Ok, I know everyone hate the thick vs. thin threads unless you are the guy that puts 20w50 in everything.
Just bear with me, this may be a lot.
I've done a lot of research and reading, including this forum, about thick vs. thin, and wanted some input.
My goal is simple, minimize start-up wear without throwing away high temp performance and shear stability. If shear and VII breakdown wasn't a problem, I'm sure everything would be a 0w40 or 0w50 and case is closed but that's not the case. Part of why the thick vs. thin is so debated.
So, I would like to start with that my truck just had the motor rebuilt, going to take care of it under warrantee and just run 5w30 supertech full syn in it for 3000 intervals until my warrantee is up. After that, I would like to start experimenting with different weights and doing UOAs with them and let the numbers do the talking.
Until then, I'd like to hear different peoples input. This truck calls for anything from 5w30 to 20w50 based on ambient temperature. I'm all about start-up lubrication but don't want to sacrifice on shear stability or high temp performance (for reference, I live in Florida).
At the same time, I'd like to know what really makes a bigger difference. If I chose a 0W40, that would seem to cover a good range for cold start pumpability and high temperature. Also, I'd like to make it known that I'm aware that in a hotter area like mine, that cold start-ability may seem pointless or overkill, however, I know that the thicker the base oils weight is, the higher up on the graph it goes towards 0 degrees. Even though the lines get closer, a 0w will always stay thinner than a 5w as it warms up, including around ambient temps like 70-90 degrees, until it reaches operating temperature. This may be splitting hairs a bit but, hey, if the wear numbers are lower, I'll run with it. Theoretically, as long as the operating viscosity is the same, then wear should be decreased the lower the base weight is (not accounting for HTHS with higher VIIs) regardless of ambient temperature. Even if its 100 degrees outside, the 0w40 will be thinner at startup compared to a 5w40 or 10w40, even if it's not significant.
Now, all of this of course depends on the engine, which mine is a basic sohc 3.0l V6 with a timing belt (no chain to shear the oil more)
My thought process because of this leads me to believe that I should have lower wear numbers running something like 0w40 in it over 5w40 or 10w40, since the oil shouldn't shear much anyway (correct me if I'm wrong) because of the engine I have and because of the better cold flow performance. Also not overly worried about shear since I will be doing short OCIs (3k-5K). Price of oil doesn't really matter to me, considering I run Tribodyn in my Toyota Venza with 8k OCIs. I like to drive this truck hard so I want to make sure that if I ran something like 0w40, that the shear stability wouldn't increase wear when the engine is hot, which would ruin the point of the very small gain in cold start performance I would get over a 5w40. Again, splitting hairs, I know. But I figured this could spark a more in-depth debate regarding thick vs. thin. Maybe a 0w30 would be better, Idk.
I'd like to clarify that any of these oils I'm referring to would be full synthetic, preferably PAO and/or ester based like maybe LiquiMoly or Redline, so the VIIs should be more stable, from what I know.
SO, with this massive post out of the way, what do you guys think?
Just bear with me, this may be a lot.
I've done a lot of research and reading, including this forum, about thick vs. thin, and wanted some input.
My goal is simple, minimize start-up wear without throwing away high temp performance and shear stability. If shear and VII breakdown wasn't a problem, I'm sure everything would be a 0w40 or 0w50 and case is closed but that's not the case. Part of why the thick vs. thin is so debated.
So, I would like to start with that my truck just had the motor rebuilt, going to take care of it under warrantee and just run 5w30 supertech full syn in it for 3000 intervals until my warrantee is up. After that, I would like to start experimenting with different weights and doing UOAs with them and let the numbers do the talking.
Until then, I'd like to hear different peoples input. This truck calls for anything from 5w30 to 20w50 based on ambient temperature. I'm all about start-up lubrication but don't want to sacrifice on shear stability or high temp performance (for reference, I live in Florida).
At the same time, I'd like to know what really makes a bigger difference. If I chose a 0W40, that would seem to cover a good range for cold start pumpability and high temperature. Also, I'd like to make it known that I'm aware that in a hotter area like mine, that cold start-ability may seem pointless or overkill, however, I know that the thicker the base oils weight is, the higher up on the graph it goes towards 0 degrees. Even though the lines get closer, a 0w will always stay thinner than a 5w as it warms up, including around ambient temps like 70-90 degrees, until it reaches operating temperature. This may be splitting hairs a bit but, hey, if the wear numbers are lower, I'll run with it. Theoretically, as long as the operating viscosity is the same, then wear should be decreased the lower the base weight is (not accounting for HTHS with higher VIIs) regardless of ambient temperature. Even if its 100 degrees outside, the 0w40 will be thinner at startup compared to a 5w40 or 10w40, even if it's not significant.
Now, all of this of course depends on the engine, which mine is a basic sohc 3.0l V6 with a timing belt (no chain to shear the oil more)
My thought process because of this leads me to believe that I should have lower wear numbers running something like 0w40 in it over 5w40 or 10w40, since the oil shouldn't shear much anyway (correct me if I'm wrong) because of the engine I have and because of the better cold flow performance. Also not overly worried about shear since I will be doing short OCIs (3k-5K). Price of oil doesn't really matter to me, considering I run Tribodyn in my Toyota Venza with 8k OCIs. I like to drive this truck hard so I want to make sure that if I ran something like 0w40, that the shear stability wouldn't increase wear when the engine is hot, which would ruin the point of the very small gain in cold start performance I would get over a 5w40. Again, splitting hairs, I know. But I figured this could spark a more in-depth debate regarding thick vs. thin. Maybe a 0w30 would be better, Idk.
I'd like to clarify that any of these oils I'm referring to would be full synthetic, preferably PAO and/or ester based like maybe LiquiMoly or Redline, so the VIIs should be more stable, from what I know.
SO, with this massive post out of the way, what do you guys think?
I guess I'll stick with whatever is on sale.
