5W20 VS 5W30

Pennzoil motor oil
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if your engine cap says use 5w20 then use it because it flows faster and runs cooler because it circulates faster. 5w20 works very well and better than 5w30 in some cases (better oil in most cases)
there are a lot of motors that recommend 5w20 that has a warranty of 10 years 100,000 miles, if 5w20 did not work well im sure they would not want you to use it..
its not all about cafe... It also has to do with film strength
 
Originally Posted By: BlueOvalFitter
...Anyone running 5W30 over 5W20?

hello.gif
 
Originally Posted By: TFB1
Originally Posted By: TomYoung
Originally Posted By: TFB1
Originally Posted By: TomYoung
Do yourself a huge favor and go with what the factory recommends, and think long and hard before going off the plantation.


Chances of that are zero & none...


For you, perhaps. Maybe the original poster will take the sound advice.


It's actually based on the fact my Marauder is making approx 75% more HP than stock(the supercharger is added) and some of the BITOG guys that KNOW high performance recommended the Mobil 1 0W-40 as one of the choices for a "stressed" engine...


You use what you prefer, I'll do same...

I completely understood where you are coming from, but most of the time we are talking about stock engines in stock vehicles as they came from the factory - for example my 2004 Grand Marquis.

So I agree with you - if I had a high performance engine in it I would probably use at least a synthetic XX-30 or even 20W-50 (do they still make that stuff?)

But since I don't
frown.gif
I use the oil Ford recommends and have never had a problem even while driving to Phoenix in the middle of summer while the outside temp. is 115 or higher!
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: BlueOvalFitter
.Anyone running 5W30 over 5W20?



Been running 30wt and sometimes 40wt oils in my escape for the last 100k miles. 0w30 m1 seems to run the best, most quiet oil.
 
i run a 5w30 in my higher mileage 5.4 without problems. i have actually found that the valvetrain is quieter on startup. gas mileage is the same. so far i have around logged around 12k with 5/30, again with out issues. its also very convenient because i only have to buy one grade of oil.
 
I'm running FS 5w30 over 5w20 in wife's Mazda 3. I just can't feel comfortable with a thinner oil here in Orlando in traffic during summer time.
 
Originally Posted By: dailydriver
Originally Posted By: BlueOvalFitter
Anyone running 5W30 over 5W20?


Are you only asking this of people whose engines are spec'd to run 5W-20, or everyone in general??

Yes, just 5W20 spec'd engines.
 
Originally Posted By: BlueOvalFitter
Originally Posted By: river_rat
Originally Posted By: BlueOvalFitter
...Anyone running 5W30 over 5W20?

hello.gif


And your point is?

Me. That's my point. Like you asked a room full of people is anyone was running 5w30 over 5w30...and one guy raises his hand and waves.
Get it?
I run 5w30. Why not? More choices. And my truck manual says a higher viscosity oil might be better for [my kind of driving] than a 0W-20 or 5W-20.

But I'll run either weight without worry. There isn't all that much difference.
 
If your vehicle manufacturer says it's OK to use 5/30, then it's fine. My manuf says 5/20 is "preferred" for fuel economy but 5w30 is OK. (They also recommend Quaker State, but that advice is even easier to see through.)

Since 5w30 is ubiquitous and I can also use it in my other (Euro trash) car, I buy it. And maybe it's baseless (yeah, yeah, I know), but I feel better running the (very) slightly thicker oil.

The PDS of SynPower 5w30 also looks better than the 5/20.
 
OK, here's a different twist on the question -

My friend in Kyle TX (just south of Austin) has a 2011 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited with a 3.8 L V6 engine.

The 3.8 L V6 is an old pushrod design that Chrysler first brought out in 1991, used mainly in their minivans. It's been upgraded a few times for HP and torque, only really major changes were for the 2001 - 2008 version with higher compression and different pistons. So, we're talking essentially a 20 year old engine design that from 1991 up to 2004 speced 5W or 10W30 oil.

Then, for 2005, right in the middle of the same version of the engine (2001 - 2008 mentioned above), Chrysler suddenly started specing 0W or 5W20 oil - with no apparent major change in engine design.

The JK version of the Wrangler Unlimited with this engine has been on the market for 3 to 4 years now, and my friend says he's seeing reports on the Jeep forums that people are starting to lose bearings and bottom ends out of these engines well short of 100 K miles, while using the factory speced 20 weight oil.

My friend now has around 10K miles on his engine, to where you could consider it broken in, and having in mind the above reports, is contemplating switching over to a 5W30 synthetic.

Given all of the above - particularly the age of the engine design originally speced for 30 weight oil - I'm thinking it might be worth his time to switch over to 5W30. thoughts or opinions?
 
Who knows if they changed some of the tolerances in the engines?

If I had one of those 3.8s, and the manual said 5w30 was acceptable, that's what I'd use. And I wouldn't worry about the immeasurably-tiny MPG loss.
 
Originally Posted By: glum
Who knows if they changed some of the tolerances in the engines?

If I had one of those 3.8s, and the manual said 5w30 was acceptable, that's what I'd use. And I wouldn't worry about the immeasurably-tiny MPG loss.
Tolerances are the variance clearances.
 
Originally Posted By: TomYoung
Originally Posted By: TFB1
There hasn't been a engine built yet that's going to die because someone used 5w30 VS 5W-20... 5W-20 is mostly a CAFE deal for bread and butter engines... Due to needing greater protection, most high performance and hard working engines will have at least 5w30 or higher grades specified...

Because I don't blink a eye and occasionally run my vehicles to redline, I use Mobil 1 0W-40 in most of my vehicles...


With no offense to the author, the ideas that oils with higher weights offer more "protection," to "hard-working" engines and that the only reason lower weight oils are used is for fuel economy have been discussed at length on BITOG and are proven to be completely incorrect. Elsewhere in the thread is the idea (refuted) that the outside temperature should also be considered in choosing oil grade. Do yourself a huge favor and go with what the factory recommends, and think long and hard before going off the plantation.
Opinion of fact? Discussions on BITOG may be no more that regurgitated readings that most have no idea whether the reading is fact or fiction.
 
Originally Posted By: Steve S
Tolerances are the variance clearances.

Who knows if they changed some of the variance clearances in the engine?
 
Originally Posted By: glum
Originally Posted By: Steve S
Tolerances are the variance clearances.

Who knows if they changed some of the variance clearances in the engine?
opps variance in clearances . The smaller the tolerances on the machine work the better. Tighter clearances in an engine "there has to be so much clearance" the longer an engine will last.
 
Originally Posted By: TomYoung
Originally Posted By: TFB1
Originally Posted By: TomYoung
Do yourself a huge favor and go with what the factory recommends, and think long and hard before going off the plantation.


Chances of that are zero & none...


For you, perhaps. Maybe the original poster will take the sound advice.
Sound advise?
 
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