2015 kia forte recommended oil

Hey all,

I'm sure this has been covered before, but I can't seem to find the answer. I tried doing a search, but apparently the word "oil" is not an acceptable search term, as it keeps excluding it.

What is the type of oil that is expected for this car? 5W-30? Synthetic or Conventional? I'm coming up on 10k for my second oil change. The first one was comp'ed by the dealership.

Please advise. If there is somewhere on this site that has all this information, then direct me there, please!

Cookie

5W-20 is probably the recommended viscosity, but others might be acceptable and would be listed in your owner's manual. Synthetic isn't required, but I always recommend it for it's stability and resistance to thermal breakdown.

I use Mobil1 5W-30 in all my vehicles, and 15W-50 in my lawnmower. It's always performed well. Pennzoil Platinum is a good alternative, and up until recently was a few dollars cheaper at Walmart, but it's now priced identically to Mobil1 where I shop, so now I just close my eyes and point to one.

I highly recommend a Kia oil filter to avoid any of the pressure restriction issues some people have run into with the Forte and aftermarket filters.

Don't forget the filter crush washer if doing it yourself.

The built-in search for most forum software is pretty lame, I'd advise you use a Google search instead, there is tons of stuff already.

Wanted to get the opinion of the forum while we were discussing oil changes. My dealership included free oil changes with the deal on the car. I know they use low grade, cheaper oil for these changes, so my question is this.

Is it worth having them do it every 5k for the free oil changes or should I go ahead and just do synthetic to help long term?
If question a is let them do the oil changes for free, then at what mileage would you guys suggest I switch over to synthetic?

You can switch to synthetic any time. There are those who believe that switching to synthetic too early will cause an engine to never break in, or break in too slowly, but these same people offer no explanation about the list of cars that come from the factory with synthetic oil installed.

Switch on your first oil change, it won't hurt a thing.

I researched synthetics when I first got my Koup thinking I'd switch over. What I found was that unless you have a high performance engine and are using that way you won't get any benefit from it. That came directly from one of the more popular oil manufacturers so it was surprising to me that they weren't trying to talk everyone into synthetic. I also thought that synthetics lasted longer but not according to that site. I'm sticking with standard oil and doing a change every 4000. Why waste money?

To have the dealer change the oil with what they use or to do it yourself with something else is 100% purely your choice. It is whatever makes you sleep better at night. It's like asking someone else if you should walk away from the craps table or let your bet ride. No one can know the outcome/what will happen.

Viscosity... use what the manufacture recommends... should be 5W-30.

As far as changing the oil... follow the manufacture's recommended oil change time frame (7500 miles). Changing it sooner certainly won't hurt. If your dealer will change it every 5000k miles, than this is fine.

I think MFury meant to say the crush washer on the _drain plug_... not the filter.

I'm sticking with standard oil and doing a change every 4000. Why waste money?

Why change it twice as often as the manufacture recommends? Isn't that a "waste of money"?

There is nothing wrong with using dino oil... nothing at all. But I think most people agree that the benefit synth gives is that the detergents break down more slowly then in dino oil. That is not to say that this will make one bit of difference.

Stuck between car manufacturer's and oil manufacturer's suggestion for oil life. Not to mention I'm old so I'm used to the 3k oil life of the 70's. lol Changed the oil in my cavalier with conventional every 4k to 5k and put 191k on that car and it still ran great. I just don't see the need to pay 3 ot 4 times more for synthetic when conventional does its job.

Stuck between car manufacturer's and oil manufacturer's suggestion for oil life. Not to mention I'm old so I'm used to the 3k oil life of the 70's. lol Changed the oil in my cavalier with conventional every 4k to 5k and put 191k on that car and it still ran great. I just don't see the need to pay 3 ot 4 times more for synthetic when conventional does its job.

Interesting. I did the same with my 96 cavalier, except every 7000 miles instead with regular oil. That engine was a beast, in fact, the whole car was. I took it to 170k miles and sold it when nothing was wrong with it. Just to get my dream car at the time... a GTO.

I'm changing every 5000 miles as it is easy to keep up with, and 85% of my driving is city. I hardly ever get on the highway (except for an exit or 2) to go a farther distance.

To maintain your warranty, always follow the car manufacturer's schedule. Even if an oil manufacturer says their oil will last 10,000 miles, if you suffer an engine failure, Kia won't cover it.

5w-20 or higher is ok no matter what oil

Thanks for the feedback. I guess my question was more in line with former claims that synthetics were better for higher mileage engines, and at what point would "higher mileage" come into play. Is there any evidence it is better for higher mileage or am I being sucked into a marketing ploy?

What's best for a high mileage engine is lower detergent oils with seal conditioners in them. Switching a high-mileage engine over to synthetic when it's been run on conventional all it's life is asking for leaks. It won't 'hurt' the engine, but if the engine has any compromised seals that have sludge built up on them, often the sludge is the only thing keeping it from leaking. When you introduce synthetic oils into that situation, it can clean away the sludge and the engine can develop a leak. Doesn't happen 100% of the time, but it does happen.

I use synthetics from the beginning, in part to prevent sludge and varnish. I really don't see any point in switching an old engine over to synthetics once the varnish and sludge have taken up residence.

I use full synthetic Castrol 5w20 + Z max change every 5000 mi Your right dont go with the dealer oil its shite. I use synthetic because i know it makes my Koup very happy. Also i only run shell or mobil gas. The Z max engine treatment came highly recommended by a mechanic
He raves about the stuff 20- a bottle at walmart.

I think far too much is made of various brands of oil. Whatever the manual calls for is what to use. Probably a 5w-20 weight semi-synthetic oil would be my choice. Motocraft makes/sells that and is what the local Ford dealer puts in all their vehicles. I think synthetic is only needed for racing application.

If your car is a daily driver then without question, synthetics are the way to go. Increased fuel mileage and less engine wear are just a couple of the perks. I just purchased a Koup and will be switching to Amsoil on the first change (I have used it in all of my vehicles for years). For all of you that think synthetics are too expensive or are afraid of the extended intervals, they make a full synthetic OE line of oils that have similar costs to good dino oils. My .02

Increased fuel mileage and less engine wear are just a couple of the perks.

I don't know of any sensible oil manufacture that claims better mpg from synth. Also, less engine wear is really not a reality either.

The main advantage of synth over dino is that the detergents in synth oil don't breakdown as quickly.