switching to 5w20 from 5w30 at high miles.

[bigbull2984]

I am about to order a case of Amoils XL. My new car requires 5w20, my older acura with 172k miles requires 5w30.

But I just wanted to get one case, would switching to 5w20 with so many miles cause a issue? Leaks?

 

[Lillikai]

I'd use whatever weight is recommended in the owners manual for your vehicle.

 

[tommygunn]

If it requires 5w30 yeah, I'd continue using it.

For comparison sake though, my Stratus with 120,000 miles, which was never "officially" back-spec'd for 5W-20 consumed about a quart of 5w30 between OCI's.

I switched to 5W-20 once for the heck of it and it burned no more oil, it might've burned a little less, but that could be down to different brands of oil.

But if your car says use 5w30, I'd just use 5w30.

 

[donnyj08]

Originally Posted By: tommygunn
If it requires 5w30 yeah, I'd continue using it.

For comparison sake though, my Stratus with 120,000 miles, which was never "officially" back-spec'd for 5W-20 consumed about a quart of 5w30 between OCI's.

I switched to 5W-20 once for the heck of it and it burned no more oil, it might've burned a little less, but that could be down to different brands of oil.



But if your car says use 5w30, I'd just use 5w30.




many of the fords that were back spec'd burned less on 5w20 as well. if your older acura has a back spec for 5w20 then you could use it with no problem. and honestly i think it would be fine on 5w20 even calling for a 5w30. in reality there isnt a lot of difference in thickness between many heavier 20wts and the lighter 30wts.

 

[bigbull2984]

Thanks all, I know years back when I first got the 2001 TL, the dealer would use 5w20.

 

[CharBaby]

In my old '88 ACCORD that had >300K miles, I started using 5W20 the last 3 OCI's only becaues I got the 5W20 from a friend who got rid of a Civic and bought a Camry.

Nothing bad happened during those 3 OCI's but also, I got rid of the car soon after that. And if anything would have happend to the engine, I would have never known if it was the 5W20 oil of just the age of the engine.

I never noticed any noises nor any leaking/usage by using the 5W20 oil compared to the 5 & 10W30's that the engine had all of it's life.

 

[lexus114]

My RX is back spec`d for 5W-20 oil. So I used a run of Pennzoil Platinum 5W-20. I can tell you it brought some new life to that motor! Meaning more pep, 1 to 1.5 more mpg`s. Pulled hill`s with less effort. But the down side was a noisier valve train, and it had a clunk in the drive train when letting off the gas, and pressing the gas again. (at low speeds) I will honestly say though that I will more than likely use it again. If nothing else, for the extra fuel millage.

 

[jkhawaii]

Most 5w30s shear down to a 20 any way

 

[TFB1]

Originally Posted By: jkhawaii
Most 5w30s shear down to a 20 any way


Here we go again, if the 5w30 does shear to a 20W, it's likely due to being a very light 5w30 to begin with... At that point it'd be a HEAVY 20W which is where most 20 start out anyway...

 

[fdcg27]

If you don't have leaks now, you won't with a twenty grade either.
You might or might not see higher consumption.
Only way to find out is to try it.