5w40/0w40 question

[Summerwind]

Ok guys, be kind please, its early in the morning My question is, will American engines that are spec'ed for say 5w20 or 5w30 oil "benefit" in any way from the new "Euro" 5w40 oils? Just curious with all of the good hype on that weight..

 

[stenerson]

Some people claim it's a better value because they say it's closer to a true ester based synthetic. I used to use heavy oil regardless of what they were spec'd for on my vehicles but don't anymore. I personally never suffered any noticeable problem but I'm sticking to spec now.

 

[JHZR2]

Depends upon the conditions. IIRC Toyotas specced for 5w-20 state that there are compromises in some conditions when running that...

 

[EricJRoy]

M1 0w-40 has 200ppm more Zinc and Phos than their 5w30 and 5w-20

 

[river_rat]

I figure you can easily go up or down one standard oil weight without affecting engine wear in normal driving.
I wouldn't go below an XW-20 though (if you found one).

Long term advantage of an XW-40? probably not, unless you are really whipping on the engine. Then just maybe.

My 2 cents.

 

[SrDriver]

I just use the recommend weight oils that the folks who engineered the engine recommend. In our case we run 5W20 year around and it gets rather warm here in the southeastern part of the country.

No engine issues.

Police use Fords here with 5W20 and engines see a lot of abuse like long term idling, etc. Many have over 100,000 miles before they are replaced. Never heard of any engine issues caused by using the recommended weight oil.

 

[river_rat]

Originally Posted By: SrDriver
Never heard of any engine issues caused by using the recommended weight oil.

Me either.
Even so, sometimes I run 5w30 rather than 5W-20 in my truck. It's easier to stock one weight.

 

[Gary Allan]

Originally Posted By: river_rat
I figure you can easily go up or down one standard oil weight without affecting engine wear in normal driving.
I wouldn't go below an XW-20 though (if you found one).

Long term advantage of an XW-40? probably not, unless you are really whipping on the engine. Then just maybe.

My 2 cents.


Outside of some true viscosity sensitive issue (bona fide - proven in HARD COPY and not just some urban legend that a friend in your town said that the entire police fleet ground to a halt by using .00005cSt heavier fluid - blah-blah), an engine should tolerate any visc that would normally be encountered at sensible cold temps that are common where it is sold. At least on the high side. That's off the SAE scale last I checked. Now it may cost you to pump the motor honey ...but ....

On the lower side most bread and butter engines can handle 20 grades. If they're the same designs as the 70-80-90, and spec'd 5w30 ..they have already been running a 20 grade anyway. It just wasn't a 20 in the bottle.


So use 0w-40 or 5w-40 all you want. Use it with some regard to your cold seasonal points and remember that all 0w and 5w are not created equal.

 

[Summerwind]

Thanks all and Gary, It was just one of those "I got to wondering" questions. Gary, sorry for what may be an "obvious" question, but does Amsoil make a 5w20?

 

[Gary Allan]

Oh, first ..did I sound abrasive? It's not a poor question to ask. I just tire of "you'll shoot your eye out, kid" rhetoric that's not backed in verifiable and validated fact. So, the issue is mine

Now that said, I'm so stubborn that time will make a liar out of me. At some point it will be prohibitive to do something that I scoff at now. It's kinda like how science fiction becomes science fact. Out there some power train engineer is trying to figure a way to damage an engine if you don't use the oil he wants. Eventually, he'll succeed.

The XL line comes in a 5w-20 (XLM). The extended drain full synthetic is a 0w-20 (ASM). They also make a 5w-20 in the Dominator racing oil. (RD20).

 

[Summerwind]

Thanks Gary! No, I didnt read your answer as abrasive at all I have no "doubt" that the good 5w20 flavors out there will protect my 4.6 well beyond 100k, its just that after reading much of the "good-stuff" of the new 5w, 0-40 weight comments, I "just got to wondering" Plus, it was verrry early in the morning

 

[Summerwind]

Oh, I actually (gasp) ran 10w30 in my 4.6 for one OCI

And...it didnt even blow-up...or do "anything" but run perfectly fine

 

[river_rat]

Originally Posted By: Summerwind
Oh, I actually (gasp) ran 10w30 in my 4.6 for one OCI

And...it didnt even blow-up...or do "anything" but run perfectly fine

No surprise. My truck, (which has the oil pressure operated variable valve timing) calls for 0W-20 or 5W-20--which is fine and I usually have used those.
But the store I was at was temporarily out of XW-20 in the Amsoil, so I put in 5w30 last time. I was going to continue with the Toyota OEM 0W-20 for a while, but the Amsoil specs and rankings looked just too good for me to resist.

It runs and sounds perfect with the 5w30. And now I'm thinking that I'll just stock the 5w30 or 0W-30...at least until/unless my wife gets a car that calls for a 20 weight.