does the mfrs recommended oil type and grade

[jorton]

5w-20 SM/GF-4

Does the mfrs recommended oil type and grade give the best protection during warmup?

I drive mostly 20-40 minute highway trips so I figure most wear occurs during warmup. Thanks, Joe

 

[ewetho]

They should give the best all around protection and economy. If that is what they recommended then think about it a 5W-20 during warm up is about best except maybe a 0W-20 but who's counting. When warm to hot then 30's would be better maybe. But even then their is a discussion on lubrication theory. Wear numbers in UOA show that 5W-20 is doing fantastic. Don't sweat it. Your modern oil is going to serve you just fine.

 

[Ray H]

Unless you gun the livin' snot out of a cold engine on first light-off, I doubt there's any significant wear difference unless you're operating in a really cold climate - and in that environment a low cold viscosity would be an advantage. There's a recent post in the UOA section from a patrolman who's Ford Crown Vic cruiser was totaled at 200,000 miles. When the engine was torn down for inspection, all sliding parts and the cylinder bores were still within factory tolerances for a new engine. That engine had been operated exclusively on 5W-20. Excellent performance in what would be considered a high wear potential extended duty cycle. (long periods idling with the A/C on, so plenty of opportunity for fuel contamination) I was so impressed with the last UOA and engine teardown results from that wrecked car I might just change my opinion of 5W-20 motor oils from "less than enthusiastic" to "maybe when more data starts coming in it might just turn out there's somethin' to this stuff"...

 

[JohnBrowning]

No if that were the case then they could have recomended 0W20 and gone even better. 5W20 is the comprimise they decided to make for whatever reasons. In Texas it does not matter what 5WXX oil you put in it you will be fine! You could run 5W20,5W30,5W40,5W50 in Texas and your cold start wear is not going to go any place.

 

[427Z06]

Quote:

---

No if that were the case then they could have recomended 0W20 and gone even better. 5W20 is the comprimise they decided to make for whatever reasons.

---

The reason is real simple...COST! If you read any of the API service designations developement papers, you can see they're conscience of how costs will influnce the behavior of the typical American consumer. So in short, your logic is flawed.

And anybody who decides to run 5w50 in a new vehicle spec'd for 5w20 must like to waste money on gasoline while potentially creating warranty hassles if something goes wrong. But I guess there's always some moron who'll want to do it anyhow.

 

[jorton]

Quote:

---

No if that were the case then they could have recomended 0W20 and gone even better. 5W20 is the comprimise they decided to make for whatever reasons. In Texas it does not matter what 5WXX oil you put in it you will be fine! You could run 5W20,5W30,5W40,5W50 in Texas and your cold start wear is not going to go any place.

---

Thank you for your reply, but I don't do many cold starts.

Just a few 20-40 minute highway trips a week because i live 15 miles from town. I am in warmup condition about half the time.

 

[jorton]

Post deleted by jason07-1zzfe

 

[JohnBrowning]

427Z06, I think your logic is wrong. Are you suggesting that 0W20 would not offer additional flow at start up in less time then a 5W20? He asked if the OEM recomendation give the best protection dureing warm up. He did not ask if cost was an issue in the selection process wich is why I left the reason for this particular comprimise wide open. He also did not ask anything about warranty compliance issues.All single viscosity OEM recomendations that do not allow for variation in operateing environment are comprimise's. Do you truly think that in his ambient temps a real world difference in wear rate would occur if he chose a 0W20,5W20,5W30,5W40 or 5W50??? Also note that I did not recomend that he run anything other then recomended viscosity I merly answered his initial question!

 

[JohnBrowning]

SM/GF-4 oils are all very good. If you are one to worry about not running 5W20 it is too easy now to find 5W20 in both synthetic blends and full synthetics.Any application calling for 5W20 seems to do well on 5W20. In that same manner most of them seem to do ok on any viscosity of oil. If you have a bunch of 5W30 sitting around and want to use it until it is gone you should be fine. What viscosity did you idealy want to run? What type of oil do you like synthetic or dino?

You are absolutely correct about me useing those viscosities especialy 5W50 to make a point through exaggeration!

 

[mitchcoyote]

Here in our environment you could use a guality 5w30 Synthetic...

 

[427Z06]

Quote:

---

427Z06, I think your logic is wrong. Are you suggesting that 0W20 would not offer additional flow at start up in less time then a 5W20? He asked if the OEM recomendation give the best protection dureing warm up.

