97 Chevrolet tahoe v8 on nothing but 20w50

[crazyoildude]

I ran into a friend of mine who ownes another shop close to ours at the auto parts store buying 5 quarts of 20w50 he uses in his 97 chevy tahoe when i noticed it was 20w50 i told him figuring he is an older man in his seventies and he picked up the wrong viscosity but he said to me he has used it since the truck was about a year old and it runs great! And then said thicker oil is so much better than the thin as water stuff.. I realized there was no convincing him otherwise so i walked out to his truck wanting to hear the engine and when he started it i could barely hear the engine it ran great with 122,000 miles on it.
Like i said they are a busy shop and from what i can see does nice work but then this?? He also changes his oil every 2500 miles.
I could not believe it this guy has a busy shop and does just about everything and he was using 20w50 in an engine that requires 5w30

 

[-Clayton-]

Some of the best mechanics don't have a clue about motor oil.

 

[aquariuscsm]

Originally Posted By: crazyoildude
I ran into a friend of mine who ownes another shop close to ours at the auto parts store buying 5 quarts of 20w50 he uses in his 97 chevy tahoe when i noticed it was 20w50 i told him figuring he is an older man in his seventies and he picked up the wrong viscosity but he said to me he has used it since the truck was about a year old and it runs great! And then said thicker oil is so much better than the thin as water stuff.. I realized there was no convincing him otherwise so i walked out to his truck wanting to hear the engine and when he started it i could barely hear the engine it ran great with 122,000 miles on it.
Like i said they are a busy shop and from what i can see does nice work but then this?? He also changes his oil every 2500 miles.
I could not believe it this guy has a busy shop and does just about everything and he was using 20w50 in an engine that requires 5w30


Those Chevy V8`s run GREAT on dino 20W50s. That`s all my friend ever put in his Nova. Ran it to about 400k (car ran absolutely perfect). He sold it to a friend,who then sold it when he no longer needed it.

 

[ThirdeYe]

Originally Posted By: aquariuscsm
Originally Posted By: crazyoildude
I ran into a friend of mine who ownes another shop close to ours at the auto parts store buying 5 quarts of 20w50 he uses in his 97 chevy tahoe when i noticed it was 20w50 i told him figuring he is an older man in his seventies and he picked up the wrong viscosity but he said to me he has used it since the truck was about a year old and it runs great! And then said thicker oil is so much better than the thin as water stuff.. I realized there was no convincing him otherwise so i walked out to his truck wanting to hear the engine and when he started it i could barely hear the engine it ran great with 122,000 miles on it.
Like i said they are a busy shop and from what i can see does nice work but then this?? He also changes his oil every 2500 miles.
I could not believe it this guy has a busy shop and does just about everything and he was using 20w50 in an engine that requires 5w30


Those Chevy V8`s run GREAT on dino 20W50s. That`s all my friend ever put in his Nova. Ran it to about 400k (car ran absolutely perfect). He sold it to a friend,who then sold it when he no longer needed it.


I bet they would do just as good on a 30-grade tho. My friend's sister has a 5.7 v8 in her GMC Sierra and I put 5W-30 in it last time and the engine is so quiet you can't even hear it run. No consumption to speak of, either. I think it just speaks volumes about how tough those old 350's were (minus the intake gasket issue)

 

[Falcon_LS]

Chevrolet dealer here exclusively uses 20W-50 in every engine, except 5W-40 for synthetic applications.

 

[pzev]

I have posted this several times now, so I'll shorten the story.

I met a guy with a mid 90s chevy pickup, ran nothing but 50w in it for the entire 360,000 miles he put on the truck. Had a 350, and he said he ran mostly Fram filters during that time. He was thinking about switching to a 20w-50, but I (actually being a proponent of thinner oils), told him that his current methods got his truck to 360k....why switch now? He agreed, bought some VR1 50w, and left.
Nice guy, and his truck was clean and sounded good. He changed the oil every 3k iirc.

 

[daman]

Originally Posted By: Falcon_LS
Chevrolet dealer here exclusively uses 20W-50 in every engine, except 5W-40 for synthetic applications.

Now how can they do that? most dealers don't even have it on hand and to put it in a warranty car?
Originally Posted By: pzev

I met a guy with a mid 90s chevy pickup, ran nothing but 50w in it for the entire 360,000 miles

I can only imagine the extra gas he burned in that thing over that time,no wonder gas demand i was on the rise,waaay to thick for these engines,i've run 0w30 M1 in my '99 5.7 before getting 18-20 highway! dunno why people think they need to run that TAR!

 

[hounddog]

Years ago like 30 plus I use to run 20w50 in Chevy V8s.350s and 396 big blocks.Ran it in a few Ford 390s.Yea they ran ok and started ok in weather above 50 degrees.But below 50 degrees they started up HARD and made noise for several seconds.Lots of noise.In 30 degree weather or below OMG.Same thing in Datsun motors back then.Changed my ways once I MATURED and learn or two about mechanical 'stuff'I could NOT imagine doing that now.

 

[scudpilot]

Originally Posted By: -Clayton-
Some of the best mechanics don't have a clue about motor oil.

No truer words have ever been spoken! My experience has been most mechanics know almost nothing about Motor Oil.

 

[daman]

In most cases there the LAST one's to know anything about oil.

