From 0w20 to 5w30 lost 4-5mpg??

[kschachn]

You're going to maintain that changing from 0W-20 to 5W-20 caused a 5 MPG hit? You say "such a loss" and that is what the OP is claiming.

My B.S. meter pegs on that.

Originally Posted By: Roob
It can be responsible for such a loss of mpg. My accord suffered the same issue when the dealer accidentally drained the engine oil (high VI Mazda with Moly 0w20) instead of a transmission drain and fill. They did a free oil change using conventional 5w20 to make up for it. The mpg hit was immediate and that occurred in warm weather.
After I had the conventional 5w20 removed and donated to my mechanic, I refilled with TGMO 0w20 SM (courtesy of CATERHAM) and presto! Mileage returned.
Pretty obvious to me what the issue was.

 

[nitehawk55]

And the $60 question is....wait for it....

Why did you go to a 5W30 ? Is an xW20 not recommended for that engine ??
I would have walked away from that dealer with them only using 5W30....that's just wrong .

 

[afoulk]

I ran Valvoline synpower 5w20 in my car near the end of last winter until late spring and then switched to maxlife 10w30 and noticed no drop in mpg. My guess is its a combination of the switch to winter blend gas and your tires dropping air pressure. I checked mine when the weather started dropping into the 30's and 40's around here and they had dropped about 5psi.

 

[stchman]

Originally Posted By: Merkava_4
Originally Posted By: racin4ds

Long story short I went from an average of 36-37mpg using the same fuel stations, same exact trip on my daily commute (~85miles) down to 31-32 mpg!! nothing changed but my oil. Is it possible to see that much a drop with just an oil change?


Absolutely, if the 0W-20 is not lubricating the engine properly which it probably isn't.

You had it right the first time with 5W-30.


Let me see, Nissan themselves recommend using a 0W-20 oil in the 2013 Sentra. It cracks me up that people "feel" that a different viscosity protects better. Auto makers know more about making engines than BITOG'ers do.

 

[walk23]

Sounds like the drop in mpg is likely a combo of under inflated tires and winter blend gas. Have you checked your tire pressures ?

 

[440Magnum]

Originally Posted By: racin4ds

Long story short I went from an average of 36-37mpg using the same fuel stations, same exact trip on my daily commute (~85miles) down to 31-32 mpg!! nothing changed but my oil.


One other thing changed: the season. Winter fuel plus colder weather PLUS thicker oil will certainly make that much difference. But 90% of the delta is the fuel and temperature change.

 

[Rolla07]

I have used 0w20, 5W20, 5W30, 5W50 in my car. Only noticeable difference was on the 5W50, where it was quite significant. No difference between 0W20 and 5W30 on mine.. no way will it make that much of a difference. Run this a month or two, swap the fill to 0W20 again and run it a month. My bet is that you will only see maybe 1-2 mpg difference. at most.

 

[Merkava_4]

Originally Posted By: stchman

Let me see, Nissan themselves recommend using a 0W-20 oil in the 2013 Sentra. It cracks me up that people "feel" that a different viscosity protects better. Auto makers know more about making engines than BITOG'ers do.


Maybe you should read this LINK

 

[Garak]

Originally Posted By: stchman
Let me see, Nissan themselves recommend using a 0W-20 oil in the 2013 Sentra. It cracks me up that people "feel" that a different viscosity protects better. Auto makers know more about making engines than BITOG'ers do.

If I recall correctly, Nissan allows 5w-30 in the vehicle as well. With 3750 mile severe service OCIs, I could not see myself using a synthetic, which means no 0w-20, unless, of course, I decided to take M1 up on their 10000 mile offer.

 

[stchman]

Originally Posted By: Garak
Originally Posted By: stchman
Let me see, Nissan themselves recommend using a 0W-20 oil in the 2013 Sentra. It cracks me up that people "feel" that a different viscosity protects better. Auto makers know more about making engines than BITOG'ers do.

If I recall correctly, Nissan allows 5w-30 in the vehicle as well. With 3750 mile severe service OCIs, I could not see myself using a synthetic, which means no 0w-20, unless, of course, I decided to take M1 up on their 10000 mile offer.


3750 miles is a ridiculously low interval to change oil. Even GM with their 100K mile warranty allows ~8K oil change intervals.

The OP should run Mobil 1 0W-20 AFE and a Fram Ultra filter. If he changes the oil and filter every 7500 miles, the engine will outlast the body.