---

First, I didn't say whether 0w20 would be better or not...so don't put words in my mouth and then claim my logic is flawed.

Second, jorton is in San Antonio, so there's no way the the 0w and 5w designations virtually ever come into play. Best to actually look at the viscosities at reasonably expected temperatures at his location for the oils in question.

And finally, 5w50 won't reduce wear in an engine spec'd for 5w20, so why waste gas just because one has childish notions that somehow the more viscous oil is providing more protection? We've already seen numerous Ford trucks towing in Texas summer heat return outstanding UOAs.

 

[jorton]

Quote:

---

What viscosity did you idealy want to run? What type of oil do you like synthetic or dino?

---

I would like to use synthetic 5w-20 but I can't extend OCI due to Xtreme dust and sand. So 5w-30 or 10w-30, Motorcraft, Clean 5000 or Havoline are the oils I'm using.

 

[CBODY67]

As I understand it, the 5W or 10W viscosity is at "freezing" and the upper viscosity rating is for engine operating temperatures (basically, 180-190 degrees F). IF that definition is correct, the lower number in the somewhat warmer TX weather (except for this week!) is not that sensitive to needing the 5W-20 viscosities compared to 10W-30, yet the 5W-20 oil would probably flow a bit easier during warmup (meaning less power consumed by the engine's oil pump and possiby better fuel economy in THAT particular operational mode).

In prior times with earlier oils, I would think that anything less than an upper number of "30" would not work in the southwestern USA summer months, but things have improved considerably since that time. In those prior times, some OEMs recommended 10W-40 or 20W-50 oil for those hotter climates in the summer. That was then, this is now.

Enjoy!
CBODY67

 

[JohnBrowning]

427Z06, You are so far off the mark at interpreting what I was getting at! I sure hope you laugh a little bit through out the day because being as high strung as you seem to be will hurt your health! Just so you know I am laughing at how hostile and personel you apear to be takeing my post. You also never really answered my questions rather you deffended your post wich is fine.

 

[JohnBrowning]

Again I am going to say that it is not going to matter much what you run in terms of start up wear. Again I am sure you would not be able to tell any difference in wear rates with any 5WXX oil in your climate in Texas. So again the OEM recomendation is just that a recomendation and is a comprimise as no one viscosity of oil will always be the best choice for all operateing conditions!!

 

[Patman]

Quote:

---

As I understand it, the 5W or 10W viscosity is at "freezing" and the upper viscosity rating is for engine operating temperatures (basically, 180-190 degrees F).

---

The first number isn't really a viscosity per se, but merely an arbitrary number assigned to an oil based on how it performs on the cold cranking tests. An oil rated for 5w has passed the cold cranking test at a lower temperature than one rated for 10w. But often times a 5w oil can actually be a bit thicker under normal temps. Let's look at Mobil 1 5w30 vs Mobil 1 10w30 for example. A lot of people assume the 10w30 is the thicker oil but under most conditions it's not. At 100c, the 5w30 is 11.3 cst, while the 10w30 is 10.0. And even at 40c, the 5w30 is still thicker, it's 64.8 cst compared to 62 cst for the 10w30. But when temperatures get much colder, the 5w30 has better cold cranking numbers than the 10w30.

The second number on the bottle indicates it's viscosity at 100c. The range for an xw20 oil is 5.6 to 9.3, for xw30 it's 9.3 to 12.5, for xw40 it's 12.5 to 16.3.

 

[427Z06]

Quote:

---

427Z06, You are so far off the mark at interpreting what I was getting at! I sure hope you laugh a little bit through out the day because being as high strung as you seem to be will hurt your health! Just so you know I am laughing at how hostile and personel you apear to be takeing my post. You also never really answered my questions rather you deffended your post wich is fine.

---

I am laughing...at how dumb some of your posts are. And if it seems like I'm being hostile...I'm not...it's more like yelling at someone who doesn't hear very well.

 

[427Z06]

Quote:

---

So again the OEM recomendation is just that a recomendation and is a comprimise as no one viscosity of oil will always be the best choice for all operateing conditions!!

---

Yeah...Right. Up until you pull up to the dealer because your under warranty engine has a problem and you pull out your 5w50 receipts even though the OEM recommended 5w20.