Hilarious Recommendation Differences

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I checked the Mobil & Castrol web site for oil recommendations for my Volvo.
Here are the results:
MOBIL 1
USA: 0w=30 AFE( 0r 0w-40 )[ 12000 Km/1 year max oil change]
UK : 10w-60 Extended-"Highly Recommended" (18,000Km/1 year max mile oil change )

Castrol
USA: Special Product(None listed)
Engine B6324S5
No information on this product is currently available.[ Suspect this is the Edge 5w30 OE]
UK:EDGE 0w30 A5/B5
Engine B6324S5
 
On a Website it said that apparently the oil grades reccomended for my Ford Capri are :
From 1972 to 1981 : 10w30
From 1981 to 1989 : 5w20
On my manual it says to use 20w40 or 20w50 for normal driving or 10w40 in cold climates.
 
Yup, they're different. If you don't trust the U.S. recommendation, go ahead and use the 10w60.
 
Originally Posted By: FordCapriDriver
On a Website it said that apparently the oil grades reccomended for my Ford Capri are :
From 1972 to 1981 : 10w30
From 1981 to 1989 : 5w20
On my manual it says to use 20w40 or 20w50 for normal driving or 10w40 in cold climates.

Huh? 5w20 was not even around then, how is that recommended?
confused2.gif
 
Originally Posted By: blupupher
Originally Posted By: FordCapriDriver
On a Website it said that apparently the oil grades reccomended for my Ford Capri are :
From 1972 to 1981 : 10w30
From 1981 to 1989 : 5w20
On my manual it says to use 20w40 or 20w50 for normal driving or 10w40 in cold climates.

Huh? 5w20 was not even around then, how is that recommended?
confused2.gif



Mobil1 did sell 5W-20 in the 1970's...

https://bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=1817152
 
Originally Posted By: blupupher
Originally Posted By: FordCapriDriver
On a Website it said that apparently the oil grades reccomended for my Ford Capri are :
From 1972 to 1981 : 10w30
From 1981 to 1989 : 5w20
On my manual it says to use 20w40 or 20w50 for normal driving or 10w40 in cold climates.

Huh? 5w20 was not even around then, how is that recommended?
confused2.gif



5w20 and 20 grade engine oil was around before CAFE. And it was used, quite successfully, before CAFE.

It's only recently that people have been blaming CAFE for it.
 
Originally Posted By: blupupher
Originally Posted By: FordCapriDriver
On a Website it said that apparently the oil grades reccomended for my Ford Capri are :
From 1972 to 1981 : 10w30
From 1981 to 1989 : 5w20
On my manual it says to use 20w40 or 20w50 for normal driving or 10w40 in cold climates.

Huh? 5w20 was not even around then, how is that recommended?
confused2.gif


well 20 grade oils were available back then but i was baffled when i saw it said 10w30 or 5w20 when it's supposed to run on 10w40 , 20w40 or 20w50
 
I tend to get a feeling that product selectors on websites are seriously flawed in some way.

Putting my car into Castrol will result in suggests for 20w50 or 15w40 - never-mind LL-01 oils that Castrol sells are both of plentiful and (relatively) cheap.

Then we move onto Penrite, and what a selection does that produce for an E36!
20w60
15w60
15w50
Again - never mind Penrite sells a number of products which are supposed to meet BMW requirements - only one of these (the 15w50 racing oil) is supposedly carrying LL98.
And nevermind that the 2L M50 engine, the smallest of the family, could never seriously need a 60 weight oil anyway.

Drop back a generation or two... To a '76-80 BMW 320
20w60
or 25w70
Use whatever in these cars, but I'm pretty sure none of these ever graced the owner's manual of the time.

Based on some of this, I'm inclined to believe "Product Selectors" aren't really in it for our benefit. My suggest is to relocate an Owner's Manual and take hints from there instead.
Seems as though you'd be less likely to choose something stupidly thick or thin for your car. I mean, 5w20 in a car recommend 40 and 50 weight oils? I'm sure only a few select vehicles of the time (perhaps very advanced) would take that oil.
 
Originally Posted By: Miller88
Originally Posted By: blupupher
Huh? 5w20 was not even around then, how is that recommended?
confused2.gif



5w20 and 20 grade engine oil was around before CAFE. And it was used, quite successfully, before CAFE.

