Choice for short trips; Conventional vs Synthetic

[Clevy]

Originally Posted By: blackman777
Mobil 1 5w30 is thinner than 0w-30


Maybe fractionally at operating temp but not at -30c

Hey Garak. Don't you usually run conventionals in your daily driver. If a conventional can tolerate the temps Garak experiences during a Saskatchewan winter than that says it all for me.
Yes a syn is nice at -40 but a 5w-xx has shown for decades that it will suffice.
That being said I'm using AFE 0w-20 in my hemi this oci. I hope my motor doesn't dissolve,or freeze solid.

 

[Garak]

Originally Posted By: Art_Vandelay
May the force be with you Garak.


That's Star Wars, not Star Trek.

Originally Posted By: Clevy
Hey Garak. Don't you usually run conventionals in your daily driver. If a conventional can tolerate the temps Garak experiences during a Saskatchewan winter than that says it all for me.


That's right. Sure, a lot of synthetics are superior to conventionals in cold weather, particularly when you speak of grades you simply cannot obtain in conventional (i.e. 0w-30). That doesn't mean that synthetic is necessary, though, or that it somehow pays off simply because it's cold.

For a gasoline passenger car that specifies anything resembling a "normal" grade (i.e. a 5w30 or 5w-20 GF-5 lube), if someone is having problems starting in winter and they're using conventional, it's not the oil's fault. They have deeper problems.

Now, if it were -40 C every day all winter and plugging in was simply not an option, I'd certainly consider a synthetic of some sort. And, of course, a 0w-XX will have better cold cranking numbers than a 5w-XX. That much is obvious. That doesn't make synthetic necessary, though.

And Clevy, you're definitely right about the 0w30 versus Mobil 1 5w30 at cold cranking. Sure, a 0w30 can have a higher HTHS, but in our weather conditions, we cannot just ignore cold cranking specifications.