My wife and I just bought a car, and my question is can I use the same motor oil I use in the U.S? It doesnt need an oil change now, but when I return to the U.S, I will be sending the good stuff (5w-30 full synthetic Mobil 1) and get it changed over...Thanks in advance.
You don't mention if this is a new or a used car. With a new car, you can use the oil you want. With a used car, you don't know the history of maintenance, so make sure not to use detergent oil, this can give trouble.
Mitsubishi insists you use their synthetic if you buy a new vehicle from them, or the engine warranty is void. Why not buy the Mobil 1 here? What's the manufacturer's oil recommendation?
You may want to consider a higher viscosity oil, like 10W40. You definitely don't need the lower viscosity for cold starts so the "5W" would not be necessary unless specifically required by the manufacturer (for example, in a car that has difficulty getting oil to the valves on startup). The "40" will ensure lubricity at higher temperatures, increasing oil pressure and reducing evaporation or burn-off since it is generally hotter here than many states. Your owners manual should provide a chart with different weight oils for different temperature ranges. If it is an older vehicle, you may be better off with an organic oil designed for high mileage cars since they contain additives to condition dired out seals and reduce leakage; much cheaper than synthetic and generally better for the car. For that matter, I find that full synthetic oils can be a waste of money (unless specified for your car, like a corvette or some Mercedes models). A synthetic blend is cheaper and can provide similar protection.
Its an 09 hyundai Getz with 10,000 km on it. I am also looking into a Strada or a Fortuner which will be new. I've used 5w-30 full synth on all my cars in Vegas where it gets real hot. I have one (02 montero sport) with 125,000 miles on it and still runs like a champ...Full synth oil here costs a fortune, and its some local product which I cant trust. I'm also concerned wiith the high octane gas here. Anyway as long as I can use american oil on cars here, then it should be good. Thanks.
IMHO synthetic oil is a waste of money, but here they sell and I use Castrol GTX which is the best regular oil in the universe.
I did some testing for a company i was working for a cost analysis for just this very subject. The breakdown of different oils through temperature and friction. The Valvoline, Pennzoil , Quaker state, etc. most all the top brands. Is a little harder to find the higher viscosity synthetic, most easily is the 5w 30. Anyway, When I had put the oils threw the paces of higher temp, no comparison on breakdown of the standard oils, but the synthetic oil did not break down at the same temps. The extreme friction testing had the same results. The synthetic will hold its viscosity while the standard oils break down. A couplke years later I had a trucking service using dodge cummins trucks, one of the new trucks I only changed the filters on and only added a couple quarts of new syntec. That truck never had leaks never burned oil, and had way over 100k mile in less than a year, ran it for 3 years no problems with the engine. Never did I change out all the oil, just new filters and couple qrts new synthetic. My observation was synthetic would get dirty but would not break down.
Also forgot to add that I only changed the filters around 10k not 3k because it was always on the road and that was only 1round trip from a customer to delivery in California. Usually the truck left Cali then off to Oregon threw out the northwest back down into the south area when I could get it changed.
