5W30 recommended, 10W30 used, how many do this

[virginoil]

The oil I am using has on the product data a section called Rationalisation of Grades and suggests that the 10w30 can be substituted where a 5w30 mineral oil is recommended as the properties and flow characteristics are similiar.

I suggest email the oil manufacturer give them your vehicle details, typical driving, eg short trips, outside temperature etc and see what they say, can't hurt and compare it to BITOG.

 

[Oilgal]

I think that is very good advice virginoil.

Mobil 1 recommends 10w 30, for my 100K+ engine, for which the OEM recommends 5w 30 in the manual.

 

[bigjeffie]

i use 5w-30 all the time.
often it is supertech dino.
my tundra goes 7500 w/o issue here. the rav4 is tougher , and the oil is well spent by 5k.
however, i have zero issues w/ consumption in either vehicle.

 

[mikeg5]

i use 10w30 synpower religiously.my taco calls for 5w30. i will use 5w30 in the winter though i dont really need to with a synthetic. 10w30 has shown to be a little more stable through uoa's than 5w30.. correct me if i am wrong

 

[ToyotaNSaturn]

5w30 recommended, 0w-20 used.

Other than the depths of winter in the northern U.S. or Canada, 5w30 or 10w30 doesn't matter.

 

[TallPaul]

Originally Posted By: virginoil

The oil I am using has on the product data a section called Rationalisation of Grades...
That sounds like an interesting discussion. Do you have a link?

 

[ernied]

it goes below 0 here in northern ny quite often.i use 10/30 year round in my 03 sonata 2.7 and 06 sonata 3.3

 

[Gary in Sandy Eggo]

Originally Posted By: wgtoys
It is quite possible that a given line of oil will use a better quality base stocks in it's 5W-30 than in the 10W-30, in which case all bets are off.

Why would they do that? I've never heard that notion. It would be too costly to be messing with a lot of different raw materials.

 

[TallPaul]

Originally Posted By: Gary in Sandy Eggo
Originally Posted By: wgtoys
It is quite possible that a given line of oil will use a better quality base stocks in it's 5W-30 than in the 10W-30, in which case all bets are off.

Why would they do that? I've never heard that notion. It would be too costly to be messing with a lot of different raw materials.


Last time I looked at Valvoline Durablend CAS sheets (SL days), it looked very much like they used a significantly higher proportion of Group I in the tighter grades like 10w30 and 20w50 and a higher proportion of Group II/III in the wider grades like 5w30 and 10w40. In fact, that was one reason I stocked up on the 10w40 even though I wanted to run 15w40, but the 15w40 had a lot more Group I indicated.

 

[Big O Dave]

What about 0W30's like GC that are "thicker" than most 10W30's and all 5W30's? I'm not sure that there's a significant and consistent viscosity difference between 0W30's, 5W30's and 10W30's, especially across brands.

I wouldn't lose any sleep over such things, and I'd use all of these grades interchangeably.

 

[Merkava_4]

I haven't run the numbers yet, but I'm thinking about adding 1 quart of 20W-50 into the mix of 10W-30 for the summertime.

 

[virginoil]

Originally Posted By: TallPaul
Originally Posted By: virginoil

The oil I am using has on the product data a section called Rationalisation of Grades...
That sounds like an interesting discussion. Do you have a link?

TallPaul I don't have a link. Rationalisation of Grades is term on Fuchs product data sheet. You are right as the term suggests that there some oils that could be used across the board and would make interesting discussion.

As the section is brief, and states it is predominately possible due to the selection of and quality of base oils and special additives. The 10w30 grade is a very stable grade and can in some instances be achieved without the need for viscosity improvers. The shearing properties could be as low as that for a mineral 15w40 and have the flow similar to a mineral 5w30.

Reading the API SM criteria the stability of the base oil formulation is a priority and has been improved immensely from the SL rating. I am sure that there other oils that fit the criteria we just need our resident experts to explore this a little further and give us an update.

One oil that comes to mind is the Amsoil ACD 10w30, (Pablo has stated this has returned great UOA’s), can also be used as a straight 30W oil.

 

[TallPaul]

Thanks virginoil. Yeah I agree, all else equal, a 10w30 should be as stable as a 15w40. In a nutshell, the more stable multigrades would seem to be:

5w20
10w30
15w40
20w50

Notice the progression in 5s on the W number and 10s in the back number in this list.

Less stable (all else equal) would be the wide grades:

5w30
10w40
perhaps 15w50

Wider grades than this and you are getting into synthetic for sure. With a high grade synthetic all bets are off. Redline does not use VII except for their 5w40, so I have heard. I also understand Amsoil is excellent oil. I have some 10w30 PAO Amsoil. I'm sure it's very stable and plan to use in an air cooled generator on my motorhome.

 

[mjoekingz28]

I'm not understanding the stability. 20w50 has a difference of 30, while 5w30 only has a difference of 25, yet is a wide grade and is less stable.

Our expedition calls for 5w30 and we've ran 10w30 for as long as I remember, but with this site I've gotten alot of ambition with a little knowledge and say, "hey" summer is coming let me add some 20w50 in there. I hope I didn't booger the engine. 4qts 10w30 and 2qts 20w50 give it 13w37.

Also, in my car says above 15F use 20w50. and -10-80 use 10w30. I should have waited until summer because I feel 20w50 is too much until you reach 90 degrees

 

[AmericaWestCMH]

Don't see any point to using 10W-30 over 5W-30. I'll take the better startup flow...

 

[Eddie]

We might want to look at the pour points from the oil manufacture. The high temp. end viscosity i.e. 30 is usually the same for 5w30 & 10ww30. Startup wear is important as AmericaWest alluded too.

 

[TallPaul]

Originally Posted By: mjoekingz28
I'm not understanding the stability. 20w50 has a difference of 30, while 5w30 only has a difference of 25, yet is a wide grade and is less stable.
Good point. It's not really the difference between back number and front number, but the difference in the 100C viscosity of the base oil and the finished product. Also important is the quality of the VII, and amount. I have read that 20w50 can be made by adding VII to a straight 30 as some straight 30s meet the 20w requirements. Not sure if it is commonly done that way. Anyway, assume a 10cSt (@100C) base oil on a 20w50 and a 20cSt finished, so you are doubling the viscosity. In a 10w30 you may have a 5 or 6 cSt base with a 11 cSt finished. Still doubling. So it seems comparable, assuming my cSt #s are correct for the base oils. In practical application, expecially with the quality of today's oils, it doesn't matter and we are more or less arguing how many angels can dance on the head of a pin.

 

[mikeg5]

Originally Posted By: AmericaWestCMH
Don't see any point to using 10W-30 over 5W-30. I'll take the better startup flow...


sure if you are talking about dino oils, synthetics however are very similar in start up protection. no real difference in 5w30 and 10w30 syns aside from a tiny bit more stability in the 10w30. i could venture and say the same for 0w40's in synthetics also. correct me if i am wrong

 

[toocrazy2yoo]

I changed out to 10W30 PP, pre 2005 ester when I went down to Florida a few weeks back, then came up to New England where it's been single digits and teens at night and I notice no difference in startup sounds or driveability between this oil and the 0W20 M1 that was in the car since October.

I think it matters not. I can't detect any difference in MPG, either.

 

[mcrn]

My truck is spec'd for 5W30 and right now I have 10W30. I have used 5W20 and 15W40. No issues with any and no consumption with any of the oils used. Although my engine ran the smoothest with Penn 5W20.