Proper oil viscosities.

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Bullwinkle007

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I keep reading threads about what oil to use. I highly recommend to look for the owners manual in foreign countries. My Acura MDX 3.7L in the USA says use 5/20. That same engine is used in the Honda Legend in EU. The copy of the owners manual found online did not even list a 5/20. Listed was all grades. Winter 5/30 0/30/ 0/40 5/40 10/40 or even 15/40 in extremes such as UAE. Also stated to use API SM ACEA A5 or ACEA A3/B3. My point is and most know. CAFE is what all this thin oil is about.

Here's an example. 5/20 in the MDX. Hwy. 20.2mpg
Castrol 0/40. 20.1mpg. Who cares. I'll take the better oil and the loss of 1/10th. To the government I'm wasting gas. Whatever you don't care about engine life for 500k I keep my vehicles until they're good for the bone yard.
 
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Originally Posted by mclasser
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Let's just beat the horse, again, for the 30th time this month. This is the very definition of a troll thread on this board.

But it's a new user so maybe they haven't seen the other multiple threads.

Right.
 
Without asking the dealer(I keep forgetting), my Altima calls for full synthetic 0w20 or conventional 5w30 or 10w30 but no mention of 5w20 dino or or syn. I've mentioned this here before but it has me a bit baffled to say the least.
 
Originally Posted by Char Baby
Without asking the dealer(I keep forgetting), my Altima calls for full synthetic 0w20 or conventional 5w30 or 10w30 but no mention of 5w20 dino or or syn. I've mentioned this here before but it has me a bit baffled to say the least.


I'd go for the synth 10W30.
 
Originally Posted by Bullwinkle007
... Here's an example. 5/20 in the MDX. Hwy. 20.2mpg
Castrol 0/40. 20.1mpg. Who cares. I'll take the better oil and the loss of 1/10th. ...
Based on purely imaginary testing?
 
Originally Posted by Bullwinkle007
Here's an example. 5/20 in the MDX. Hwy. 20.2mpg
Castrol 0/40. 20.1mpg. Who cares. I'll take the better oil and the loss of 1/10th. To the government I'm wasting gas. Whatever you don't care about engine life for 500k I keep my vehicles until they're good for the bone yard.


I used to think that way too but if you hang around here long enough and read the UOAs, you'll realize the thin oils are protecting engines just fine.
 
march to thinner oils


Conventional wisdom states that engine oils that increase fuel economy allow less friction and prolong engine life. The purpose of this article is to challenge conventional wisdom. Even though that was written a while back, still has decent info. The main thing is when you have a president to weaponizes the gov't the way we had out gov't weaponized lately, if you are in the industry, you have no option but to program in. Seams like a lot of BITOGers have programmed in as well.

If we are going to discuss this again, let's bring some resemblance of science into the conversation.

The bottom line oil pressure has equalized both wear and fuel economy, so neither will give meaningful gains. Need to take a look at additives and base oils if you really want meaningful protection, which is exactly what the industry is doing gf-6.
 
Originally Posted by CR94
Originally Posted by Bullwinkle007
... Here's an example. 5/20 in the MDX. Hwy. 20.2mpg
Castrol 0/40. 20.1mpg. Who cares. I'll take the better oil and the loss of 1/10th. ...
Based on purely imaginary testing?



No sir, according to vehicles own data information stored in the display, you couldn't track 1/10th simply by miles and gallons.
 
I've read fuel savings claims for. 0.2% up to 4%. What they don't clearly say is that this is compares to 15w40 oils.

Many many more factors such as tire pressure, spark plug conditions, driving styles, can have a much bigger impact
 
Just did maintenance on a Kia which had right at 175k. The car still gets great gas mileage and was a quart low in 8k miles with only oil used since new was 5w20 conventional. I guess the customer made a mistake choosing to follow the oil cap of 5w20 instead of going with thicker one to save her motor self destruction just to get better fuel mileage.
 
Kia has much tighter bearing clearances than Porsche, therefore 5w20 is perfect for Kia. Run a Porsche with 5w20 and it will grenade within 10 miles. Those sloppy Porsche engines require 40 grade oil. Ferrari's, oh don't get me started on how sloppy their bearing clearances are. They require 10w60.


Kidding aside, each application is a compromise of many factors. 5w20 has a larger US EPA factor in it than 0w40. It will work just fine for most of the US drivers because we don't drive our Kias hard. The OP is just making an observation that's interesting to him, and sharing his logic on why he does what he does. I don't think he intended to beat a dead horse unnecessarily.

I on the other hand love beating dead horses. It's much more humane than beating live horses.
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted by oghl
Kia has much tighter bearing clearances than Porsche, therefore 5w20 is perfect for Kia. Run a Porsche with 5w20 and it will grenade within 10 miles. Those sloppy Porsche engines require 40 grade oil. Ferrari's, oh don't get me started on how sloppy their bearing clearances are. They require 10w60.


Kidding aside, each application is a compromise of many factors. 5w20 has a larger US EPA factor in it than 0w40. It will work just fine for most of the US drivers because we don't drive our Kias hard. The OP is just making an observation that's interesting to him. I don't think he intended to beat a dead horse unnecessarily.

I on the other hand love beating dead horses. It's much more humane than beating live horses.



Hit it right on the nose. It was an observation I've made. I like the heavier 40wts myself, but I drive my cars hard, fluids are changed sooner than later. My 4cyl Honda I found the same thing online. Heavier weight oils, but seemed to prefer a 0/30 over a 0/40. That k24 series engines uses a timing chain, a little heavier oil will leave more of a film behind than of a 20wt. Also that car has a 5sp manual. At 80mph rpms are at 3100, no thanks for a 20wt especially during the summer.
 
Originally Posted by oghl
Kia has much tighter bearing clearances than Porsche, therefore 5w20 is perfect for Kia. Run a Porsche with 5w20 and it will grenade within 10 miles. Those sloppy Porsche engines require 40 grade oil. Ferrari's, oh don't get me started on how sloppy their bearing clearances are. They require 10w60.


Kidding aside, each application is a compromise of many factors. 5w20 has a larger US EPA factor in it than 0w40. It will work just fine for most of the US drivers because we don't drive our Kias hard. The OP is just making an observation that's interesting to him, and sharing his logic on why he does what he does. I don't think he intended to beat a dead horse unnecessarily.

I on the other hand love beating dead horses. It's much more humane than beating live horses.



You might of been correct except the OP stated the "better" oil is the 0W40.
 
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