5w-20 in my beater.

[JOD]

Originally Posted By: JRed
Nope. I just honestly wondered if, in other's experience, 5w-20 was really *that* much thinner than 5w30. I realize that on paper it is not.


I just drained a friend's CRV 5W20 after a 3-5 minute drive, since it's impossible to reach the filter without scalding yourself. It *seemed* to be quite a bit thicker to me than my other friend's Subaru which was drained at full temp--and that oil was probably around 30W90 by the time it came out of the engine (57k on an oil change can do that). Those are my observations, at least.

OTOH, the Toyota 0W20 does appear to be like water when coming out of the bottle, almost scary compared to normal motor oil.

 

[armos]

[edit: I missed the 2nd page]
Lacking a pressure gauge, I'd assume that with that many miles the bearing clearances are less than perfect. As such, I'd run at least the original viscosity or slightly thicker.
5w30 is probably a safe bet given the short trips.
If you have reason to believe the engine is in bad shape, I'd go thicker.

 

[oggb]

Originally Posted By: armos
[edit: I missed the 2nd page]
Lacking a pressure gauge, I'd assume that with that many miles the bearing clearances are less than perfect. As such, I'd run at least the original viscosity or slightly thicker.
5w30 is probably a safe bet given the short trips.
If you have reason to believe the engine is in bad shape, I'd go thicker.


The engine did have a bad head gasket at some point, but if the valvetrain is any indication of bottom end wear then this thing is in spectacular shape. The cam lobes and rollers show virtually no wear at all.

I considered using 10w-40 but couldn't justify it after seeing underneath the valve cover. I suppose the oil pump could still be a bit out of spec and not producing the same pressure it did at one time, but it seems to be doing OK.