0W-20 on cars calling for a 30 weight oil.

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Originally Posted By: nickolas84
What is the experience of 0W-20 oils on engines calling for 0W-30 or 5W-30? Are there any reports of engine damage or things that could go bad to look for?

PS. I do know not following manufacturers recommendations is unwise.


I agree with Trav and Clevy. You adjust the viscosity to "your" needs, not "force" the engine to live with what you want.
 
Heh heh, I would use 10w30 instead of 30w. I'd would have no problem using 20w50 above a temp of 10F.
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Certain viscosities lubricate certain engines the best. Just because Joe Blow is running 0W-20 in his Prius, doesn't mean 0W-20 is best for your Honda!
 
Originally Posted By: Merkava_4
Certain viscosities lubricate certain engines the best. Just because Joe Blow is running 0W-20 in his Prius, doesn't mean 0W-20 is best for your Honda!


Well thats the recommended viscosity per Honda, so thats what I will stick with.
 
A little late to the game.

I don't think there is a real significant "danger" in doing it, but the one car I did it in (my 11 Malibu) I did have a VVT actuator failure on the car (not sure if it was related to the oil, as I had quite a few problems with it before that).
 
Originally Posted By: nickolas84
What is the experience of 0W-20 oils on engines calling for 0W-30 or 5W-30? Are there any reports of engine damage or things that could go bad to look for?

PS. I do know not following manufacturers recommendations is unwise.


I've posted on this before. My mazda Miata 1,8l engine suffered due to 0W-20 oil and performance driving. It was an attempt at a bit more high rpm hp, in honor of the way we used to do it at daytona. (Use thin oil to go faster) my UOA results came back with over 250ppm lead and absurd iron, aluminum and elevated copper levels. Plus it would no longer maintain any oil pressure at idle. It became quickly clear the engine needed an overhaul. Upon disassembly, I found a very clean, but worn engine. I'm not claiming the thin oil did all the damage. But it certInly was the major factor in its final failure.
 
Originally Posted By: Cujet
Originally Posted By: nickolas84
What is the experience of 0W-20 oils on engines calling for 0W-30 or 5W-30? Are there any reports of engine damage or things that could go bad to look for?

PS. I do know not following manufacturers recommendations is unwise.


I've posted on this before. My mazda Miata 1,8l engine suffered due to 0W-20 oil and performance driving. It was an attempt at a bit more high rpm hp, in honor of the way we used to do it at daytona. (Use thin oil to go faster) my UOA results came back with over 250ppm lead and absurd iron, aluminum and elevated copper levels. Plus it would no longer maintain any oil pressure at idle. It became quickly clear the engine needed an overhaul. Upon disassembly, I found a very clean, but worn engine. I'm not claiming the thin oil did all the damage. But it certInly was the major factor in its final failure.

It depends a lot on how you drive your car: I use 5w-20 in my miata, on two years OCI, and I am pretty sure I won't have any problem with that... but
- I don't race the car (I am cruising with my daughter beside me),
- I don't like to rev the engine (not my motto).

That is why I can use 5w-20 oil and Cujet cannot: not same use of the same car.

Oil choice is not all engine related, it is also utilization related (longer of OCI, use of the car/engine, short or long tripping, etc...).
 
I don't know why some people here seem to advocate xW20 oils for cars that take xW30 because it's cold or for fuel economy. Where do you live where you would consider 5W30 is too thick? Using xW20 might give you better startup but once the engine is warmed up isn't the oil too thin to give you the best engine protection?

People almost never put thinner oils in European cars. People will say it doesn't meet the VW spec, BMW spec, MB spec, HTHS spec, etc, etc. If that's the case why would it be OK to put xW20 in Asian/US cars that call for xw30 oil? Isn't the high temp viscosity out of spec if you're doing that?

Personally I'd always stick with OEM spec, and if you want something better go for synthetic or higher quality synthetic.
 
Originally Posted By: camrydriver111
I don't know why some people here seem to advocate xW20 oils for cars that take xW30 because it's cold or for fuel economy. Where do you live where you would consider 5W30 is too thick? Using xW20 might give you better startup but once the engine is warmed up isn't the oil too thin to give you the best engine protection?

People almost never put thinner oils in European cars. People will say it doesn't meet the VW spec, BMW spec, MB spec, HTHS spec, etc, etc. If that's the case why would it be OK to put xW20 in Asian/US cars that call for xw30 oil? Isn't the high temp viscosity out of spec if you're doing that?

Personally I'd always stick with OEM spec, and if you want something better go for synthetic or higher quality synthetic.

I had PP 5W20 in place of M1 0W40 in my 2000 MB E430 more than 7-8 years ago.

The engine was much quieter at any RPM, throttle response was quicker and better MPG too.

Since then I never had straight M1 0w40 in that engine, I mixed 5 quarts M1 0W20 with 3.5 quarts M1 0W40 to get a light xW30.

