straight 20 wt

[urrlord]

last time i was in Tractor Supply i noticed that in their house brand of oil(traveller) they offer a 20 wt HD meets sm specs and the label states suitable for off and on road use and old and new vehicles.
what do you guys think?

 

[mva]

What are you planning to use it in?

 

[StevieC]

Fine if you're in a hot climate or in the summer, but not really needed considering all the off the shelf multi oils.

 

[TallPaul]

Depends what you are going to do with it. I have some 20W Valvoline Premium Conventional and it is like a 10w20. Might be good for a car that specs 5w20 if you want something more robust and don't want to go thicker overall. This way it seems you'd have a thicker base oil and no VII.

 

[Klutch9]

Originally Posted By: urrlord
last time i was in Tractor Supply i noticed that in their house brand of oil(traveller) they offer a 20 wt HD meets sm specs and the label states suitable for off and on road use and old and new vehicles.
what do you guys think?


why would it matter if you use the vehicle on or of road? lol. it'd still get the same oil. Ive heard of people running straight 30wt in their vehicles before, so i guess 20 may work too. i wouldnt use it in a HM car though, too thin IMO

 

[aquariuscsm]

I`ve often wondered how a mono grade 50,for example Valvoline`s VR1 50 compares to their VR1 20W50?

 

[mva]

Pennzoil straight 30 looks like pretty good oil. Check out the -30C pour point!

http://www.pzlqs.com/Tech/Pdsheet/DomesticMarketing/EngineOils/pdf/HDConventionalMotorOil.pdf

Pretty much equivalent to their 10W40:

http://www.pzlqs.com/Tech/Pdsheet/DomesticMarketing/EngineOils/pdf/ConventionalMotorOils.pdf

The straight 50 is pretty thick but still has a good pour point of -27C. Very specialized oil that would give significantly lower fuel economy in a car that calls for 5W30.

 

[Shannow]

Yeah, they don't sell that down here anymore.

 

[urrlord]

not really planning on using it anytime soon.just did an oil change on the wifes mazda tribute using motorcraft 5w20.her work commute is only about 8 miles so i have quite a while before another o/c on a vehicle calling for a 20 wt.
i just noticed it and it jogged a memory from a mopar forum,about a guy in the 70's who ran into an old farmer who ran atf in his valiant slant six engine because" i have always run in my engine what i use in my transmission".most of the comments were it would probably be ok as it was roughly equal to 20 wt oil,as long as you didn't thrash it too badly and that it was probably really clean internally.
i have a couple of old dodges with slants(a smooth running inline six is great IMO) and have had a mild curiosity about trying it.when i get the 74 d-100 back on the road i may try this stuff.it seems a little safer than running atf.
also i live in central ga,usa .summer temps get pretty high most years 90-110 f .

 

[Jim Allen]

If you look through the Nebraska Tractor Tests from the University of Nebraska, you will see a bunch of old tractors tested with straight 20 grade oil, both gas and diesel.

 

[1999nick]

In my humble opinion, a straight 20 weight oil, with proper additives, would be just fine in most engines. Heck, back in the 1950's, most cars were specced for 20 weight. As I've mentioned several times on this board, my 1954 Ford V-8 acquired new, always used 20W, and in 1959 it had 140,000 miles on it and did not smoke or use oil. It lead a pretty rough life, too. I was between 18 and 23 years old in those years, and took that engine to maximum revs very frequently. It had the overdrive transmission, and you could run it up to 30 in low, raise your foot off the gas, and it would go into overdrive low; then, back on the gas and you could see 50 in low. In overdrive second, it would show 94. I say "show", because speedometers in those days were sometimes optimistic.

That car would never show more than 95 mph top speed until I treated it to a dual exhaust. It would then indicate 105.

I say all this to show that this V-8 was not babied, but still made it to 140,000 on straight 20W without any indication of being worn out. I don't know how long this car might have lasted as I traded it in 1959.

 

[Steve S]

what were the oil changes and maintenance on the Ford?

 

[mechtech2]

urrlord - 20 weight motor oil is a lot thicker than ATF.
And forget cleaning things with modern ATFs - even the old ones were way over rated.

 

[Chris142]

Thats alot of miles for and old engine. Didn't engines at the time need valve jobs frequently?


My dad has told me stories about doing valve jobs @ 30-40K miles in cars back then.

He lost a rod bearing in a 55 Dodge with a Hemi at a very low milage back then. 20k I believe it was.

 

[1999nick]

Originally Posted By: Steve S
what were the oil changes and maintenance on the Ford?


In those days, I was not into oil changes. They were taken care of by my Dad when I happened to be at home and he had time. I was away at college a couple of years, 1954 thru 56, and then in the Army from 56 thru 59. I already had 40,000 miles on the car in 1956, and shortly after I went into the Army, I acquired a girlfriend at home, so I came home to see her almost every weekend, a 660 mile round trip.

Most of the oil we used was Sinclair 20 weight. My Dad bought it from a friend at the Sinclair warehouse, and he usually got it changed at a service station where they would do the job for 10 cents a quart. It was probably changed every 4 or 5 thousand miles. Maybe more-I think it was changed about every 3 months, and greased.

I had a new clutch put in at 86,000 miles; it was beginning to chatter and had had a lot of high rpm starts and speed shifts put on it. I only had one mechanical failure on all of those 660 mile round trips. A rear wheel bearing went out as I was coming home early one Saturday morning, about one mile from a small town. It was about 6:am. I walked to the town and found a small coffee shop on the outskirts. Bought a coffee and told the waitress my sad story. She said there was a guy who ran a junkyard that came in every morning and he would be there in a few minutes. Sure enough, in about 10 minutes he showed up. He was cdriving his wrecker, and we went out and got my car. I sat in it and held the steering wheel. He put a used axle in, put everything back together, charged me $12 for the whole thing and I was back on my way, only losing a little over 1 hour.

I suppose that one reason that engine was not worn out in 140,000 miles was the fact that 75% of its miles were on the highway and it had the old overdrive transmission. It usually got about 22 to 24 mpg on the highway, usually going about 70 mph. I would buy a car with that transmission today if it were available.

 

[1999nick]

Thats alot of miles for and old engine. Didn't engines at the time need valve jobs frequently?


My dad has told me stories about doing valve jobs @ 30-40K miles in cars back then.

He lost a rod bearing in a 55 Dodge with a Hemi at a very low milage back then. 20k I believe it was. [/quote}


Neither my Dad or I ever had to have a valve job on a car built from 1950 or later. Matter of fact, my 1954 Ford V-8 had solid lifters that sometimes required periodic adjustment to compensate for wear. Mine never, in 140,000 miles, got noisy or required adjustment. That was the first year of the overhead valve V-8 for Ford, and when it first came out, they had a lot of lifter failures caused by improper heat treatment. I did not get mine until August of 1954, and they had obviously cured this problem by then.

Heck, when I was in the Army, I was doing 35,000 to 38,000 miles a year. I would have been having to get a valve job every year if it was required every 40,000 miles or so.

 

[jldcol]

How thick is this 20wt.? if on high end(9+), then I don't see much issue provided it's SL/SM rated and your clime is warm enough. Most multi-visc has a thinner base (thin 20wt. for 10wxx, and a 10wt. for 5wxx) so very in comparison.

 

[Steve S]

Cars were way tougher and higher quality in the 50s and 60s. Today they are overprice tin cans that you can cut in half with some tin snips.