Choosing engine oil for a VAZ

Today, the owner of a domestic car has access to a list of oils far longer than the list of recommended ones. And a choice has to be made somehow, since only a car assembled from a Lego set can get away without engine oil. Under the Togliatti plant's own classification, the recommended oils are API SF or higher. It should be said that class SE won't hurt either. Either way, both of those classes are considered outdated by foreign manufacturers. Using higher classes — SG, SH, SJ — can only benefit the car and genuinely improve engine performance, provided the oil isn't counterfeit.

The lack of up-to-date lists of approved oil types (approvals) is explained as follows. Compiling such reference lists requires expensive testing that neither domestic automakers nor auto-chemical dealers are willing to fund, while Western manufacturers see no point in bothering with the question.

You can try to match the domestic oils specified in the car's manual against foreign ones. Oils from domestic manufacturers are labelled with Russian letters according to their qualities. The closer the letter is to the end of the alphabet, the better the oil. The first letter in the designation is always M. Next comes a double viscosity figure separated by a slash. At the end, 1 indicates use in petrol engines, 2 — in diesels.

The main thing when choosing an imported oil is matching the recommended viscosity; in any case, the class should be no lower than SF. It's also worth following a few tips. For a new VAZ engine with mileage under a quarter of its service life, it's better to use thinner oils with a low-temperature viscosity of 5 to 10 (the first figure in the designation) and a high-temperature one of 30 (the second figure). Once mileage approaches 70% of the service life, in summer the figures should be 5 to 15 and 40, in winter 5 to 10 and 30, or you can use an all-season 5W-40. An engine nearing the end of its service life needs a more viscous oil, for example 5W-50. Early rear-wheel-drive VAZ models were rated for a service life of about 120,000 kilometres, front-wheel-drive ones — 140,000. Modern models can rack up far more.