 

[steve20]

Originally Posted By: Merkava_4
Originally Posted By: stchman

Let me see, Nissan themselves recommend using a 0W-20 oil in the 2013 Sentra. It cracks me up that people "feel" that a different viscosity protects better. Auto makers know more about making engines than BITOG'ers do.


Maybe you should read this LINK


Thank you Merkava--the perfect response

 

[Garak]

Originally Posted By: stchman
The OP should run Mobil 1 0W-20 AFE and a Fram Ultra filter. If he changes the oil and filter every 7500 miles, the engine will outlast the body.

Oh, probably. But we know darned well that many out there (not on BITOG) will get saddled with 3750 mile OCIs on synthetic at wonderful dealer markups. That's why if it were me, I'd stick with the 5w-30 conventional for the short OCI, at least for a significant part of the warranty period to be on the safe side.

@Merkava: Yes, GF-3 is a real time bomb, isn't it?

 

[blackman777]

Originally Posted By: stchman
Let me see, Nissan themselves recommend using a 0W-20 oil in the 2013 Sentra. It cracks me up that people "feel" that a different viscosity protects better. Auto makers know more about making engines than BITOG'ers do.


I've worked enough jobs to realize politics often trumps engineering. It would not surprise me one bit if the engineers said, "0w-40 would be the best choice for longevity & minimize wear," but they were overruled by management trying to attain the new 55 MPG CAFE (politics).

In fact that's pretty much what happened over at Navistar (maker of diesel engines). The engineers said, "We need urea reduction, because EGR alone won't work," but the CEO of the company overruled them. Year-after-year-after-year. And now the company is almost bankrupt due to failing engines (as the engineers predicted). More politics.

I've also seen situations where the engineers said, "This will take 18 months to design, test, and then redesign to fix any failures," but the managers chopped the time in half. The engineers met the schedule, and the unit shipped, but it was not properly tested/designed, so all the units came back. Yet another case where Office politics trumped the lowly engineers' common sense.

 

[Roob]

Oh the dreaded [censored] meter....

Originally Posted By: kschachn
You're going to maintain that changing from 0W-20 to 5W-20 caused a 5 MPG hit? You say "such a loss" and that is what the OP is claiming.

My B.S. meter pegs on that.

Originally Posted By: Roob
It can be responsible for such a loss of mpg. My accord suffered the same issue when the dealer accidentally drained the engine oil (high VI Mazda with Moly 0w20) instead of a transmission drain and fill. They did a free oil change using conventional 5w20 to make up for it. The mpg hit was immediate and that occurred in warm weather.
After I had the conventional 5w20 removed and donated to my mechanic, I refilled with TGMO 0w20 SM (courtesy of CATERHAM) and presto! Mileage returned.
Pretty obvious to me what the issue was.

 

[fdcg27]

It ain't the oil.
The colder weather along with winter blend higher RVP fuel play a major role.
I've fooled around enough with grades thicker than recommended in enough cars to tell you that it doesn't make anything like that much difference.
Are the fuel consumption changes you noted based upon only one tank?
Over a number of tanks, I think you'll see a reversion to the average, with maybe a 5-8% loss in fuel economy just due to the weather and the winter fuel.
You didn't go from 36-37 mpg down to 31-32 mpg just by going up a grade in oil.

 

[Merkava_4]

Originally Posted By: steve20

Thank you Merkava--the perfect response


You're welcome. Let me know if there's any other expert advice I can provide you.

 

[stchman]

Have there been any instances where someone followed the manufacturer recommendations on viscosity and change interval where the engine died because of improper lubrication?

 

[SwampSurvivor]

Yes, actually. Every Ford Modular that specifies 5w-20 blows up at 70K miles because 5w-20 doesn't provide enough lubrication for truck engines ...

 

[kschachn]

Every one blows up at 70,000 miles? Wow who would have known.

Originally Posted By: Miller88
Yes, actually. Every Ford Modular that specifies 5w-20 blows up at 70K miles because 5w-20 doesn't provide enough lubrication for truck engines ...

 

[kschachn]

Yet another reference to the 10-year old article, written by the mysterious Mr. Blaine Ballentine a.k.a. Mr. Jim Fitch (one of which is a plagiarizer) full of vague references and accusations that are unsupported with any test data (from a reputed testing agency no less). That article? You're hinging your entire argument on that article?

Oh wait, I'm not supposed to bad mouth Mr. Jim Fitch. Sorry, I forgot.

Originally Posted By: steve20
Originally Posted By: Merkava_4

Maybe you should read this LINK


Thank you Merkava--the perfect response