 

[Hootbro]

Originally Posted By: daman
Originally Posted By: Falcon_LS
Chevrolet dealer here exclusively uses 20W-50 in every engine, except 5W-40 for synthetic applications.

Now how can they do that? most dealers don't even have it on hand and to put it in a warranty car?


He is in Kuwait. 20W-50 is one of the most common weights you will see over in the Middle East and most of the third world. Just as people here in the States are stuck on Fram oil filters, over there 20W-50 is just the de facto standard on every parts shelf and gas station.

 

[Falcon_LS]

Originally Posted By: Hootbro
Originally Posted By: daman
Originally Posted By: Falcon_LS
Chevrolet dealer here exclusively uses 20W-50 in every engine, except 5W-40 for synthetic applications.

Now how can they do that? most dealers don't even have it on hand and to put it in a warranty car?


He is in Kuwait. 20W-50 is one of the most common weights you will see over in the Middle East and most of the third world. Just as people here in the States are stuck on Fram oil filters, over there 20W-50 is just the de facto standard on every parts shelf and gas station.


Correct. The most widely used viscosity here is 20W-50, available from nearly all brands - ACDelco, Castrol, Gulf, Mobil, Elf, Total, BP, Shell, Veedol, Kuwait Oil, Agip, Chevron, Petromin, Esso, Fuchs, Liqui Moly, Motul, Cofran...you name it. 20W-50 is followed closely by 15W-40/50 (mainly Nippon-Mitsubishi, Cofran and Fuchs) and 10W-30 (mainly Mopar, Motorcraft, Mobil and Castrol). 10W-40 oils are mainly available from Liqui Moly, Castrol and Mobil whilst 5W-30 oils (usually Mobil 1 and Fuchs Titan SuperSyn) are generally full synthetics, although there are 1 or 2 exceptions from UAE-based oil companies. The most common full synthetic is 5W-40 (and 0W-40 by Mobil) - Castrol, Elf, Total, Lexus own-brand, Fuchs, Liqui Moly, Kuwait Oil, BP amongst a few others. Castrol and Lubro Moly offer a 10W-60, whilst Fuchs and Cofran (French oil firm) have a 5W-50 offering. Morris Lubricants of the UK have a 10W-50 offering as well, which is a very decent oil. That's pretty much what I've had time to research over the months.

 

[pzev]

Originally Posted By: daman
Originally Posted By: Falcon_LS
Chevrolet dealer here exclusively uses 20W-50 in every engine, except 5W-40 for synthetic applications.

Now how can they do that? most dealers don't even have it on hand and to put it in a warranty car?
Originally Posted By: pzev

I met a guy with a mid 90s chevy pickup, ran nothing but 50w in it for the entire 360,000 miles

I can only imagine the extra gas he burned in that thing over that time,no wonder gas demand i was on the rise,waaay to thick for these engines,i've run 0w30 M1 in my '99 5.7 before getting 18-20 highway! dunno why people think they need to run that TAR!


I personally run 5w-20/30 in my own car, but it worked for him. Truck sounded really good for that many miles, and he said the engine has never been opened.
Did he burn extra gas? Yep. Did it serve him reliably for all those miles? Yep. Would a thinner oil have done as good? Yep. Would he have slept at night using the thinner oil? Probobly not lol. Sometimes peace of mind is more important than anything else.

 

[Peted]

Originally Posted By: daman
Originally Posted By: Falcon_LS
Chevrolet dealer here exclusively uses 20W-50 in every engine, except 5W-40 for synthetic applications.

Now how can they do that? most dealers don't even have it on hand and to put it in a warranty car?
Originally Posted By: pzev

I met a guy with a mid 90s chevy pickup, ran nothing but 50w in it for the entire 360,000 miles

I can only imagine the extra gas he burned in that thing over that time,no wonder gas demand i was on the rise,waaay to thick for these engines,i've run 0w30 M1 in my '99 5.7 before getting 18-20 highway! dunno why people think they need to run that TAR!


You must not tow much or put any load on that engine.

 

[CharlieJ]

Could this mean that 99% of engines could run on any viscosity oil? As long as there is no metal to metal contact, then what's the big dealio?

 

[Falcon_LS]

That's pretty much what I'm wondering. I know of several examples of Ford Modular V8s running 300,000+ km (187,000+ miles) on nothing but 20W-50 right from the start.

 

[SteveSRT8]

That Ford OHC V8 if left stock is one of the longest lasting motors ever made. I've haven't seen many motors with 300,000 miles run as good as those with ordinary oil and service intervals.

The old GM 5.7's were sometimes a little 'loose' from the factory and would consume oil (we run a fleet of GM's). We would switch them to 20w-50 and run them for 150-180k miles and over 5000 hours of stationary operation! That's equal to 400+ thousand miles!

I sold one out of a wrecked truck to a local hot rodder who's still running it over 4 years later. They can really last if cared for.

 

[ridgerunner]

I had an 1981 Chevy Citation w/2.8 v-6 and I ran nothing but 20W50 in it summer and winter. Oh yea, it was also ARCO GRAPHITE 20w50!!!!

 

[lexus114]

Originally Posted By: ridgerunner
I had an 1981 Chevy Citation w/2.8 v-6 and I ran nothing but 20W50 in it summer and winter. Oh yea, it was also ARCO GRAPHITE 20w50!!!!


DOH!!!