20w50 apologist?

[ericthepig]

Mid-1980s the 20w50 advocates were thick as fleas (me included). Any hold-outs out there still running it in their daily driver?

(as my other post states - I'm steadily increasing the mix in my Sienna w/ 20w50 for a remedy test on a consumption issue).

 

[addyguy]

I thought about trying a 50-weight oil in my old Cavalier in the summer, b/c I didn't think it would hurt an older-design, OHV engine in warm weather. Closest I even got was using 10W-40 as top-off oil.

 

[Maximus1966]

My daily driver is a 1963 VW Beetle. I use 10W40 or 15W40 for most of the year, but if I'm going to drive it hard during the summer, I'll put in some 20W50. She runs pretty hot, so it gives me some peace of mind. A couple of years ago I took her on a trip from the east coast to Chicago and got on Old Route 66 to Santa Monica, then the southern route back to GA. Over 7K and we only used about 1/2 qt of the 20W50.

Run Mobil-1 V-Twin 20W50 in an '06 HD Road King and a 1985 BMW R80RT with good results.

 

[Hokiefyd]

The last time I ran anything like that was in a freshly-built (by myself) Oldsmobile 403 V-8 in a 1987 Buick Regal. I had no idea what to use in it, and the machine shop where I had the block bored and crank turned recommended it. It had healthy, HEALTHY oil pressure, well over 60-80 psi at normal RPM range. I'm sure it drained 10-15 horsepower out of that engine. I sold the car less than a year later, so I don't know how it did long term.

 

[Brons2]

I used to use 20w50 in my Honda in the summertime back in the early/mid 90s. It ran fine as far as I could tell. I ran 5w30 or 10w30 in the wintertime.

 

[Torino]

Yes, I run 20w-50 in an older caddie 4.5. They were notorious for #1 main bearing noise. The heavier oil stops the noise. No noticed ill effects to date--130,000 mi. John--Las Vegas.

 

[JHZR2]

Depends upon the location and load. I dont think that any engine ever REALLY needed 50wt oil as a basis for longevity. 30-40 perhaps, and likely the thought process in the old days was that the oils will shear and change grade so go a little heavier to live in the sweet spot.

In areas where the temperature is consistently high, and a straight 30 or 40 wt oil might have a better viscosity at "cold start" than even a multigrade (for example, at 40C, SAE 40 oils are less viscous than 15w-40s), Id just run straight.

Ive always had a hard time personally justifying 20w-50 oils...

 

[mechtech2]

Originally Posted By: Maximus1966
My daily driver is a 1963 VW Beetle. I use 10W40 or 15W40 for most of the year, but if I'm going to drive it hard during the summer, I'll put in some 20W50. She runs pretty hot, so it gives me some peace of mind. A couple of years ago I took her on a trip from the east coast to Chicago and got on Old Route 66 to Santa Monica, then the southern route back to GA. Over 7K and we only used about 1/2 qt of the 20W50.

Run Mobil-1 V-Twin 20W50 in an '06 HD Road King and a 1985 BMW R80RT with good results.


A '63 Bug that only used 1/2 qt of oil in 7k?? And on the highway?
You have a record breaking world beating marvel there!

 

[hominid7]

my 1989 VW Jetta (1.8 liter gas) got nothing but Valvoline 20w50 for the 12 years and 225,000 miles i drove it. Anything thinner would set off the oil pressure warning lamp. It wasn't an issue of the "engine" needed thick oil, it was a not-so-great engine mgmt system (vw-digifant) that needed thick oil to make it behave.

That car never burned any oil at all and was driven pretty hard. Granted i live in Texas, but in the winter it can get down to the teens in the mornings, and i never had any issues cranking it up after being parked outside.

 

[aquariuscsm]

I used GTX 20W50 in my 1987 Olds Toronado Trofeo. Sold it with a lil over 300,000 miles on it,and it never used or leaked a single drop of oil. I drove that car hard and fast 24/7. Engine always purred like a kitten and ran smoth as glass. I knew nothing about oil whatsoever back then. I only chose that brand and weight because that`s what the guy I bought it from had always used in it (a definite old timer). Looking back,if I had to do it all over again,I would`ve drained the 20W50 as soon as I`d gotten it home and replaced it with GTX 10W30/40.

