cold weather oil

[kore]

my truck is a 1985 pickup, with a completely rebuilt 2L-t which has about 2500km on it now. I live in calgary now and am using guardol 10w30 oil which gets very thick when its cold. at -20 the stuff is like honey. Ive read so many threads about which oils to use in cold climates, and would like to try some of the esso xd-3 synth from walmart, i think it was ow30 or 5w40...
my question for you guys, is it too early to start using a synthetic oil? i have no oil burning or leakage. the 2500km I have so far 95% of it is highways in BC so it has been run in well and already been run loaded with weight and driven from vancouver to calgary. I thought the 10w30 would be good enough for the cold, but it cranks too slow. When it starts it makes oil pressure after a second but i have noticed its lower than when its warm out. normally I see 80psi on cold start, but with these conditions only 60psi. The oil is not circulating properly for the first 10 minutes or so because its honey.
i think i just answered my own question, no damage can be done by switching to an artic oil, but is the engine ready for it? The engine seems to be on its way to breaking in, no oil burning and just a bit of blow-by.
thanks
mike

 

[BinaryDude]

2500km should have seated everything good enough to switch to a thinner oil. Do you have a block heater? That might help more then anything

 

[kore]

2500km should have seated everything good enough to switch to a thinner oil. Do you have a block heater? That might help more then anything

i have a block heater and heating magnet. obviously i want to take care of this engine and make it last longer than my old one did, a mere 450,000km

 

[BinaryDude]

I wonder if it could be your battery as well. Being from south alabama the coldest we usually see is 40F.

We need the smart ppl to chime in

 

[Cancruiser]

I use Chevron Delo 5W40 (Synth) for winter. Started fine down to -25C without being plugged-in..
You may also try Shell Rotella 0W40 or 5W40 for winter. Many forum members use it.. I just used the Delo because it was on sale

 

[Birdstrike]

The Rotella 0W40 works well though I had a leak and was topping up with anything 0 or 5 weight synth. I could get at the time ( sometimes the shelves get pretty low in the winter here). At -44 I tried to put in some 10W30 I had in the back of the truck and nothing would have convinced it to come out of the bottle. I have a 200W heat pad on my pan and don't have any problems with the oil so with your magnet you should be fine.

 

[kore]

i went to walmart today and checked out the oil selection. the esso xd-3 was $35 a jug, from researching on google all i could find is old threads where people said it was $20.
what they do have is this super tech 0w30, 5w30 or 10w30 full synthetic. did some more searching around and found alot of comments on this oil. the consensus seems to be if its API certified then it is good oil. also costs $23, half what mobil one does.
so lets hear from some other toyota dieselers, any experience? last winter i used chevron synthetic 5w30 and it would crank fine at cold temps. i might try some 5w30 supertech stuff. the book calls for 5w30 oil for the temps i am seeing here, it cant hurt. i wouldnt try and extend my intervals, i normally change my oil in my truck every 3000km because i seem to do quite a bit of stop and go ideling around town. i wouldnt go past 5000km on this stuff.

 

[crushers]

Rottela T artic blend full syth 0/30
there is a Shell card lock off barlow north just past 16th overpass. the guy there always treated me right.

for the record i drove a brand new mazda B2200 for 140,000 km in Calgary summer and winter with this 0/30 in it as a test vehicle. it now has 340,000 km on it and still doesn't use a drop of oil... running fine.

unless you are racing the engine then any oil will provide lubrication. i recommend 0/30 from Nov to March and 5/40 semi from April to Oct.