0w30 in the PentaStar

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It's interesting that the pentastar derived Mercedes m276 and m278 use 0w40. The m276 makes virtually the same noise as the pentastar too when revved up.
 
I dumped the recommended 5W20 in mine and replaced it with 5W30 with hardly any miles on the clock. No regrets, and I have no plans of going back to a 20 grade. Oh and welcome to the dark side. LOL
 
Originally Posted by ZeeOSix
Originally Posted by StevieC
I put 0w30 in the PentaStar today. I got to say it's much quieter with that over the 5w20 previously. I was quite surprised at the difference both cold and fully warmed up.


Slowly coming over to the dark side.
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Ford Coyotes also sound better (mostly the valve train) on 5w30 than they do on 5W-20.
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On my F150 I had an annoying cam gear knock after changing the nylon cam gear to steel and using ILSAC 10w30. I experimented with the (old formula) Mobil 1 5w-40 and it was completely silent. I didn't like using a 40 grade so I lived with the noise. A couple of years ago I tried Mobil 1 High Mileage 10w30 (HTHS 3.5 and KV@100C 78) and the knock was significantly reduced. I believe the knock would be completely gone with the HM 10w-40 but I'm satisfied with the HM 10w30. So not all 30 grades are equal!
 
2012 Town and Country here...
I ran 0w30 Castrol GC for the first 60k.
Since that stash ran out, I have run Pennzoil SRT 0w40, and several blends in the 10w30 range.
Only on the 0w40 did I notice a slight change in VVT behavior, and only slight, like a short delay before things begin happening muy rapido.
I believe that engine does really well on 0w30 as far as drive-ability goes.
Currently on 5 quarts of Maxlife 5w20, and 2 of NextGen 10-40. All is well, approaching 110k miles.
 
Originally Posted by demarpaint
I dumped the recommended 5W20 in mine and replaced it with 5W30 with hardly any miles on the clock. No regrets, and I have no plans of going back to a 20 grade. Oh and welcome to the dark side. LOL

As long as everyone understands I have no aversion to running 20wt's and in no way did I move to the 30wt for the reasons most do here then I accept the move.
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As long as everyone understands I have no aversion to running 20wt's and in no way did I move to the 30wt for the reasons most do here then I accept the move.
lol.gif

[/quote]

Oh but listen to what your engine is telling you: the lack of noise is a sign that it's happy and comfortable :-).

If you run 0w40 in it, it will think it died and went to Pentastar heaven ...
 
Fill that tube back up with fresh Amsoil and return it! No one will tell the difference hahaha

For those who didn't get it - it was a joke
 
Originally Posted by StevieC
Originally Posted by demarpaint
I dumped the recommended 5W20 in mine and replaced it with 5W30 with hardly any miles on the clock. No regrets, and I have no plans of going back to a 20 grade. Oh and welcome to the dark side. LOL

As long as everyone understands I have no aversion to running 20wt's and in no way did I move to the 30wt for the reasons most do here then I accept the move.
lol.gif



It's quieter you said, that's worth the move right there.
 
Originally Posted by bubbatime
I've run nothing but synthetic 5W30 in mine... I probably would have just stuck with a 20 weight for the Canadian winter personally.

Funny that you say that... We just went out to do some shopping and the van had sat from yesterday afternoon until tonight and I started it up to get the cold oil pressure and I heard what sounded like some marbles in the top end of the engine for a few seconds.

Cold oil pressure was 730KPa / 105 PSI.

I did a few restarts between then and the oil coming up to full operating temperature as our shopping wasn't too far and no noise returned but it is interesting that it happened from overnight. It was -2c here today and I didn't plug the van in last night but it is plugged in tonight so we will see if that makes a difference tomorrow when we go out after having sat all night.

If it continues to make noise on the 30wt, I'll go back to 20wt for the winter and maybe run 30 or 40 in the summer. Not that I think engine damage is occurring but my OCD kicks in and yeah that's not a good thing.

I'll video it tomorrow on cold start being plugged in prior and see if that makes a difference or not.
 
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I should see what the OP is on the Jeep. It was -6C here this AM, which isn't cold as you noted. It has Castrol 0w-40 in it presently with about 8,000Km on it.
 
Originally Posted by StevieC
Originally Posted by bubbatime
I've run nothing but synthetic 5W30 in mine... I probably would have just stuck with a 20 weight for the Canadian winter personally.

