Oil Question

[Clevy]

I believe that oil colour is irrelevant. Its filtered so although its black its actually clean and It's the additive package and how long they last in relation to neutralizing acid,the anti-wear agents and friction modifiers,fuel dillution etc. Garak makes a good point. Pablo sells amsoil and from his posts I believe he gives an honest assessment of the products he sells. Send him a pm. I am sure he will tell you how long the oil and filter will last.
As far as piece of mind the days of the 3000 mile oil change are gone. If you are going to spend the money on a top quality synthetic stretch out the change interval. It's about value per dollar. If you follow their recommendations it actually costs less to use amsoil if you multiply the cost or 5 5000 km oil changes vs 1 SSO change. I used the SSO 0w30 in my truck last winter. Long warm up times,trailer towing,-40 temps and at 22000 kms I changed it out and sent a sample to blackstone. Their concern was the fuel dilution which made sense due to 30 minute warm ups in these arctic conditions and suggested I let it go right to 25000.

 

[wiswind]

0W-xx is too thin is a common misunderstanding.
Using the 30 weight......0W-30, 5W-30 and 10W-30 are ALL still 30 weights at operating temperature.
The only difference is how much each thickens up as it cools.
To best understand how "thick" an oil is at operating temperature in you motor, look at the HTHS specification.
For a 30 weight oil, the minimum is 2.9, and there is not a specific maximum value.....but can go up to around 3.6

Another common misunderstanding is that cold starts are only cold to us.....like below 0 degrees C.
Room temperature of around 20 degrees C is STILL a cold start to a motor.
So a 0W-xx will give you better flow at startup in cool weather.

Also, a 0W-xx generally requires better ingredients in order to meet the more demanding specifications, so it will almost always be an upgrade from the 5W-xx or 10W-xx

Many of the base stocks used today have a naturaly higher viscosity index (VI), which is an indication of the resistance to thicken as temperature goes down.
For this reason, less Viscocity Index Improvers (VII) need to be added to the base stocks in order to achieve the 0W-xx over the 5W-xx and 10W-xx.
In fact, some 0W-20 oils have NO added viscocity index improvers added because the base ingredients can be chosen to do this without them.

In the old days......a 10W-30 was a very common oil specified by OEMs, and it was considered better to use than a 10W-40 or other wider spread because it required less Viscosity Index Improvers in order to meet the specifications.
That is OLD and out of date information in almost all oils today because of the greatly improved chemistry of oil today as compared to the 1970's.

 

[Solarent]

Another thing to realize about oil formulations is that the base stocks are also blended to give the improved performance; this is how they achieve the wide ranges with minimum levels of VI improver (
Example
A 0w-30 could contain 53% PAO-A and 16% PAO-B
Whereas a 5w30 would contain 17% PAO-A and 53% PAO-B

PAO-A being the thinner (with VI of 126) an PAO-B being the heavier(with a VI of 128). This helps to provide that stable base stock. However in this example the finished oils have a final VI of 175(Ow30) and 168(5w30) which is actually due to the use of VI Improvers with the higher concentration being in the oil with the broadest range.

What is most helpful about a 0w is that there is no minimum ccs @ sub zero temps whereas a 5w and 10w have minimums set at -35 and -30. This means of course way better flow at cold temps (which like wiswind explained a cold start can be anything below 20 C).

 

[mauric3]

Thanks for the reply.. I guess i should pm Pablo regarding amsoil...

So I guess ill just be sticking with using 0w20 on my 8thgen honda civic r18 and use 0w30 on our 2009 town and country minivan.. since the 0w have better additives and offers better protection from cold start/room temp startup...