Q: Which oil should I put in?

asked by on November 19, 2016

I have an Acura TL 3.2L base model. I bought the car from someone. The car calls for 5w-20 oil, but the previous owner has used 5w-30 oil for the past 2 years. My question is if I should go back to 5w-20 oil, or keep putting 5w-30 since it maybe it got used to it? It has 87K miles now, the last oil change was done at 83K miles. Oil life is about 20% now and I need to do an oil change soon.

Thank you, Daniel

My car has 87000 miles.
My car has an automatic transmission.

Change Oil and Filter $103.58 - $181.08 Get a Quote

After checking the oil specifications for your engine you are correct about the 5w20 weight oil. Newer engines in a lot of vehicles now use and recommend the 5w20 or 0w20 oils. Your vehicles engine uses 5W20 only. The parts in your engine are machined with very tight tolerances between the parts and this oil is thin enough to get between all the parts to lubricate them properly. The thicker 5W30 oil is thicker and may not be able to get into all the areas as well as the 5W20. I would recommend having the oil and filter changed by a mechanic like one from YourMechanic that can come to you and perform the service for you and also can do a complete safety inspection to make sure there is no other problems that need work done.

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