Funny that you say that... We just went out to do some shopping and the van had sat from yesterday afternoon until tonight and I started it up to get the cold oil pressure and I heard what sounded like some marbles in the top end of the engine for a few seconds.

Cold oil pressure was 730KPa / 105 PSI.

I did a few restarts between then and the oil coming up to full operating temperature as our shopping wasn't too far and no noise returned but it is interesting that it happened from overnight. It was -2c here today and I didn't plug the van in last night but it is plugged in tonight so we will see if that makes a difference tomorrow when we go out after having sat all night.

If it continues to make noise on the 30wt, I'll go back to 20wt for the winter and maybe run 30 or 40 in the summer. Not that I think engine damage is occurring but my OCD kicks in and yeah that's not a good thing.

I'll video it tomorrow on cold start being plugged in prior and see if that makes a difference or not.

Interesting. Mine has to sit for close to a month to hear any noise from the top end of the engine, and it lasts for about 1-2 seconds at most with Pennzoil Ultra 5W30.
 
Yeah it wasn't terrible, my Santa Fe was terrible. It would last 5-6 seconds and it sounded like a fork in a blender. This is more like loose marbles rolling around on a glass table kind of thing and it's really brief. Funny enough it was with 0w30 Amsoil as well so maybe it's something in this particular grade it doesn't like.

I'll monitor and see what I can figure out. That said though it made 0 noise on 0w20 / 5w20 Amsoil and even at colder temperatures and sitting for longer.

Maybe it's the combination of Fram Ultra and the 30wt too much restriction? Although Jay tells me the filter flows double what Chrysler calls for.

Not worried about it though...
 
Originally Posted by StevieC
Yeah it wasn't terrible, my Santa Fe was terrible. It would last 5-6 seconds and it sounded like a fork in a blender. This is more like loose marbles rolling around on a glass table kind of thing and it's really brief. Funny enough it was with 0w30 Amsoil as well so maybe it's something in this particular grade it doesn't like.

I'll monitor and see what I can figure out. That said though it made 0 noise on 0w20 / 5w20 Amsoil and even at colder temperatures and sitting for longer.

Maybe it's the combination of Fram Ultra and the 30wt too much restriction? Although Jay tells me the filter flows double what Chrysler calls for.

Not worried about it though...

Mopar OE filter, or Fram Ultra with Pennzoil Ultra 5W30 no odd noises unless it sits for a very long period of time. Maybe one of our resident oil flow experts will weigh in. I'm thinking unless you're in subzero temps 0w20, 5W20, 0W30, or 5W30 is getting to the heads within milliseconds of each other.
 
Lets see if it being plugged in over night helps and if it does I'll try the next night not plugged in. I'll video both.
 
Here is the start this afternoon after sitting all night and with the block heater on for 5 hours prior to the start. It was -1c outside and the coolant temperature was 100F (37.7C)

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_cqBVYeILz2gWvIAfaJymW8yj4y3rGjT/view?usp=sharing

I'm going to leave it unplugged tonight when we get home and then start it up again cold in the morning when I take my spouse to work, I will record that and see if it makes the lifter noise again.
Might have just been a one off situation related to just changing the oil maybe? Although I did get the oil to operating temperature prior to shut-down after the oil change.
 
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0w- anything flows better at really cold temps than the 5w-20 you had in there - but they're probably close at only -2°C. Have you used a different filter than was in there previously?
 
JLTD, no it has the same type of filter since the 20wt's.

I just started it now to go out and it didn't make the noise and the oil and coolant temperature were cold as I didn't plug it in, so it looks like the 0w30 is fine when cold and it might just be the lifter(s) draining away when it sits for longer.

When we get home tonight I'm going to leave it unplugged and try it in the morning.

Originally Posted by Shannow
At -1C, 0W or 5W makes no difference whatsoever...

Yes I know... I just bought the 0w30 because it was the same price at the 5w30 and as this fill will be in there in February when it's super cold out I figured why not benefit for any added flow I might get out of it.
 
Ok here is the video of it sitting all night un-plugged. Temperature was -3c here this morning. It sounds more like marbles but the video didn't capture it as well but you can hear it quiet down toward the end of the video so it definitely doesn't like cold thick oil.

I'm going to plug it in again tonight and see what it sounds like tomorrow.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1fJ_Bkxcx4onE_Fe0lChYtT14cAyshU2K/view?usp=sharing
 
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