It's only recently that people have been blaming CAFE for it.


But usually, the recommendations didn't include using 5W20 much over freezing.
1961 5W20 patent.

and 20W20 would have the "thin oil group" (including university 101) calling it "really a 30" for it's 2.9 HTHS.
 
Originally Posted By: wemay
Originally Posted By: blupupher
Originally Posted By: FordCapriDriver
On a Website it said that apparently the oil grades reccomended for my Ford Capri are :
From 1972 to 1981 : 10w30
From 1981 to 1989 : 5w20
On my manual it says to use 20w40 or 20w50 for normal driving or 10w40 in cold climates.

Huh? 5w20 was not even around then, how is that recommended?
confused2.gif



Mobil1 did sell 5W-20 in the 1970's...

https://bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=1817152


I used M1 5-20 starting in 1978.
 
A six year old Volvo running well - I's be pouring 5w30 blend or good synthetic in there and driving on
smile.gif


I've never been happy with web-site recommenders... Who knows what agendas are being pushed ...:(
 
I've played a little with Castrol oil selector for different countries. Yes, there are discrepancies.

For example, for Ford E-150 and F-150 with 4.2 v6: the US and Canadian site recommends 5w20. UK and Germany recommend 5w30.
 
Originally Posted By: tig1


I used M1 5-20 starting in 1978.
What were the specs back then? The high quality 5w-20 was probably thicker in use than multigrade 30s of the day. Didn't they shear like mad?
 
Originally Posted By: hatt
Originally Posted By: tig1


I used M1 5-20 starting in 1978.
What were the specs back then? The high quality 5w-20 was probably thicker in use than multigrade 30s of the day. Didn't they shear like mad?


Been on a search for the last decade on an analysis of an original M1 5W20 to see what it was/had.

Like 20W20s had an HTHS of 2.9, and resemble an ISLAC 30 in operational viscosity, M1 5W20...the 1978 version, I've suspected would have been low/no VII.

In 1984, J300 testing for 5W had Cranking viscosity of 3,500Cp at -25C, and a pour point of -35C, neither of them a real stretch for a synthetic. (I don't have a J300 closer to 1978 unfortunately).

So I'm guessing it's closer to a Redline 20 than a modern 20...i.e. has an HTHS closer to the lower limit for an ILSAC multigrade (2.9) than the current crops of 2.6 HTHS economy 20s.

HTHS wasn't included in J300 until it became apparent that in service shear was a serious issue...xW30 got a 2.9 minimum as did the 10W40 grades of the day...a number that was equivalent to a 20W20 monograde.

But I have found something, an EPA paper that compared the operation of a Volvo comparing an SAE30 (these have an inherent HTHS of 3.4/3.5 or thereabouts)

EPA test paper, SAE30 versus M1 5W20

mixed operation fuel economy was 1.1% better than the SAE 30...that's more like the difference in economy between an SAE 30 and an ILSAC XW30 than an SAE 30 to ILSAC xW20.
 
Originally Posted By: B320i
I tend to get a feeling that product selectors on websites are seriously flawed in some way.

Putting my car into Castrol will result in suggests for 20w50 or 15w40 - never-mind LL-01 oils that Castrol sells are both of plentiful and (relatively) cheap.

Then we move onto Penrite, and what a selection does that produce for an E36!
20w60
15w60
15w50
Again - never mind Penrite sells a number of products which are supposed to meet BMW requirements - only one of these (the 15w50 racing oil) is supposedly carrying LL98.
And nevermind that the 2L M50 engine, the smallest of the family, could never seriously need a 60 weight oil anyway.

Drop back a generation or two... To a '76-80 BMW 320
20w60
or 25w70
Use whatever in these cars, but I'm pretty sure none of these ever graced the owner's manual of the time.

Based on some of this, I'm inclined to believe "Product Selectors" aren't really in it for our benefit. My suggest is to relocate an Owner's Manual and take hints from there instead.
Seems as though you'd be less likely to choose something stupidly thick or thin for your car. I mean, 5w20 in a car recommend 40 and 50 weight oils? I'm sure only a few select vehicles of the time (perhaps very advanced) would take that oil.


Both Penrite and Castrol use a database from Infomedia. I'm guessing 15w40 and 20w50 etc API oils were the only requirement back then and that's the spec stored in the database.
 
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