Stay away from 0W16 & 0W20 in one mechanic's opinion.

[E150GT]

Yeah well theres a local guy here who has a radio show. He sold my dad a Mazda 626 a number of years ago and I looked at it and the timing belt was rubbing on the timing cover. I told my dad about and he took it back to the mechanic. Mechanic said oh thats fine no problem. My dad believed him and thought I was just being too anal. guess where that car is now? It died a few months later I think. its probably a toaster by now.

 

[Wolf359]

Originally Posted by Urshurak776
No.......evidence from the Magician or just a theory? Seems like there are plenty of cases that show his ideas go up in smoke (see what I did there?)

I only have an N+1 also. My wifes sister has a 2007 or 2008 Honda Accord. Nothing but 0W-20, in Florida, with 268K on the clock (that was last Fall.) Still running, no issues.

POOF!


Basically the classic case of anecdotal evidence isn't the same as a controlled study. Got over 200k running 0w20 on a Duratec engine. Transmission died, engine was fine when I got rid of it.

A mechanic is only going to see failures and assume it's from the oil. He never sees the ones that never have a problem.

 

[edyvw]

I am not big fan of thinner oils, and as one cans ee, in my Toyota I use 5W30 instead of 0W20.
However, since most of wear results during cold starts, how does he explains benefits of thinner oils during that period?
BMW purposely went with thinner oils for North American market due to city grocery driving style of most of their customers, to minimize problems resulting in short trips.

 

[jeepman3071]

Originally Posted by atikovi
First off, I wouldn't have much confidence in anyone that calls themselves the "magic mechanic," and second, plenty of first generation Honda Insight owners that have used 0W20 since 2000 have engines with 300,000 and 400,000 miles without any problems.

+1

Anyone named "magic" something must be a clown.

I'd bet that most of the issues he has seen are related to over extending the OCI and also running low on oil. I've noticed some of the Turbo GDI cars go through more oil by nature, and with a lighter oil the oil might be more likely to shear or burn off. Add in some fuel dilution and an owner that forgets to check/top off the oil and can't remember when the last time they changed it was and you have your problem. A buddy is a manager at an oil change quick lube place. They see all sorts of cars from old hoopties to fairly new vehicles, and they see a lot of cars where they open the drain bolt and nothing comes out. Also lots of oil change windshield stickers that are more than a year old if not older.

 

[CKN]

This reminds me of a thread where a Saturday mechanic ( who thought he knew electronics) on here didn't buy a Walmart TV because he put his fingers on the heatsink and in his humble opinion it was "too hot". Now-we have a mechanic who thinks he is smarter than the engineers who designed the motors.

OK....................................


BTW-I have one of those TVs and it's two years old.

 

[Chris Meutsch]

273k using only 0w20 or 5w20 in my car. No smoke, probably uses one full quart over 7k between changes.

 

[BMWTurboDzl]

Usually when these types of individuals are pressed a little bit they'll come up with all sorts of qualifications. Ya know something like, "I was speaking about getting 250k miles out of an engine which tows 2k lbs every day in 90+ degree weather, uphill, both ways.".


One has to keep in mind the primary audience for these types of shows (Scotty Kilmer is another).

 

[Trav]

Originally Posted by glock19
It's tough to know who to listen to.

On one hand, we have the "magic" mechanic who hosts a small-time radio show in Florida. On the other, we have professional engineers who went spent years studying engineering, got degrees, and have spent years working for a major auto manufacturer designing engines that have been put into millions of vehicles.


You mean the same engineers that put 3 threads in the head for plugs, un hardened 4th gear input shafts, the 4-6-8, Honda VCM, the sludge prone engines or the ones that designed every other automotive engineering failure?
You have this all backwards, engineers have little input into the oil oil spec other than the engine wont blow up during warranty or they start having failures.

Oil specs mostly come from protecting multi billion dollar carbon credits USA or today emissions per km (Europe) or other bogus money making schemes some paper pusher can gin up.
There are very very few engines that only spec one grade worldwide, most engines can run on almost anything you can think of.

 

[Whimsey]

Originally Posted by tig1
Ask me my opinion of 0-20 oil.


We know

! And I can't argue about the use of 0/5W-20 in a vehicle spe'd for it. Our 2005 4.6 V-8 Explorer with ~197,000 miles has run all except one OCI using 0/5W-20 oil. It's reasonably quiet still with the original timing chain and it's components. Rust will finally do it in, not running 0/5W-20 weight oil.

