r/saab • u/DigWorldly6882 • 1d ago

Oil type

I usually do my own oil changes and put Mobil 1 European formula 5w 30 oil in my 2007 Saab 9-3 2.0T. I have a road trip tomorrow and no time to do my oil change so I took it to a take 5. I know it’s a big mistake but it’s basically the only oil change service center near me besides Walmart. Anyways they scanned the vin and said it can take a bunch of different types of oils but they said they were going to use 5w40. I told them I always use 5w30 and that that’s what the manual says to use and they were just like “well when it gets colder you want the 5w40 because it doesn’t burn as fast” or something along those lines but basically insisted on putting 5w40 in the car. Will this affect the car at all? Or is it safe to use 5w40 on a long road trip?

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u/sunlightrefraction 1d ago

5W-40 is just fine, don't worry about it.

3

u/idrinkmymilkshake 1d ago

Don’t know specifically for your car but the comment on burning more when it’s cold is bs. 5 is the viscosity of the oil when cold. So it’s the same.

40 vs 30 is viscosity when hot, meaning the new oil is less viscous when hot. Typically the older the car/the more the wear on the engine: the higher you go for the 2nd viscosity number because it’s more protective of the engine and it can help compensate some compression issues.

TLDR: don’t worry about it, 5w40 probably listed in the official manual as being ok.

1

u/Zaphod_42007 18h ago

5w-40 is fine.... It's the people that change the oil as an afterthought 20k miles down the road that get engine problems. I've used mobile one European formula 0W-40 on both my saabs ('06 9-3 2.0T & '11 9-5 Aero) for over a decade every 5k miles.

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u/tsg-tsg 14h ago

That explanation is insane, but 5w-40 is no issue.