5w30 in a spec 5w20

[Kuato]

Originally Posted By: spasm3

... I'm simply following the owners manual. 2013 hydai elantra 1.8.
Chapter 8 page 5

"lower viscosity engine oils can provide better fuel economy and cold weather performance, however, higher viscosity engine oils are required for satisfactory lubrication in hot weather."

This above quote is straight from the manual. Since 5w20 is the lightest oil specified, I go by the chart that lists 5w30 as and acceptable oil, and even 10w 30 from O deg F and up.

Therefore i run 5w or 0w 20 winter and 5w 30 summer ( plus i have a about 3 changes of each weight i bought on clearance for $2.00 a quart.)


What gets me in this whole discussion is the "higher viscosity oils required for satisfactory lubrication in hot weather", straight from the owner's manual.

Italics are mine, and

, but the manufacturer is saying you need a higher weight for hot temps. (Insert discussion about warranty here)

 

[BlueOvalFitter]

Originally Posted By: spasm3
After i use up the stash of 5w20 pen ultra, i will run 5w30 all year.

Best reply to this whole post.

 

[tig1]

Summers coming on and it was 94F today. No doubt another very hot summer of 95-105F days ahead. So what did I do? Went to WM and bought a jug of M1 0-20 for my next OC in the Focus. How crazy is that?

 

[spasm3]

Originally Posted By: tig1
Summers coming on and it was 94F today. No doubt another very hot summer of 95-105F days ahead. So what did I do? Went to WM and bought a jug of M1 0-20 for my next OC in the Focus. How crazy is that?


If that is what the owners manual specs, its not crazy at all.

 

[Kuato]

Originally Posted By: tig1
Summers coming on and it was 94F today. No doubt another very hot summer of 95-105F days ahead. So what did I do? Went to WM and bought a jug of M1 0-20 for my next OC in the Focus. How crazy is that?


Complete hogwash. You should be running a 50 weight oil, minimum.

 

[Tony10s]

Originally Posted By: Kuato
Originally Posted By: spasm3

... I'm simply following the owners manual. 2013 hydai elantra 1.8.
Chapter 8 page 5

"lower viscosity engine oils can provide better fuel economy and cold weather performance, however, higher viscosity engine oils are required for satisfactory lubrication in hot weather."

This above quote is straight from the manual. Since 5w20 is the lightest oil specified, I go by the chart that lists 5w30 as and acceptable oil, and even 10w 30 from O deg F and up.

Therefore i run 5w or 0w 20 winter and 5w 30 summer ( plus i have a about 3 changes of each weight i bought on clearance for $2.00 a quart.)


What gets me in this whole discussion is the "higher viscosity oils required for satisfactory lubrication in hot weather", straight from the owner's manual.

Italics are mine, and

, but the manufacturer is saying you need a higher weight for hot temps. (Insert discussion about warranty here)


I wondered about this too when I first bought my car and noticed this in the owner's manual. That's why I started using 5W-30 motor oil in the summer in the first place. But then I noticed in the chart that they had both 5W-20 and 5W-30 listed for the exact same temperature range. So, either viscosity can be used all year then.

But like BlueOvalFitter indicated by his post, the decision by spasm3 to use 5W-30 all year would be a good choice; there's nothing wrong with that at all. It is definitely appropriate for use in both the winter and summer.

 

[Garak]

Originally Posted By: Tony10s
I wondered about this too when I first bought my car and noticed this in the owner's manual. That's why I started using 5W-30 motor oil in the summer in the first place.

Sometimes, this makes me wonder whether the manual editors did this on purpose. Oh, we won't honor this warranty claim because you didn't use the specified 5w-20. And we won't honor that warranty claim because you used 5w-20 when the manual clearly says that higher viscosity engine oils are required for satisfactory lubrication in hot weather.

 

[spasm3]

Originally Posted By: Garak
Originally Posted By: Tony10s
I wondered about this too when I first bought my car and noticed this in the owner's manual. That's why I started using 5W-30 motor oil in the summer in the first place.

Sometimes, this makes me wonder whether the manual editors did this on purpose. Oh, we won't honor this warranty claim because you didn't use the specified 5w-20. And we won't honor that warranty claim because you used 5w-20 when the manual clearly says that higher viscosity engine oils are required for satisfactory lubrication in hot weather.

Its possible, perhaps i should continue the 5w20 winter and 5w 30 summer during the warranty.

 

[Garak]

My post was a bit of a jab at the manual editors more than anything else, but one never knows. Realistically, I think that some of this wording is legacy wording from when there were charts in the manuals. The manuals I've seen simply had pages deleted and viscosity numbers changed, rather than being rewritten in a sensible fashion to exclude such outdated wording.

 

[gulian]

from my experiences i've noticed 5w30 is more common than 5w20 and is usually cheaper for bulk sales.

 

[tig1]

Originally Posted By: spasm3
Originally Posted By: Garak
Originally Posted By: Tony10s
I wondered about this too when I first bought my car and noticed this in the owner's manual. That's why I started using 5W-30 motor oil in the summer in the first place.

Sometimes, this makes me wonder whether the manual editors did this on purpose. Oh, we won't honor this warranty claim because you didn't use the specified 5w-20. And we won't honor that warranty claim because you used 5w-20 when the manual clearly says that higher viscosity engine oils are required for satisfactory lubrication in hot weather.

Its possible, perhaps i should continue the 5w20 winter and 5w 30 summer during the warranty.


