oil type question

[njcamry]

so i have an oil leak in my 97 camry w 180k..looks like its from the timing belt area, so dont wanna dish out the $$, my mechanic put 20w50 oil in it as he said it wont leak as much...and he said its relatively safe, i had it put in 2-3 times over 1 yr and had no problems at all and the leak went way down, then i went to anothr mechanic out of state and he said it'll stall your engine, never do that..and went back to 5w30..but now it leaks heavy again..is it safe to use the 20w50 as i feel i wanna go back to it?

[Jimnist]

If it's anything to go by, i use 20w-50 oil(Castrol GTX2).

[Stillrunning]

Originally Posted by njcamry

is it safe to use the 20w50 as i feel i wanna go back to it?

Not in an NJ winter, you'll starve the engine of oil at cold start-up and wear it out faster. Not fixing the leak and using 20w-50 will not save anything in the long run. When was last time you had the timing belt done?

[Mike Gerber]

^ I agree with Stillrunning. You can get away with using 20W-50 oil in the warm weather, but you will have difficulty starting the car in the winter months with that thick weight of oil inside the engine. His point of 20W-50 oil slowly pumping through a cold engine in cold weather when it does start is a valid one. The best time to do this repair is when changing the timing belt, as the timing belt has to be removed to access these seals. If you do repair these seals change the timing belt even it's it's not time mileage-wise, since the belt has probably been compromised by having oil leak on to it.

Mike