Call me crazy: First impressions of 5w20 an a 5w30 engine

[G-MAN]

I posted earlier that I would be using Pennzoil 5w20 as the "rinse" oil for the Auto-Rx treatment in my Olds minivan. The 3.4 V6 in this van is spec'd for 5w30. For most of its life it has had Mobil 1 5w30, and prior to the Auto-Rx treatment, I ran Mobil 1 0w40 for two drain intervals. I posted a UOA for the 0w40 which was excellent.

One thing about the Mobil 1: I could always count on it keeping the piston slap of the 3.4 to a bare minimum—so much so that once the engine was fully warmed up, you couldn't hear it at all. The few times that conventional oil was "accidentally" put in by the dealer, you could really hear the difference. Guess what? With the Pennzoil 5w20 this engine is as quiet as it ever was with Mobil 1. Must be all that moly.

And call me crazy, but I'm extremely familiar with the sounds and feel of this engine, and it actually seems to be idling smoother with this oil. There was a particular harmonic at idle that I could always feel in the steering wheel that is completely gone now.

Who knows—if this oil gives me a decent UOA when I change it out at 2000 miles I may just continue to use it. The van will only accumulate about 6000 miles a year now, so I could do two changes a year with the Pennzoil 5w20 and still be ahead cost wise compared to one change a year with Mobil 1.

 

[sbc350gearhead]

I would love to see 5w20 UOA's on vehicles calling for 5w30's.

 

[Patman]

I bet you'll find you could eventually even go the full 6000 miles/1yr on Pennzoil 5w20, since it's base oil is about 70% group 3 and 30% group 2+. So a 6k interval probably wouldn't stress it too hard.

 

[G-MAN]

quote:

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Originally posted by Patman:
I bet you'll find you could eventually even go the full 6000 miles/1yr on Pennzoil 5w20, since it's base oil is about 70% group 3 and 30% group 2+. So a 6k interval probably wouldn't stress it too hard.

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Where did you find those base oil ratios, Patman? I figured it had some Group III in it, but I didn't realize it was that much.

 

[Patman]

quote:

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Originally posted by G-Man II:

quote:

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Originally posted by Patman:
I bet you'll find you could eventually even go the full 6000 miles/1yr on Pennzoil 5w20, since it's base oil is about 70% group 3 and 30% group 2+. So a 6k interval probably wouldn't stress it too hard.

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Where did you find those base oil ratios, Patman? I figured it had some Group III in it, but I didn't realize it was that much.

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I was surprised when I found that out too. Johnny (from Pennzoil) was the one who gave me the base oil breakdown.

 

[TooSlick]

I was thinking a good strategy in many engines would be to use 5w-20 in the winter and 10w-30 conventional oils in the summer. I believe this would work really well in someplace like Canada, that has wide fluctuations in temp from season to season.

Tooslick
Dixie Synthetics

 

[Dr. T]

You've just further "unmasked" M-1's deficiency we keep talking about...noise. Yes, it is thinner than most 30 weights and may resemble the 5-20...however, as you have discovered it's addative package is so poor that you have:

1. increased noise

2. increased friction

#2 explains why some have reported no real increase in fuel economy over other 30 weights (even though it is a PAO synth).

 

[G-MAN]

quote:

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Originally posted by Dr. T:
You've just further "unmasked" M-1's deficiency we keep talking about...noise. Yes, it is thinner than most 30 weights and may resemble the 5-20...however, as you have discovered it's addative package is so poor that you have:

1. increased noise

2. increased friction

#2 explains why some have reported no real increase in fuel economy over other 30 weights (even though it is a PAO synth).

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I think you need to re-read what I said about Mobil 1 and the noise in my 3.4.

 

[Dr. T]

You said "it's as quiet on Penzoil 5-20 as it was with Mobil 1".

Shouldn't it be less quiet? After all, it is a lighter viscosity/thinner oil? And, so I pointed out the deficiency you noticed with M-1 that allows other oils to run as quietly even though they are a thinner viscosity because M-1's addative package is lacking.

 

[G-MAN]

quote:

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Originally posted by Dr. T:
You said "it's as quiet on Penzoil 5-20 as it was with Mobil 1".

Shouldn't it be less quiet? After all, it is a lighter viscosity/thinner oil? And, so I pointed out the deficiency you noticed with M-1 that allows other oils to run as quietly even though they are a thinner viscosity because M-1's addative package is lacking.

