wrong in the next 65,000 miles I don't want them to have a reason to say..."DENIED- you failed to use the reccomended weight of motor oil, thus causing improper lubrication of the internal components of the engine and therefore causing premature malfunction and or failure NOT covered under the powetrtrain warranty" or some BS like they usually come up with.

 

know what you mean; after around 200,000 instead of castrol on sale, it was the supermarket brand 40 or 50w, at a $1 a quart. as long as it has that circular shaped api certification on the label, the oil is warranty friendly.

 

thanks everyone for the info, I am going to go with a 10-50 non synthetic grade for now. I read somewhere that owners should wait til their engine hits 10000kms or so before going to full synthetic, is this true?

 

that's news to me. as turbo motors require synthetic right from the factory, i seriously doubt that what you've been told is accurate; but hey, what do i know...? using synthetic extends change intervals, and helps prevent the sludge normal oils produce in engine heat, so setting a mileage limit on synthetic use doesn't sound right to me.

 

I have heard that you shouldn't transition to fully synthetic all at once, you need to run a partial synthetic for a little while first. But I also think that it will vary from car to car depending on the tolerances in the engine- I would suppose they are counting on a certain amount of wear on the internal parts or maybe the prolonged heat from the traditional oils helps to harden the internals a bit more....who knows really, but I run partial synthetic with a fully synthetic Lucas additive(1 qt) unless the DEALER tells me i cannot.