0W20 for good protection?

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Aug 6, 2021
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Can 0W20 protect engine oil well in the long run? Especially for turbo vehicles with high performance? Can these motor oils offer permanent protection or only for a period of 300000 kilometres, for example.
 
I know this topic has been beaten to death, yet it still is without a doubt an interesting one.

Truth is, I don’t know. I’m not sure anyone really does. There just aren’t enough people driving around with 300,000 miles on their engines that used 0W20 since day one, and continued to use it all the way through.

But honestly, how many high performance engines (with turbos) require 0W20? Are there still a lot of manufacturers doing that? Who does that? Ford? Honda?

I personally would think that it depends on the engine, the driver, the maintenance schedule, the climate and the vehicle‘s use. Probably depends on the manufacturer as well. What I would do; is I’d run the 0W20 up until say...75,000 miles. Then I’d bump up the grade to a 5W30...and then just keep it at that weight, checking my oil level consistently, and changing my oil consistently at around 5,000 miles (If it were a turbo, direct injection engine). Just my opinion.
 
I change the oil every year, I only drive in summer and every season only a maximum of 5000 kilometres. If the car comes out of the garage, it is only for longer distances with more than 50 kilometres. This usually overland and on the highway, sometimes with accelerate, hardly to new top speed orgies. My vehicle is a honda with a k20c1 engine, as turbo and direct injection. There are no reliability abnormalities so far when using 0W20. The production oil has a lot of molybdenum (650 ppm). I am generally interested in whether the thin oil can protect well even at higher mileage, or whether a thicker oil is generally better? Is the "worse oil volume flow really such a problem for the engine, the oils are almost all equally "thick" when warm in operation?
 
I change the oil every year, I only drive in summer and every season only a maximum of 5000 kilometres. If the car comes out of the garage, it is only for longer distances with more than 50 kilometres. This usually overland and on the highway, sometimes with accelerate, hardly to new top speed orgies. My vehicle is a honda with a k20c1 engine, as turbo and direct injection. There are no reliability abnormalities so far when using 0W20. The production oil has a lot of molybdenum (650 ppm). I am generally interested in whether the thin oil can protect well even at higher mileage, or whether a thicker oil is generally better? Is the "worse oil volume flow really such a problem for the engine, the oils are almost all equally "thick" when warm in operation?
How many Km on the odometer now …
 
No one knows.

I think we can all agree oils like 0w20 are recommend to maximize fuel economy. We can probably also agree that measures taken to maximize fuel economy do not necessarily increase the lifespan of the vehicle.

I have substituted 5w30 in place if 0w20 in several of my vehicles with no negative effect that I've experienced. It makes me feel better.. I think. Lol
 
I’ve posted in the past the Ford went to 5w20 in 2001, more than 20 years ago. We should be asking the Ford long haulers. Another piece of info is that Ford recently went back to 5w30 for the 5.0 and the twin turbo V-6.

For the same 5.0, they recommend 5w50 for track use. We know that high RPM use increases oil temperature. That is well documented.
 
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No one knows.

I think we can all agree oils like 0w20 are recommend to maximize fuel economy. We can probably also agree that measures taken to maximize fuel economy do not necessarily increase the lifespan of the vehicle.

I have substituted 5w30 in place if 0w20 in several of my vehicles with no negative effect that I've experienced. It makes me feel better.. I think. Lol
I am using 5w30 in my Taurus spec’d for 5w20.
 
Can 0W20 protect engine oil well in the long run? Especially for turbo vehicles with high performance? Can these motor oils offer permanent protection or only for a period of 300000 kilometres, for example.


0W-20 is a good oil. You asked a lot of questions here with few details. High performance? Are you racing?

Permanent protection is not possible with any oil.
 
I thought I would post the 2022 Mustang owners manual excerpt.

For the 5.0

40C7CE83-023E-4CD5-BEF0-83AABEE5C59B.jpg
B172991A-A904-46AA-A9DC-A1F17C24A32B.jpg
 
I change the oil every year, I only drive in summer and every season only a maximum of 5000 kilometres. If the car comes out of the garage, it is only for longer distances with more than 50 kilometres. This usually overland and on the highway, sometimes with accelerate, hardly to new top speed orgies. My vehicle is a honda with a k20c1 engine, as turbo and direct injection. There are no reliability abnormalities so far when using 0W20. The production oil has a lot of molybdenum (650 ppm). I am generally interested in whether the thin oil can protect well even at higher mileage, or whether a thicker oil is generally better? Is the "worse oil volume flow really such a problem for the engine, the oils are almost all equally "thick" when warm in operation?
5000 km per year? It will take you 60 years to get 300000 km. My concern in your situation is not engine wear but keeping the seals conditioned so they do not dry out and shrink.
 
I use 0W20 in Acura in signature for Fall/Winter here in Pa... Switch back to 5W20 for other two seasons. Odometer reading 134,xxx and does not miss a beat with either oil. Use what manufacturer recommends during warranty period.
 
My 2021 Jaguar F Type R requires 0W-20 weight oil. That seems pretty light to me considering that the engine is a supercharged 5 liter 4 cam 32 valve V8 with 575 HP monster. I suspect it is to try and achieve an additional 0.025 MPG to raise JLR's rather abysmal CAFE numbers. They did have Castrol formulate a special version of their Edge Professional synthetic oil with higher than usual amounts of titanium just for use in those engines.

I only put about 5000 miles a year on that car and will continue to use the required oil while under warranty. Maybe in the future after the warranty expires and the engine accumulates a lot of miles I will try a top tier 0W-30 but for the foreseeable future I will stick with what the manufacturer recommends.
 
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