This will be a long post, but bear with me.
Will a 10W full-synthetic oil work perfectly fine in a relatively cold winter, where one would usually use a 5W-30?
On here these days, '10W' oils are getting a lot of attention b/c of there better shear stability and lower NOAK values, but many people would hesitate to use them in a relatively cold northern winter. But would they be just as good?
Many 10W synthetic oils have very low pour points and CCS values, so much so that they are almost a 5W oil. Many have speculated most are the same formula, just sightly tweaked. So I can't see there being any cranking problems down to even -30C with these oils.
Back in the early days of syns, the 1970's, most oils were 10W-40, including the new syns. Back then, one of the main observations made about the new synthetic oils was how much easier cars started in cold weather, even if a 10W-40 oil was used. So, a 10W full syn will always crank over much better than a 10W conventional.
Also, if you look at a lot of PDS's, many 10W-30 synthetic oils meet GM 6094M; which could only be met in a conventional oil in a 5W-30 due to required CCS values. So, a 10W-30 synthetic could be said to be equivalent to a 5W-30 conventional, which means it should be good down to -30C.
My Kia runs a lot smoother and consumes less oil on 10W-30, so I was thinking for this winter of using a top-shelf 10W-30 over the winter in it. BUT, I have had my last vehicle completely 'lock up' at an actual air temp of -29.5C with 10W-30 conventional in the sump. Our winter low temps around here are 'usually' in the -18C to -24C range; but we do have cold snaps where it can go to -29C to -32C. This is getting too cold for a 10W conventional, but would a 10W full-syn handle it okay?
Will a 10W full-synthetic oil work perfectly fine in a relatively cold winter, where one would usually use a 5W-30?
On here these days, '10W' oils are getting a lot of attention b/c of there better shear stability and lower NOAK values, but many people would hesitate to use them in a relatively cold northern winter. But would they be just as good?
Many 10W synthetic oils have very low pour points and CCS values, so much so that they are almost a 5W oil. Many have speculated most are the same formula, just sightly tweaked. So I can't see there being any cranking problems down to even -30C with these oils.
Back in the early days of syns, the 1970's, most oils were 10W-40, including the new syns. Back then, one of the main observations made about the new synthetic oils was how much easier cars started in cold weather, even if a 10W-40 oil was used. So, a 10W full syn will always crank over much better than a 10W conventional.
Also, if you look at a lot of PDS's, many 10W-30 synthetic oils meet GM 6094M; which could only be met in a conventional oil in a 5W-30 due to required CCS values. So, a 10W-30 synthetic could be said to be equivalent to a 5W-30 conventional, which means it should be good down to -30C.
My Kia runs a lot smoother and consumes less oil on 10W-30, so I was thinking for this winter of using a top-shelf 10W-30 over the winter in it. BUT, I have had my last vehicle completely 'lock up' at an actual air temp of -29.5C with 10W-30 conventional in the sump. Our winter low temps around here are 'usually' in the -18C to -24C range; but we do have cold snaps where it can go to -29C to -32C. This is getting too cold for a 10W conventional, but would a 10W full-syn handle it okay?