In Europe that car can run at 150+ MPH all day, therefore the oil temp can be 230-240F or higher. The car is my wife daily drive and it almost never see anything above 75-80 MPH on crowded highway in So Cal. The oil temp is probably below 190-200F most of the time, therefore xW30 is more than adequate for that engine.
 
Originally Posted By: HTSS_TR
I had PP 5W20 in place of M1 0W40 in my 2000 MB E430 more than 7-8 years ago.

The engine was much quieter at any RPM, throttle response was quicker and better MPG too.

Since then I never had straight M1 0w40 in that engine, I mixed 5 quarts M1 0W20 with 3.5 quarts M1 0W40 to get a light xW30.

In Europe that car can run at 150+ MPH all day, therefore the oil temp can be 230-240F or higher. The car is my wife daily drive and it almost never see anything above 75-80 MPH on crowded highway in So Cal. The oil temp is probably below 190-200F most of the time, therefore xW30 is more than adequate for that engine.


That's a great in the field testament to thinner oil.

How many miles are on that vehicle since you went thinner and what have your oci's been compared to manufacturer recommended?
 
The car has 15x,xxx miles now, I changed to thinner oil when it had 8x,xxx miles. The OCI's is normal 10-12k miles or a year according to MB oil life monitor.

The reasons I changed to PP 5W20 at that time were:

Engine was very noisy with M1 0W40 the last couple OCI, it sounded like diesel engine, I could not hear the fan at higher speed 4 or 5 when the car was idle at red light.

I had a case PP 5W20 for whatever reason I don't remember, so I tried it and very glad I did. The engine was so quiet I could hear the fan running at lowest speed while idle at red light.

I know that I'm one of the very few who uses much thinner oil than spec'ed in a German engine.
 
Generally speaking I bet you would have a hard time finding an engine calling for 5w30 that would have an issue running 0w20. Though I do believe you would increase wear in certain applications. My old 03 Mustang Cobra, Ford spec'd 5w20 instead of 5w30 without making any clearance changes. That was an engine that should never have 20wt in it. The new 5.0's call for 5w20 but if you have the track pack then 5w50! Same [censored] engine.

I acquired a good bit of free 5w20 PYB and I began running it in a high mileage 2.2L 98 Cavalier that my girlfriend uses for a commuter car. That old 2.2 is not exactly a refined engine. It has been maintained well since new but still had over 230,000 miles on it. Normally I ran 5w30 MaxLife. After a couple oil changes with 5w20 I believed that her mpg had trended up a little, maybe .5. When I went to buy oil I picked up 5w20 PP. The engine seems to like it. Just rolled 250,000.
 
Originally Posted By: Shark
Generally speaking I bet you would have a hard time finding an engine calling for 5w30 that would have an issue running 0w20. Though I do believe you would increase wear in certain applications. My old 03 Mustang Cobra, Ford spec'd 5w20 instead of 5w30 without making any clearance changes. That was an engine that should never have 20wt in it. The new 5.0's call for 5w20 but if you have the track pack then 5w50! Same [censored] engine.

I acquired a good bit of free 5w20 PYB and I began running it in a high mileage 2.2L 98 Cavalier that my girlfriend uses for a commuter car. That old 2.2 is not exactly a refined engine. It has been maintained well since new but still had over 230,000 miles on it. Normally I ran 5w30 MaxLife. After a couple oil changes with 5w20 I believed that her mpg had trended up a little, maybe .5. When I went to buy oil I picked up 5w20 PP. The engine seems to like it. Just rolled 250,000.


Are you sure it's the exact same engine? Same cam, tuned the same, same red line? I doubt it. There probably is a reason for the different wt. of oil besides they are both 5.0.
 
Originally Posted By: tig1
Originally Posted By: Shark
Generally speaking I bet you would have a hard time finding an engine calling for 5w30 that would have an issue running 0w20. Though I do believe you would increase wear in certain applications. My old 03 Mustang Cobra, Ford spec'd 5w20 instead of 5w30 without making any clearance changes. That was an engine that should never have 20wt in it. The new 5.0's call for 5w20 but if you have the track pack then 5w50! Same [censored] engine.

I acquired a good bit of free 5w20 PYB and I began running it in a high mileage 2.2L 98 Cavalier that my girlfriend uses for a commuter car. That old 2.2 is not exactly a refined engine. It has been maintained well since new but still had over 230,000 miles on it. Normally I ran 5w30 MaxLife. After a couple oil changes with 5w20 I believed that her mpg had trended up a little, maybe .5. When I went to buy oil I picked up 5w20 PP. The engine seems to like it. Just rolled 250,000.
Are you sure it's the exact same engine? Same cam, tuned the same, same red line? I doubt it. There probably is a reason for the different wt. of oil besides they are both 5.0.

The other huge variable is -- same usage? It would seem the track pack is an indication of potentially intended race usage which would need an oil designed for such.
 
Originally Posted By: Shark
The new 5.0's call for 5w20 but if you have the track pack then 5w50! Same [censored] engine.


Interesting. That's quite a big difference.

The track pack does have a different differential, but it appears the engines are the same, unless there are differences Ford doesn't advertise.
 
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