The Biggest Pitfall of "Too Thick" Oil Is........

[JCCADILLACMOBILE]

"Survey SAID!" ? .. What does the Board say? I know most of you Looove "Thin Oil" as evidenced by the 5W-20 (!!!! I would NEVER!!)..... 5w30 is my Thin...

And/or.. is it better to be "Too Thick" or "Too Thin?"

Im about to head to Work, but i realize.. i am in a Monority situation in Oil use on the Board. my Jaguar LIKES 20W-50 Oilm but i get GREAT Pressures (Jaguar puts it in "Relief" Territory.. 60-65 Psi.. Seems good though, i see it while driving down road) with 10W-40. So im happy with it!!

Now, i also have kinda mentality that supports "Thick" oil.. as the post about "High Tempterature on Highway and why Euro Cars like Thicker Oil" bit (They need it to maintain the Film) .. But i DO wonder what the biggest:

1) hazard
2) Pitfall
3) bad Thing or
4) Catastrophic Result of

Using "Too Thick" an Oil could do.. ansd links in to "better to be Too Thick, or Too Thin?"

I fixed the Fuel issue, it was a Hose.. So ill check on thsi when i come back in tomorrow, early.. Always great, learnign things at BITOG! Thanks!

- Joseph

 

[demarpaint]

This has been discussed before, beaten to death and brought back again. Search and decide from the hundreds, if not more threads in the thick vs thin wars. I tell people to stick to what the mfg suggests, they built the engine, they have to back it.

 

[Audi Junkie]

Multigrade oil will never be too thick in summer, in winter, it could be hard to crank and have very poor flow/gas mileage.

 

[daman]

Originally Posted By: demarpaint
This has been discussed before, beaten to death and brought back again. Search and decide from the hundreds, if not more threads in the thick vs thin wars. I tell people to stick to what the mfg suggests, they built the engine, they have to back it.

x100!

 

[eljefino]

I would run the 20w50 in it just to casually say, "yeah, I drive a jag, it's 25 years old... takes thick oil, you know, like most european autobahn cruisers."

Besides, between your alternator, plug wires, and fuel system, it sounds like the core motor is the least of your worries.

 

[znode]

Why are you even asking? It sounds like you already have your mind made up and just looking for an argument.

 

[Panzerman]

Thick oil will hurt nothing, thin oil will hurt nothing as long as you have no malfunctions in cooling or overwork the motor, then the damage will be more severe with thin oil. Thicker oil gives you a margin of protection in the "what if" senario. Most people on here are into gas milelage and manual readers, therefore thin oil is wayyyyyyyyyyy more popular.

 

[Bluestream]

Originally Posted By: Panzerman
Most people on here are into gas milelage and manual readers, therefore thin oil is wayyyyyyyyyyy more popular.


With the exception of the recent GC craze which has mostly blown over...

 

[Geo_Prizm]

'blown over'?

 

[hardcore302]

whatever the manual says, i use. unless it's a burner "work" car, then i'll throw some thick hm in there.

 

[beast3300]

You wouldn't want to know what most shops would put in this car. I know what I would put in this car if it rolled through (bulk 5w30). Your choice of motor oil won't make a difference from 10w40 or 20w50.

 

[Bluestream]

Originally Posted By: Geo_Prizm
'blown over'?


Yup. I don't think you were a member when every second post was about GC.

 

[ekpolk]

Originally Posted By: Bluestream
Originally Posted By: Geo_Prizm
'blown over'?


Yup. I don't think you were a member when every second post was about GC.


Yeah, it was pretty big around 2004-ish... I still have a good quantity of green on hand.

 

[21Rouge]

Originally Posted By: ekpolk
Originally Posted By: Bluestream
Originally Posted By: Geo_Prizm
'blown over'?


Yup. I don't think you were a member when every second post was about GC.


I still have a good quantity of green on hand.


In fact I am currently using almost 5 year old true green GC. It feels good using up some of my old stash.

 

[Gary Allan]

Originally Posted By: daman
Originally Posted By: demarpaint
This has been discussed before, beaten to death and brought back again. Search and decide from the hundreds, if not more threads in the thick vs thin wars. I tell people to stick to what the mfg suggests, they built the engine, they have to back it.

x100!


+ 9.99 × 10^13

 

[Audi Junkie]

I have 2 more changes of old GC for the Astra, I use it just in summer. Actually sold some at one point, no Euro cars to use it in. Now I see RS Strauss is closing it out for $3/q I may grab 10 more.

 

[Warstud]

Harder starts and valve train noise until the oil gets hot and thins out. Mpg loss will be slightly noticable also. 20w50 will probably be alright in this weather but below say 40 degrees I would switch over to a 10w40 if the vehicle requires a somewhat heavy oil.

 

[dan3952]

I'm changing the topic, but I've never understood why so many people including mechanics say to use a thicker oil to help with oil burning. I don't agree with people playing the garage mechanical engineer and thinking there must be a better weight of oil out there for their engine. If it's a newer vehicle under warranty, particurly one that doesn't use an enormous amount of oil, why would anybody want to use anything other than what it says in the owner's manual? I used a quart of 10W40 in with 3 qt 10W30 and another quart of 20W50 to top off between oil changes and my engine didn't like it.. the valve train made a lot more noise than with 10W30 and there was a knock that came at idle that I hadn't heard before. From that point on, I stuck with 5W30 only. For people with bad rings, thicker oil won't help reduce burning it has the opposite effect.

 

[aquariuscsm]

Hey JC,my thin oil is 10W40/15W40 (I used RP 15W40 this past winter),but I prefer 50 weights. Heck,my car`s fsm says I can use 20W50 down to 14 degrees F. As to the pitfalls of thick oils,imo there are none :^)

 

[Shannow]

Originally Posted By: dan3952
I'm changing the topic, but I've never understood why so many people including mechanics say to use a thicker oil to help with oil burning. I don't agree with people playing the garage mechanical engineer and thinking there must be a better weight of oil out there for their engine. If it's a newer vehicle under warranty, particurly one that doesn't use an enormous amount of oil, why would anybody want to use anything other than what it says in the owner's manual? I used a quart of 10W40 in with 3 qt 10W30 and another quart of 20W50 to top off between oil changes and my engine didn't like it.. the valve train made a lot more noise than with 10W30 and there was a knock that came at idle that I hadn't heard before. From that point on, I stuck with 5W30 only. For people with bad rings, thicker oil won't help reduce burning it has the opposite effect.


Interesting post.

20W-50 was the only oil available down under for decades, and through the 70s and 80s nearly every car made 200-250,000km or was considered a dog.

1 litre of oil consumption per 5000km (1 qt per 3,000 miles) was traditionally considered time to re-ring the thing,, and usually happened out past the 250k km mark.

"Thick" oils aren't the problem that some here think them to be.