20W50

[vxcalais]

Originally Posted By: grease_monkey
Let me be more clear. I am looking for people who use it. not people who don't


Yes i use it. From about 100,000k's i used it. I am not at 220,000k's on my GM Holden Ecotec 3.8litre N/A 2001. I even used a 25w60 once with no issues. The only reason that oil came out was because i did a inlet manifold gasket. I used 20w50 both for my clean and flush stages of Auto-RX cleanup. 10w50 has been my most common oil, even my last one, 15w50 i have used, and i am currently using a 5w40 (very thin for me ) to test the fuel eco better running engine theory thats been ingrained in my brain from this site over the years hehe....... to be honest, fuel economy has not changed at all. Then again its only been about 500k's or so. You will probably find many people in Australia are using 20w50 in their oils.

 

[SteveSRT8]

Seen some great dyno numbers out of the M1 0W-40.

Running 20W-50 will cost a couple of HP as drag. If your engine has normal factory tolerances even a 0W-40 is thick.

 

[BuickGN]

Originally Posted By: aquariuscsm
Originally Posted By: BuickGN
I run it in the GN and have for many years. Clearances are stockish except for piston to cylinder. It won't live on anything thinner.

To clarify, I use this year round and it works great. Believe it or not, the thick stuff eliminated the rod knock I experienced for the first second or two on startup on my older worn engine. It seemed to build pressure quicker on the thick stuff which goes against everything we read about on here.


Hey Buick,what kind`ve 20W50 do you run in that beast?


Only the best... Superflo lol. When it was $.99 I bought 120 quarts of it but I'm getting worried that the stash is getting too old.

I'm wanting to try Redline 40wt or 50wt but I'm scared because this engine has over 20,000 hard miles on it and shows no signs of wear on the cheap dino oil.

It's going back on the dyno when it cools off a little to test out a new wideband setup (vs the dyno wideband). I may switch it over to Redline after I get things sorted out and see if it picks up anything. A few hp aren't important to me but if I'm going to make the switch, might as well do it on the dyno.

 

[sprintman]

40W is thick to North Americans, not the rest of the world.

 

[aquariuscsm]

Originally Posted By: BuickGN
Originally Posted By: aquariuscsm
Originally Posted By: BuickGN
I run it in the GN and have for many years. Clearances are stockish except for piston to cylinder. It won't live on anything thinner.

To clarify, I use this year round and it works great. Believe it or not, the thick stuff eliminated the rod knock I experienced for the first second or two on startup on my older worn engine. It seemed to build pressure quicker on the thick stuff which goes against everything we read about on here.


Hey Buick,what kind`ve 20W50 do you run in that beast?


Only the best... Superflo lol. When it was $.99 I bought 120 quarts of it but I'm getting worried that the stash is getting too old.

I'm wanting to try Redline 40wt or 50wt but I'm scared because this engine has over 20,000 hard miles on it and shows no signs of wear on the cheap dino oil.

It's going back on the dyno when it cools off a little to test out a new wideband setup (vs the dyno wideband). I may switch it over to Redline after I get things sorted out and see if it picks up anything. A few hp aren't important to me but if I'm going to make the switch, might as well do it on the dyno.


Hey Buick,you ought to throw some Pennzoil yb 20W50 in there. That`s the oil my car seems to like the best,especially on wot runs. Valvoline VR1 20W50 works really well in my car too. Mobil 1 15W50 made it a lil sluggish for some reason. I used to use Superflow all the time.

 

[GMBoy]

I was running Mobil 1 15W/50 for years in my Grand National mainly for the best turbo protection. It wasn't until 3 years ago I started using Redline 10W/30 and I get the same or better protection while also noticing a little quicker turbo spool-up due to the thinner oil. I'm sticking with the Redline. On another note, however - I still use thick oils in my Harleys. I was using regular car M1 15W/50 for years, then moved to M1 motorcycle oil 20W/50. Now I use Redline's VTwin HD oil in 20W/60 for the Texas heat. 1 bike is a shovelhead and the other 2 are Twin Cams.

 

[Doug Hillary]

Hi,
grease_monkey - A little history about 20W-50 viscosity lubricants. It was originally formulated/prepared in 1958-9 by Duckhams for the BMC Mini. It was called Q20W-50. Castrol released their version soon after

The Mini required such a lubricant because of the integrated engine/gearbox and the shear factor involved with this arrangement - sharing a common lubricant

20W-50 viscosity lubricants were taken up by other manufacturers at the time in ordr to solve various design issues of that era

Up until then the most popular multigrade lubricant was 10W-30 followed by Castrol XL 20W-30 (probably a 20W-40)

 

[ET16]

I use it to mix in the summer for my mother's '99 VW Passat--add it to 10W-30.

 

[stranger706]

My dad uses it in his air cooled 911.

 

[crinkles]

Originally Posted By: TallPaul
Best use for 20w50 is to thicken your 10w30 in the summer at a ratio of about 1:4, which will bring the modern 10 cSt 30 weight up to an old fashioned 12 cSt 30 wt.


why not just use a 40 weight?