I used it in my current 300ZX a few times (recommendations from twinturbo.net). It made the engine drag quite a bit compared to 10W30/40 which is what I`ll use from now on.

 

[Bud]

My 71 MGB called for 20w50 from the factory. Still use it in motor and gearbox.

 

[ericthepig]

Originally Posted By: aquariuscsm
.. It made the engine drag quite a bit compared to..


Thru the 1980's and early '90s I ran a lot of GTX 20w50 thru my various Japanese 4 bangers. For giggles I ran a fill of ST 20w50 in my '88 Mazda 323 - that was just a few years ago. Noticeably bogged the engine down a bit compared to its usual diet of 10w40 - thus never went back to it.

 

[fsskier]

I bought a BMW new in the late 1960's, the know-it-all service manager insisted that it was a "racing engine" and needed 20W50 year around. Of course winter starting was impossible below 0f, and I quickly switched to 10W30, as the owners manual recommended.

For several years I repeated the cycle, 20W50 till Thanksgivng... and the first non -starting day, then 10W30 the rest of the winter, good starting yet at - 20f.

Mr. Service manager deemed me to be an idiot..... then I learned that each cold day he had a steady line of BMW's towed in due to non-starting.... often got new plugs, sometimes new batteries and starters....BMW got a bad rep for not starting in this area, and lots of expensive repairs resulted. I knew of at least 3 starters burned up by jumper trucks, a couple of U of Iowa Dr's and Professors were raging mad. Eventually persuaded the ones I knew to use what was in the manual, and their problems ended of course.

I pretty much just recommend 20W50 for clunker-junkers, not much else.

 

[chainblu]

Originally Posted By: ericthepig
Mid-1980s the 20w50 advocates were thick as fleas (me included).


I'm guilty. But hey, in the mid-80's if you listened to the hype and saw the commercials and ads and if you ran your car hard at all you NEEDED Castrol 20w50... ESPECIALLY if you had a 4 cylinder. I even talked my then G/F to run it in her little Dodge Colt!

 

[Merkava_4]

Cadillac 425/472/500 likes 20W-50.

 

[ammolab]

My K75 C Bmw Bike (water cooled DOHC 3cyl)has run 20W-50 since new (1986)...still going strong @ 136,000miles.

My older (1972 R60/5) and newer (2011 R1200R) bikes do well on that oil also.

 

[lexus114]

Originally Posted By: Hokiefyd
The last time I ran anything like that was in a freshly-built (by myself) Oldsmobile 403 V-8 in a 1987 Buick Regal. I had no idea what to use in it, and the machine shop where I had the block bored and crank turned recommended it. It had healthy, HEALTHY oil pressure, well over 60-80 psi at normal RPM range. I'm sure it drained 10-15 horsepower out of that engine. I sold the car less than a year later, so I don't know how it did long term.



That was in a lot of Trans-Ams in the 70`s. I liked that motor much better than the Pontiac 400.

 

[Boss302fan]

My 63 Ford Galaxie R code(427) LOVES 20W50....

 

[Maximus1966]

Originally Posted By: mechtech2
A '63 Bug that only used 1/2 qt of oil in 7k?? And on the highway?
You have a record breaking world beating marvel there!


I didn't think it was THAT unusual. My '60 Type II and my '68 Type III burned up about twice that amount of 10W40 as I recall. On that particular trip, the Red Baron and I avoided the interstates wherever possible and ran 50-55 on the two-lanes. We changed the oil around Barstow, CA at around 4K. My top-off bottle was at around half after the complete trip.

 

[exranger06]

My dad had the engine rebuilt in his 1967 Corvette 427 about 8 years ago. The previous owner and I think the engine builder recommended breaking it in on 20w-50 and then switching to Mobil 1 15w-50. That's what he did and that's all the engine has gotten since then.