20W50 for all. All thick oil recommendations here

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I bought some cheap oil last weekend because it was on sale for $2 per liter. Seriously even the cheapest dino oil is usually over $4/L here, so I had to buy it even though it's only 20W50 SH/CD. Oh well, so it's only for the mower and general workshop use.
blush.gif
See: http://www.gulfwestern.com.au/XMP.html

Anyway since I've never bought this brand before I thought I'd take a look at their website. They've got an oil selector guide which is kind of interesting, it seems to recommend 20W50 for just about everything.

Take a look here: http://www.datateck.com.au/lube/GulfWesternAus/default.asp

I checked the following cars (mine and those of some of my family) and every one returned 20W50 as their recommendation.
crazy.gif


2004 Toyota Camry 3.0L V6 1MZ-FE - 20W50
2005 Mazda 2 1.5L - 20W50
2006 Toyota Prius NHW20R - 20W50
2007 Mazda 3 2.3L DOHC VVT - 20W50

LOL
 
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For the fact alone that all of your cars (I'm sure) require at least an SJ or SM oil, I wouldn't use an SH oil in them. Maybe in you mower and shop equipment; I think that'd be just fine. But not in your cars.
 
Originally Posted By: Klutch9
For the fact alone that all of your cars (I'm sure) require at least an SJ or SM oil, I wouldn't use an SH oil in them. Maybe in you mower and shop equipment; I think that'd be just fine. But not in your cars.


Klutch, the $2/L SH/CD oil that I bought isn't for any of those cars. As I said it's for the mower and general workshop use. Also, it isn't the same 20W50 that their oil selector recommends for those cars. (Not that I would actually use their recommendations anyway).
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Ah okay. But yea, I wouldn't hesitate to use that oil in your mower or shop equipment... especially if that equipment uses a B&S motor. Those things will run on anything!

Oh, and I just checked what that website recommended for my Focus. It said 10w30. My OM says to use nothing but a 5w20. You Aussies and your thick oil
grin.gif
 
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Originally Posted By: Klutch9
I just checked what that website recommended for my Focus. It said 10w30. My OM says to use nothing but a 5w20. You Aussies and your thick oil
grin.gif



Arh 10W30 good, so at least they do recommend something other than 20W50. Seriously I was starting to think they were just recommending 20W50 for everything after checking my four selections.
 
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That site wants me to put 15W-40 in my 2009 CR-V. Very old school advice there.

I have run 10W-30 on Trailer pulling Summer Trips across Texas with no consequences even though some guys on the Honda board think this is akin to pouring gravel in the crankcase.
 
If ambient temp doesn't regularly drop below 55-60*F, 20W-50 is likely fine in any engine there is...
 
Originally Posted By: uart

Anyway since I've never bought this brand before I thought I'd take a look at their website. They've got an oil selector guide which is kind of interesting, it seems to recommend 20W50 for just about everything.

Take a look here: http://www.datateck.com.au/lube/GulfWesternAus/default.asp

I checked the following cars (mine and those of some of my family) and every one returned 20W50 as their recommendation.
crazy.gif


2004 Toyota Camry 3.0L V6 1MZ-FE - 20W50
2005 Mazda 2 1.5L - 20W50
2006 Toyota Prius NHW20R - 20W50
2007 Mazda 3 2.3L DOHC VVT - 20W50

LOL


Well, if the only tool in your toolbox is a hammer, every problem begins to look like a nail.
 
For the Ford Focus 10w-30 in Australia is fine to run while 5w-20 in North America is the only acceptable grade of oil.

Well, it looks like all the the major Automobile manufacturers have entirely different "assembly lines" for engines going to North America and those vehicles destined for other parts of the world. lol....lol....

Use what makes your vehicle run the best, under your operating conditions, for the best price available is my motto.

Cheers!


Originally Posted By: uart
Originally Posted By: Klutch9
I just checked what that website recommended for my Focus. It said 10w30. My OM says to use nothing but a 5w20. You Aussies and your thick oil
grin.gif



Arh 10W30 good, so at least they do recommend something other than 20W50. Seriously I was starting to think they were just recommending 20W50 for everything after checking my four selections.
 
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Originally Posted By: mongo161
For the Ford Focus 10w-30 in Australia is fine to run while 5w-20 in North America is the only acceptable grade of oil.

Well, it looks like all the the major Automobile manufacturers have entirely different "assembly lines" for engines going to North America and those vehicles destined for other parts of the world. lol....lol....


Yeah, they spell those US assembly lines C-A-F-E...
 
Generally the oil recommendations here in a Australia tend to be a bit thicker than the those in north America, but the above site seems to have taken it to an extreme (at least in the case of the my families cars). Other Australian web selectors (Valvoline Castrol Shell etc) all return 5W30 through to 10W40 for the cars listed above, the Gulf-Western site is the only one recommending such thick oil.

Don't get me wrong, I've got no problems using 20W50 in older cars. I had a 20 year old Mazda-626 that I feed 20W50 in it's old age and it loved it (quieter and less oil consumption).

Also 15W40 and 20W50 are the only grades that you can get low cost oil here. Often a 5W30 is up to double the price of the same brand in 15W40. I do use 5W30, but I can't even find a single brand (of 5W30) that's under $10 per Liter here.
 
Is not the reason we like to study about oil and learn from BITOG to be able to choose the best oil for our vehicles? I think it is funny that so many Bitog members will say "go by what it says in your vehile manual" when everyone knows that many times the same engines will call for different (usually thicker) oils in different countries. Yes we have proved that 20 weight oils will not blow your engines here in the US. Why not choose what you believe is the best for your application and not go by the companies recomendations which are many times biased by CAFE? Do you want the best oil or do you want to be politicaly correct? If it were not for CAFE I really doubt if 20 weight oils would be used much at all here in the US.
 
Originally Posted By: uart
I bought some cheap oil last weekend because it was on sale for $2 per liter. ... it's only 20W50 SH/CD. See: http://www.gulfwestern.com.au/XMP.html

Anyway since I've never bought this brand before I thought I'd take a look at their website. They've got an oil selector guide which is kind of interesting, it seems to recommend 20W50 for just about everything.

Take a look here: http://www.datateck.com.au/lube/GulfWesternAus/default.asp



You know what they say. "When all you've got is a hammer, everything looks like a nail."
 
I think i like this site. I miss using 20w50. The way it slowly glugs down the fill pipe and the slow crank of the engine on a cold January morning.

However considering the climate down under, i suspect 20w50 would be fine for a great number of vehicles. I put in a 2011 mazda just for fun and it listed 10w30.
 
Originally Posted By: OldCowboy
You know what they say. "When all you've got is a hammer, everything looks like a nail."


That's awesome!
 
Originally Posted By: hominid7
I think i like this site. I miss using 20w50. The way it slowly glugs down the fill pipe and the slow crank of the engine on a cold January morning.



Yeah, since I started using thin oils, my car starts every morning, dammit. Then I don't have an excuse for not going to work.
 
Originally Posted By: A_Harman
Originally Posted By: hominid7
I think i like this site. I miss using 20w50. The way it slowly glugs down the fill pipe and the slow crank of the engine on a cold January morning.



Yeah, since I started using thin oils, my car starts every morning, dammit. Then I don't have an excuse for not going to work.


And this, my friend, is why all the manufacturers spec thin oils... so everyone gets to work. Talk about eradicating unemployment!
lol.gif
 
Must be an echo in here. Don't worry, I won't say anything about hammers or nails.

But for many years we ran our fleet trucks on 50w oil. Never had a single oil related problem. This is across many platforms as well.

So it can't be all bad.
 
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