quote:
Originally posted by JohnBrowning:
Well it seems like every were that the evil CAFE does not exsist companys prefer a 40Wt or thicker for the most part. Go figure!
This is not about weather or not a thin oil can turn in a decent UOA! It goes to propaganda!It is more about paradignms(sp) then anything else. We all know that HTHS is the most important factor for preventing wear long term not some silly API viscosity rateing!
Easy there, fella! These are not representations that 20 weight provides better protection than 30 weight viscocities. I interpret what most people are trying to evaluate with UOA presentations here is whether 20 weight provides an adequate MPG vs. wear compromise. Consider the question from a vantage point similar to what Gary postulated above - what if you do get better mileage and acceptabile wear with a thinner oil? There's always going to be wear, so the question/bet/risk is, can the consumer expect to make it to what they define the end of their vehicle's useful life using a thinner viscosity oil? As Buster said, so far no complaints of untimely catastrophic failure yet, so the jury is still out.
Actually, I believe the argument can be made that most oil recommendations are political, cultural and economic as well as regional compromises. For example, European vehicle oil drain recommendations are influenced by conservation and cost considerations compared to US drain recommendations. European oil recommendations typically require higher (read, bigger $$) quality standards. Because US consumers expect oil to be cheap here, I don't think we will see manufacturers specifying more expensive quality oils required for 18K drains for the US, though they could. Manufacturers like Honda believe that the average US consumer values low cost and higher MPG more that long drain and lowest wear possible, which is completely different than the typical BITOG patron profile. So the oil recommendation is tailored for the US customer accordingly, with shorter drains with cheaper oil but thinner "fuel and $$ saving" viscosity emphasized.
quote:
~SNIP~
When ever anyone onthis recomends exactly what the manufacture recomends outside the USA you get all kinds of flames! "Well that is not what my owners manual says." etc!!!!
~SNIP~
Because of the difference in typical climate between the US and Malaysia, I can accept that the thicker viscosity recommendation here truly is temperature and protection based. For regions with temps like Malaysia where climate never encounters freezing temps, a climate where temps rarely dip below 80F, most manuals recommend or permit a thicker viscosity than for their "typical" regions. So if the flamers say that's not what their manual says, the concern isn't whether thinner is better. Again, the question is how thin is too thin, hence the citings of UOAs.
You are right that for some engines and applications 20W is too thin, but I'm not sure that that 20W is always too thin.
[ January 09, 2005, 12:51 PM: Message edited by: darryld13 ]