Whimsey

 

[NO2]

Yup. 120K on a V6 Honda, and it used 0.2Q in 12K mile. He must be right. It would have used 0.1Q with a 5w-20.

 

[Bjornviken]

.

 

[AC1DD]

Fact is that in ROW markets they will usually spec a slightly thicker oil like 5w30 or 0w30 vs the US CAFE spec of 0w20 for the exact same vehicle in similar climates and conditions.
So if you tend to do a long of long distance high speeds traveling the thicker oil will be better in the long run for the engine durability.

 

[PandaBear]

I'm glad this mechanic is not an engineer designing the engine. The limiting factor of the engine life these days are usually the ring pack, valve deposit, incorrect metal shaving cleaning during manufacturing, LSPI, etc. Low viscosity is not the reason.

Let alone those 0w16 engine has variable volume oil pump, they pump more oil when needed so it can afford to use lower viscosity. That's why they use 0w16 instead of 0w15 to avoid people confusing the name.

Fuel dilution maybe a problem, but the solution is to change oil more frequently instead of using a thicker oil.

 

[Kawiguy454]

I keep hearing the incessant drone of the 0w20 fanboys that if you don't drink the Kool-Aid you are a stupid dinosaur poop trapped in the bedrock of ignorance.

But what i don't hear is what harm a 0w30 or 5w30 would do if it is used. And the same argument would be made show me all the dead engines that used heavier oil. ...To me the difference represents a longer term safety margin. When oil performance gets shaved to its absolute minimum in a perfect engine the point that it falls off the cliff into failure also becomes more narrow.

 

[Y_K]

Depends on applications; grocery getters and extended highway runners should consider even different gear oils and drain frequency for a given design.

 

[Ed_Flecko]

The OP (or someone who listens to the "Magic Mechanic" show, hosted by Larry Perry) should call and invite Larry to join this forum (like Ron Ananian, "The Car Doctor" has done) to explain/defend his opinion in person...if he has the guts.

Ed

 

[bdcardinal]

From what I have seen the must bigger killer of engines is extended OCIs, including the manufacturer stated 10K ones, where the owner of the vehicle does not check oil level. Regularly we have engines very low on oil when they come in and the owners never bother checking the level or can even open the hood.

 

[SirTanon]

Originally Posted by David1
I listen to the magic mechanic show and he is always talking about how the new thinner oils cause tremendous wear on engines. He says it's not the manufacturer's fault. That engine will get like 4 to 10 miles extra out of tank of gas. using thinner oil . So car companies are being forced to tell people to use these super-thin oils that cant takes the heat and if you live in a very hot area it's even worse.

So I guess my 2010 Fusion making it to 274,000 miles on (mostly) 5w-20 oil was due to some kind of witchcraft? Oh yeah, and this all happened IN PHOENIX, one of the hottest cities in the US, consistently. So much of the above is complete nonsense.

Originally Posted by David1
He says 0W30 is perfect...

Wait, 0W-30? Is that even a thing? I've never even seen a single bottle in that weight. And I wonder what would make that acceptable, but not a 0w-20 or 5w-20, which are both pretty close in viscosity at operating temp.

Originally Posted by David1
He also says if you use the 0w16 your engine will be worn out at 100K miles. Compared if you used 0W30 or 5W30 and get 300K or even 400k and yes he likes Amsoil. He is dead set against 0w20 and this new 0w16 is just crazy according to the magic mechanic

So what do you all think about this?

I think this 'Magic Mechanic', whoever he is, is horribly misinformed and/or stuck in the past, and flat-out wrong.. at least when it comes to modern engines. I suppose if he's referring to something from the 80's or 90's, he might be right, but then again, he'd also be completely irrelevant, as there were no oils in the specs available at that time in 0w-20 or 5w-20, AFAIK.

 

[Rat407]

What is sad is people will follow his recommendation.

 

[geeman789]

Originally Posted by SirTanon


Originally Posted by David1
He says 0W30 is perfect...


Wait, 0W-30? Is that even a thing? I've never even seen a single bottle in that weight. And I wonder what would make that acceptable, but not a 0w-20 or 5w-20, which are both pretty close in viscosity at operating temp.




Ummm, yes, 0w30 is A THING. Every major oil brand has at least one ...