My Dodge Avenger is the same, but with 100F as the cutoff point. The 5W has more Viscosity Modifiers which interfere with lubrication while driving through deserts.
Multiply .00000001 mpg by the millions of cars Ford/Honda sell, and you'll get a +1 MPG in the CARB. That makes the government happy, and allows more low-mpg but very profitable SUVs to be sold.
Anyway, I used 5W-20 in my Honda Insight, drove it 7500 miles, and found nothing wrong. The analysis...
(1) Why does 15w have extra additives?
(2) It's been a while, but I think the 15W-50 I used in my old car had pumping down to -20F. That's cold enough for my home.
(1) It says "nearly all"
(2) If you listen to a Jiffy Lube commercial, they define severe as stop-n-go, high speed, or hot weather.
(3) In reality, only the stop-n-go would be severe. The high speed and/or hot weather has no impact and is defined as "normal"-7500-mile changes in car manuals...
HELP: Get a job where you have to drive ~300 miles a day. That's an oil change every 2 weeks! Once you get tired of that constant hassle, you'll quickly learn to extend your changes.
I now do it every 10,000 miles (~1.5 months).
15W-40 is standard for European summers.
5W-40 for winter.
Remember, Europe doesn't have CAFE so no need to use a thinner oil just to increase the MPGs.
There are 2 or 3 Honda Insight owners with >100,000 miles. They run 0W-20. You can track them down by going here: insightcentral.net
[ February 06, 2004, 06:42 PM: Message edited by: rugerman1 ]
If this was me, I'd either:
(a) Drive around in circles until the car was fully warmed up.
(b) Take a long trip on the weekends to burn off the accumulated water from your short daily drives.
The units are parts per million. (Do the math).
Here's some more info:
BRAND: CASTROL
VISCOSITY: 15W-40
The replacement oil is 5W-40...probably because it's winter in Germany now.