HTHS questions

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iunderpressure

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The vehicle is my 96 Volvo 850. I'm still putting about 1200 highway miles on the car per week. The car has 255,000 miles on it now and shows low wear not matter what oil I put in it according to uoa. The car calls for 10w30, but I'm trying for the best gas milage I can using the lightest oil I can.

What do you all think is the lightest HTHS this car can run on without seeing more wear? Most 30wt has a hths of 3.0, but redline's 5w20 has a hths of 3.3. 20 wt is around 2.6 or 2.7. Does redline's 5w20 have additives that would help with friction to increase mileage over a hths 3.1 30 wt? Or is the hths the end all be all without looking at anything else when it comes to milage. I also know that redline will not shear, so if I went with a real light oil I would probably stick with redline. I've ran 30 wt in this car that sheared down to a 20 wt but I have no idea how low the hths got. I drive so much and spend so much in gas that if I had to pay $100 for an oil change, a solid increase in mileage would pay for the oil change.

Thanks
 
Red line is not an extended drain oil, or worth it in your application, stick with 30wt oil.
 
Originally Posted By: Brenden
Red line is not an extended drain oil, or worth it in your application, stick with 30wt oil.


Incorrect. It's more than capable of pushing 10k+ mile OCI. A simple search will yield several UOA reports. Here's one: https://bobistheoilguy.com/forums/threads/rl-5w20-11958-miles-focus.126696/

And that wasn't the original question either. He's asking if it's suitable for his application compared to a xw30's HTHS.
wink.gif
 
Redline's 5w20 is not very impressive when you look at the datasheet. I would stick with a mid-weight Xw30 with HTHS around 3.1ish. Mobil 1 AFE 0w30 would probably work.
 
I've ran rl 0w30 over 10,000 miles and it worked fine in my car. It's in the uoa section.

I guess what's running around in my mind is could I use a 0w20 in my car. The car has never showed high wear numbers on any oil. I've ran supertech and fram filters too. UOA comes back the same. In fact my last 2 oil runs of 10,000 miles has been on chevron supreme and a cheap filter.

What is the magic hths number 2.7? 3.0? Is there one?
 
There is no magic number. I think Redline 0w30 would also work if you are looking for a higher-end oil. HTHS is about 3.2 which isn't a super-heavy 30, and it should stand up to the turbo's high temperatures well.

I'd run it to 5000 miles, get it sampled, and see how much further it could go. I bet 7500 is possible, if not further.
 
Originally Posted By: steve20
I thought the 10-30 started life as a 30, not a 10--you sure about that?


It couldn't be a 10w-30 if it started life as a 30.
 
If you want to go lighter and stay with Red Line, how about mixing their 0w20 with 0w30? A 50/50 mix of the two would put the final viscosity close to the 2.9 cP HTHS minimum specified in the SAE viscosity spec.
 
I agree with A_Harman and go with RL 0W-20 but I wouldn't bother mixing it with the 0W-30 because I've learned the HTHS vis of the 0W-20 is 3.0cP anyway, effectively making it a light shear proof 30wt oil.

I also agree with the M1 AFE 0W-30 suggestion if you wanted a less expensive option to RL. It's not as shear proof as the VI free RL 0W-20, has a slightly higher VI and therefore will be lighter in service.
 
That's very observant of you.

Two reasons why I believe it is 3.0cP instead of the claimed 2.7cP.
The oil has been tested by a very reputable lab' and it came in at with a HTHSV of 3.0. Since I didn't pay for the info I can't reveil the name of the lab'.
Secondly, if you read the product description on an actual bottle of the RL 0W-20 it says the following:
"Red Line 0W-20 provides more bearing viscosity than most petroleum 5W30s......Formulated to suit the requirement for ACEA A3, and B3/B4"
Bearing viscosity is sort of a layman's reference to HTHSV.
 
I would really like to use the 0w20. I just don't want to kill my turbo or the engine, but I'm the guy that will run a fram 10,000 miles to see with my own eyes how well it holds up.
 
Originally Posted By: edhackett
Wouldn't the A3 B3/B4 requirement mean an HTHS of at least 3.5?
Ed

Ed, good point and this matter was discussed on another thread regarding Euro 30wt oils; namely, can you rely on the ACEA classification to correctly assume the HTHSV of an oil when that spec' isn't actually provided by the oil formulator. The answer is you can't. All the more reason to have an oil pressure gauge in a vehicle that does potentially require a HTHSV 3.5cP oil and tends to run high oil temp's, or simply run a 40wt oil.
 
Originally Posted By: iunderpressure
I would really like to use the 0w20. I just don't want to kill my turbo or the engine, but I'm the guy that will run a fram 10,000 miles to see with my own eyes how well it holds up.

One thing about RL 0W-20 is that it contains no VIIs and doesn't shear. In fact it's viscosity tends to increase with mileage.
If you've successfully run a typical 5w30 GP III syn with a virgin HTHSV of 3.0-3.1 there's no doubt in my mind that RL 0W-20 is more robust than that, so it should be no issue.

BTW, the reason that our good freind A.E. Haas can run the RLI 0W-20 in his wife's Lambo is because it has a HTHSV equal or greater than 2.95cP.
 
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