Do You Have To Use 5w-20?

[jthorner]

quote:

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Ford and Honda spec 5W-20 oils then it would not make sense for an oil company to make a 5W-20 that could not meet Ford's tougher specs

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I noticed yesterday that Pennzoil dino 5W-20 does not call out the Ford spec on the back of the bottle while Pennzoil Blend 5W-20 ("SUV, etc.") does. This makes me very leary of using the Pennzoil dino 5W-20.

Castrol GTX 5W-20 dino does call out the Ford spec on the bottle. Maybe it is really a blend.

John

 

[MNgopher]

Just remember the "blend" is a group II / group III dino blend. All the major brands I have checked are Group II and Group III blends. I'm willing to bet that even Castrol is that way.

After doing some thinking, my theory on why some manufacturers (actually most) who sell 5w20 don;t label it as a "syn blend" has to do with cost perceptions. A lot of folks see the word "synthetic" and all they see is its more expensive.

Keep the word syn of the bottle, yet still charge a bit more, no problems...

Oh, and for ease of warranty relations using a 5w20 is a good idea, and technically is required. The oil you are supossed to use must meet the Ford Spec -H, which conveniently can only be passed by xw20 oils.

In reality, 5w30 was used in most of these motors before the changeover, so no problems...

 

[mf150]

You do not have to use 5W20. I use 5W30 (Red Line) in my premium Mustang GT 2003, but I also use GM Synchromesh in the tranny. Go figure.

A lot of my pals over at mw.com use 5W30 versus the thinner 5W20, which hasn't been tested in race conditions.

 

[crossbow]

http://www.mazda6tech.com/cms/index.php?id=66

Some of the 0w-20 UOA's have 30-40+ AutoX run's on them. Did I mention these were also done during the summer when its in the upper 90's?

Some guys are going to VIR in march, and will be taking some UOA's with actual road course time. (2 days worth of driving, 100 mph+).

I'll personally be going to summit point this fall and will be sure to do a UOA...hopefully by then I'll have some headers installed as well.

Looking at the UOA's thus far, in virtually every instance, the 0w-20 has performed as good if not better then thicker oils.

Don't assume that because it's thicker that it protects better.

Heck! One owner reduced his wear numbers by 50% by going to a 20 wt from a 30 wt.

[ February 27, 2004, 08:16 AM: Message edited by: crossbow ]