Pat Goss' perspective on thicker oils

Status
Not open for further replies.
Wonder if he took into account the marketing department who said to the engineers "we need to produce the best fuel consumption numbers for the glossy brochure, what's the lowest grade we can get away with"? I use the thickest my manual will allow for my local environment and the best quality I can afford. Makes me feel good
laugh.gif
 
For 98% of people (guess) he's probably right. Don't overthink it. With that said, I doubt if running a 5w30 in a 0w20 car matters. The only reason I bought 5w30 instead of 0w20 this time was because it was $2 cheaper 🤷â€â™‚ï¸ And because I don't think it will matter to the engine at all. But that's my unscientific opinion.
 
Originally Posted by omegaspeedy
Wonder if he took into account the marketing department who said to the engineers "we need to produce the best fuel consumption numbers for the glossy brochure, what's the lowest grade we can get away with"? I use the thickest my manual will allow for my local environment and the best quality I can afford. Makes me feel good
laugh.gif


Originally Posted by HowAboutThis
For 98% of people (guess) he's probably right. Don't overthink it. With that said, I doubt if running a 5w30 in a 0w20 car matters. The only reason I bought 5w30 instead of 0w20 this time was because it was $2 cheaper 🤷â€â™‚ï¸ And because I don't think it will matter to the engine at all. But that's my unscientific opinion.


Pat makes a valid point as do the both of you. I realize that here in the States, 0W20 is a requirement for many engines without any alternative oil grades listed in the owner's manual. But in other countries where they're using the same vehicles/engines, they require(allow) for a multitude of other grades. Kind'a make you say...Hmmm!
 
Originally Posted by omegaspeedy
Wonder if he took into account the marketing department who said to the engineers "we need to produce the best fuel consumption numbers for the glossy brochure, what's the lowest grade we can get away with"? I use the thickest my manual will allow for my local environment and the best quality I can afford. Makes me feel good
laugh.gif


That's my M.O, being new vehicles today are expensive and oil changes are cheap in retrospect.
 
What he is saying is nothing more then any other intelligent person would say. Use the oil recommended by the manufacturer.
AS much as we BITOG people dont want to believe it, there is no intelligent response otherwise.

With that said, we all KNOW that going up a grade lets say to a 5w30 and/or possibly down a grade to a 5w20 is perfectly sound thinking depending on outdoor temperatures and the environment the vehicle is operated in. More or less the oil weight is based on an average temperature and just because the manufacturers have done away with those magical charts in the owners manual that used to allow you to select oil based on grade have disappeared doesnt change the fact that is is still a valid way to choose oil. In todays world, not giving you that choice I is more based on EPA and MPG.

Either way, for over 90% of Americans, if you change your oil on time, the engine will outlast the usefulness of the vehicle.
 
Last edited:
I would add that the OEM's know 0w20 tends to be formulated from good base stock
 
Ford changed their recommended oil from 5W-30 to 5W-20 for Modular engines back around 20 years or so ago. There are a lot of Mustang people who say the Modular motors need 5W-30 instead. Amsoil even published an article saying that this change was done for CAFE only, even though they had a 5W-20 oil available at the time. I would also trust a premium manufacturer of oil if they don't recommend the thin oil. Pat is basically right, though; you can use recommended oil w/o issue for everyday use.
 
Last edited:
Yes, true, it was about 20 years ago. Then why did Ford back spec most of their engines back to 1993 when they had nothing to gain doing so?
Amsoil didn't actually not recommend 5w-20. They said if you choose to use a 5w-20 oil it should be a good oil (recommending, of course, their oil).
Not bashing what you said but it boggles my mind why Ford chose to back spec 5w-20 to 1993 engines. Amsoil produces a lot of good technical articles but there is a lot of marketing BS trying to convince readers their products are far superior than the competition.
 
I am in the thicker oil crowd. Want to know why. Because I am paying the bill. My Ford Edge has 250,000 miles on 15w-40 diesel oil. Still runs perfect. Would it have done it on 5w-20. Maybe. But I know it did it with my oil. We have a lot of engines that run a lot of hours on full duty loads and they live on thick oil. I see a lot of guys on here that run cars on thin oil with very light duty loads that have oil usage issues. Makes you wonder. Follow the money guys and open your eyes.
 
I've never had an engine failure or oil consumption issue running the OEM recommended oil. On the N12 in my Mini when I switched from synthetic SN 5W-30 to BMW TPT 0W-30(LL-01FE) oil consumption decreased by almost 50%.
 
I generally agree with Goss that most should use the oil spec'd by their manufacturer. But what does he think about the dealership tech-knobs that tell customers to needlessly use BG products when most manuals say using aftermarket oil supplements are unnecessary?
 
The oil the car was designed to use huh? Then that means it was operated the way it was designed to be operated. Which means driven the speed limit,not excessively idled,no aftermarket performance modification,etc. Im still comfortable on the advice of using a 0w30 or 5w30 in my car. I've gotten to a mileage point where power improved and consumption decreased. Besides,once you actually get it up to running temperature at 210-212F, there probably isnt a huge difference. But on a timing chain and turbo I am betting its better but by how much I am still guessing.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top