Of course your thinking on this is very old school. We did this in the 60s, but today oils are vastly improved and 20wt oils perform very well in all temps in engines calling for 20wt. Don't let the thicker oil guys scare you off.

 

[Garak]

Originally Posted By: tig1
Of course your thinking on this is very old school.

Yes, the whole point of multigrades was to avoid having to play around when winter came. I suggest that almost always, a person can choose one viscosity for year round.

 

[fpracha]

Originally Posted By: Shannow
demarpaint, it's funny, because if a Honda Paper (or a poster) said "0W20 is good enough for my racecar", that would be all the evidence in the world that it was good for road cars, and being touted from all and sundry...keep providing engineering eveidence that it's a compromise in favour of economy over ultimate longevity (and a sensible one given that cars are thrown out typically well before their engines are junk), and it's never enough.
what's the link to this honda paper ? it would certainly be an interesting reading today...

 

[sdude2k2000]

I can't believe we have 14-pages of debate over this.

UOA after UOA supports 5w20 being perfectly fine in MANY applications and many driving conditions. I posted a UOA of my wife's V6 Fusion after a 5k OCI (including a 1500mi round-trip road trip to southern California)... in the dead heat of summer (100*F+ temps)... driving at speeds that made me feel like Jeff Gordon @ Daytona (figure of speech... more like between 95-100mph)... all on Motorcraft 5w20... it came back excellent. Better than most actually! That engine was originally spec'd for 5w30 and then back-spec'd for 5w20. The car now has over 80k on it... doesn't burn any oil over current 7500mi OCI's... UOA's still come back excellent. Oh, and it has a timing chain too (some folks were concerned about that).

Bottom line - If the manual / oil cap says 5w20, run 5w20. If you want to run 5w30 because the whispers in your ear say to, then run 5w30 instead. If you want to UOA to see which works best, okay.

 

[TiredTrucker]

Because ways of looking at things and reluctance to change as the only constant in the universe.

 

[hatt]

Originally Posted By: sdude2k2000


Bottom line - If the manual / oil cap says 5w20, run 5w20. If you want to run 5w30 because the whispers in your ear say to, then run 5w30 instead. If you want to UOA to see which works best, okay.
The manufacturers specing other oils in the rest of the World for the same engine is more than a whisper.

 

[BlueOvalFitter]

Originally Posted By: sdude2k2000
Bottom line - If the manual / oil cap says 5w20, run 5w20. If you want to run 5w30 because the whispers in your ear say to, then run 5w30 instead. If you want to UOA to see which works best, okay.

What if you know, for a fact, that your engine was manufactured from 1997-2008 and that the internal clearances and tolerances had NEVER changed in all of those years? And, that said engine was originally spec'd 5W30 oil from 1997-2000? Then, in 2001, for CAFE reasons, it was then spec'd 5W20?
Interesting dilemma, huh?
So, no, it's NOT the bottom line!

 

[fpracha]

Originally Posted By: BlueOvalFitter
Originally Posted By: sdude2k2000
Bottom line - If the manual / oil cap says 5w20, run 5w20. If you want to run 5w30 because the whispers in your ear say to, then run 5w30 instead. If you want to UOA to see which works best, okay.

What if you know, for a fact, that your engine was manufactured from 1997-2008 and that the internal clearances and tolerances had NEVER changed in all of those years? And, that said engine was originally spec'd 5W30 oil from 1997-2000? Then, in 2001, for CAFE reasons, it was then spec'd 5W20?
Interesting dilemma, huh?
So, no, it's NOT the bottom line!

+1 to that comment.

 

[kschachn]

Originally Posted By: BlueOvalFitter
What if you know, for a fact, that your engine was manufactured from 1997-2008 and that the internal clearances and tolerances had NEVER changed in all of those years? And, that said engine was originally spec'd 5W30 oil from 1997-2000? Then, in 2001, for CAFE reasons, it was then spec'd 5W20?
Interesting dilemma, huh?
So, no, it's NOT the bottom line!

And yet I do that in both my Toyotas and have for a long time.

 

[fpracha]

Originally Posted By: KCJeep
Originally Posted By: Tony10s

The chart in my Elantra owner's manual shows that both 5W-20 and 5W-30 can be used for the exact same temperature range (the same on the cold side and hot side); thus, either 5W-20 or 5W-30 can be used year round in my car. The only viscosity that shows a different temperature range is 10W-30, which can be used for temperatures 0 deg and above. Therefore, from now on, I will only be buying 5W-20 motor oil for this car. There's really no reason for me to use different viscosities for the winter and summer.


Agreed, but since there is very little start up advantage to a 5w20 over 5w30 in the coldest weather, why not use a 5w30 year round? That is ultimately my plan.
KCJeep you have raised a pivotal point in the 5w-20 vs 5w-30 debate. Hats off to you !
One main detail to consider is what happens to 5w-20 over a 5w-30 grade engine oil AFTER it has been used for OCI of 7,500 miles (or even up to 10,000 miles) ?
The 5w-30 will have more VI improver chemicals than the 5w-20.
Consider the difference of 30 - 5 = 25 on rating SAE scale for 5w-30 oil.
Compare this with : 20 - 5 = 15 on SAE rating scale for 5w-20 oil.
Isn't the 5w-20 more shear stable and more consistent in maintaining its viscosity protection within an engine that is perhaps back-spec'd for 5w-20 and originally spec'd for 5w-30 oil?

Can the experts on this forum jump to discern these highlighted issues ?