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My engine was always QUIETEST on Mobil 1. The only other oil I've used in which it's been AS QUIET as with Mobil 1 is this Pennzoil 5w20. Shell Rotella T Synthetic was ALMOST as quiet as Mobil 1, but not quite. On any other oil, the engine was noticeably LOUDER. I suspect ANY oil with a good dose of moly in it will give the same result in my engine that Mobil 1 and this Pennzoil 5w20.

And what, exactly, do you find "deficient" in the Mobil 1 additive package?

 

[cvl]

Dr. T is right. You claimed that you'd used Mobil 1 5w-30 for almost the entire life of the engine and that 5w-20 dino oil is almost as quiet. Not exactly a ringing endorsement for Mobil 1.

You didn't list any of the other oils that you'd used except Rotella T synthetic (5w-40). Have you ever used anything really good like Redline, Amsoil, Motul, etc?

 

[Whimsey]

quote:

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Originally posted by TooSlick:
I was thinking a good strategy in many engines would be to use 5w-20 in the winter and 10w-30 conventional oils in the summer. I believe this would work really well in someplace like Canada, that has wide fluctuations in temp from season to season.

Tooslick
Dixie Synthetics

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Ironically that's just about what I was planning to do with my 2002 F-150 with the 4.6L V-8 that "recommends" using 5W-20 all the time. While I've used the Motorcraft 5W-20 and have no complaints, at least with the one UOA I had done, and as well as other UOA's show. But I'm still a bit leery about the long term effect of using 5W-20 in the warmer weather. While in the cold months the Motorcraft 5W-20 seems to work fine. In single digit temps it starts without any drag or ungodly engine noises. Plus I can get an oil change for $22 at the dealer. That way I'm not on the frozen ground and if I don't drive a lot of miles I can still change out the oil during the winter months without feeling that I "threw out" expensive oil. In the warmer months I'm going to use Schaeffers #701, 5W-30 blend. I already switched my wifes Explorer over to that Schaeffer's oil since her's requires 5W-30 all the time. We'll see how it performs for the very cold winter starts that are coming

. And yes UOA's are forthcoming for both vehicles

.

Whimsey

 

[Schmoe]

Originally posted by Dr. T:
[QB] ...however, as you have discovered it's addative package is so poor that you have:

What??? The additive package on M1 is about as good as it gets. I'm lost.

 

[Alex D]

Give Amsoil S2K 0W-30 a try and I bet you have the same results. I believe it has the cold characteristics of a 5W-20 and still lots of viscosity reserve when hot (11.2 cst at 200F).

 

[G-MAN]

quote:

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Originally posted by cvl:
Dr. T is right. You claimed that you'd used Mobil 1 5w-30 for almost the entire life of the engine and that 5w-20 dino oil is almost as quiet. Not exactly a ringing endorsement for Mobil 1.

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What are you guys talking about? Mobil 1 virtually eliminated the piston slap in my engine. Stop trying to use what I said to trash Mobil 1. My point was to show how GOOD a result I'm getting with this (moly loaded) 5w20. The engine is not "just as noisy with 5w20 as with Mobil 1" it's just as QUIET, meaning there is NO NOTICEABLE PISTON SLAP with either Mobil 1 or Pennzoil 5w20.

The two times I got "complimentary" oil chages at the dealer Valvoline 10w30 was put in. Both times I knew they'd changed to oil when I started the engine just from the sound. It was that noticeable.

 

[Lubricious]

I have serious reservations about running any thin oil year round in the heat and humidity of South Carolina, like you are planning to do.

 

[DavoNF]

I agree. No wonder the motor is noisy, the oil is too thin. Try a 15W-40 Delvac or Delo or something similar.

Dave

 

[Patman]

quote:

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Originally posted by DavoNF:
I agree. No wonder the motor is noisy, the oil is too thin. Try a 15W-40 Delvac or Delo or something similar.

Dave

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Re-read his first post. He's telling us his engine is very quiet using 5w20!

 

[G-MAN]

quote:

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Originally posted by Patman:

quote:

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Originally posted by DavoNF:
I agree. No wonder the motor is noisy, the oil is too thin. Try a 15W-40 Delvac or Delo or something similar.

Dave

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Re-read his first post. He's telling us his engine is very quiet using 5w20!

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It's amazing! Seems like people with an axe to grind against Mobil 1 and/or 5w20 oils see what they want to see, not what I wrote.

 

[cvl]

You're not getting it G-Man. You're the one who said that Pennzoil 5w-20 dino oil does just as good of a job in your engine as Mobil 1 0w-30 synthetic. There's two ways to look at this:

1. Pennzoil 5w-20 is amazing oil since it's as good as Mobil 1 0w-30.

2. Mobil 1 0w-30 is no better than 5w-20 dino oil.