I topped off with half a quart of 5W-20 today

[45ACP]

Hello all. I changed my oil with a 5W-30. I talked myself out of 10W-30 since if they are the same thickness at operating temperature and they are, then i do believe my 5.0 will thank me for getting oil up there faster. So i changed with the right amount of 5W-30, and changed the filter. i then took a nice long drive for a few hours. I changed brands from whatever was in there previously.

Upon letting it sit for an hour or so and checking, i found the oil to be at the bottom of the dipstick. Since my gauge is not functional and i am not sure why, i decided to top it off with a half a quart to get it to the middle of the dipstick. I decided to put in 5W-20 for the top off, since i already had 5W-30 as my fill. Im not worried about this quart/halfquart. Im interested in how thin i can actually go, and i have already put 5W-30 in the car and it likes it. I wonder if i will see or feel "more power."

Now i will top off the remaining 5W-20 quart if i need to. The engine feels strong, nothing wrong with it, but i just put it in recently. My question, if i were to increase the ratio of 5W-20 oil and decrease the amount of 5W-30 for its capacity, will i lose my engine? 5W-30 feels good. It is the Pennzoil High Mileage in the amber bottle, not the normal Pennzoil i bought.

What should i know about this conventional 5W-20, and is it very shear-stable as a 10W-30 would be? Or simply as shear-stable as any other decent 5W-30 from a major name would be?

 

[The motor guy]

Just run the required spec. No you won't feel any horsepower gains by running thinner oil.

 

[45ACP]

Originally Posted By: motor_oil_madman
Just run the required spec. No you won't feel any horsepower gains by running thinner oil.


So, i will be best served by making my next fill consist entirely of 5W-30, as i did, and if a top-off is required, to NOT do it with 5W-20? (My oil shall be 100% 5W-30 of the same brand and type, is this what i am perceiving?)

If 5W-20 will not benefit my engine, i will take this advice. Am i on the right track by thinking to put a certain percent of my oil the 5W-20 grade, for the thinnest possible at temp? Or is 5W-30 exclusively what i need for my 5.0?

I chose Pennzoil High Mileage in the amber bottle as my oil choice, my other brands/type were different brands and grades types over the span of two years. Having decided on thin is "in" and ditching heavier stuff, i seek to confirm if i am on the right track with this 5W-30 and/or 5W-20 (?) without losing my engine.

 

[TFB1]

Running a complete fill of 5W-20 may free up a couple of HP, but 1/2qt would never be noticeable... Assuming your 5.0 is a Ford, I doubt you or anyone else could tell the difference in either oil(no doubt some will claim to be able to do so)... If you had something like a old 36 or 40HP Volkswagen, a couple more ponies would be a big deal, but then those air cooled engines should not be run on that thin of oil...

 

[Xstang]

adding a half quart of 5w-20 will not hurt your engine. more than likely, it will just simply 'blend' in with the oil already in the crankcase.

I'd rather top off my engine with a slightly different oil than leave it running low.

Unless your trying to top off with something incredibly stupid like non detergent SAE 30 or used oil, you should be fine IMO.

Question: are we talking about the 302 OHV motor that ford used for decades, or a new mustang GT? If it's the old one, I really wouldn't try to go thinner than 5w-30.

 

[KenO]

I've actualy been topping off my Volvo with some SAE50 Valvoline VR-1 I have, but I could care less about this engine. It leaks like it's it's job, I'm at ~7500 miles on the OCI now. As long as I get about another month out of it I'l be fine, because the V8 goes in then

And by 'top-off', I've probably hadded 3-4 quarts minimum during this OCI. Mostly from leaks.

 

[ledslinger]

I use a stratified or layered viscosity approach. I pour in couple of quarts of OW 2O, and fill with 1OW 40. This provides thinner oil to the crank for more horsepower, and the thicker oil lubes the hotter upper valvetrain area. When OW 1O oils come out I will put a quart of this between the other layers for low drag splash to the cylinder walls.

 

[45ACP]

The above post is more or less what i am getting at, except not using those exact grades of oil. One quart of the 5W-20 and my dipstick is now at full crosshairs. And oh how sweet it is!

It is the OHV Ford. I fill with 5W-30, this is a new brand. My engine likes and feels strong. If I need to top up, I feel that topping up with 5W-20 is providing a thin lubrication, the opposite of the thick philosophy of yesteryear. nice, thin oil akin to the first Mobil 1 of the 1970s which was a 5W-20. It must have been true then, and it seems especially true now. the lubrication of the engine at ALL temps seems nicely attainable, as i read a spec sheet that says the flashpoint (?) of the oil is about 450 degrees.. so it should do well in there.

Not that my engine will always needs topped-up, however if there is anything overly wrong with topping up 5W-20 instead of 5W-30, please let me know.. i appear to have found what works!

This "thin oil" philosophy appears to be working very well. I am impressed.

 

[fdcg27]

Originally Posted By: ledslinger
I use a stratified or layered viscosity approach. I pour in couple of quarts of OW 2O, and fill with 1OW 40. This provides thinner oil to the crank for more horsepower, and the thicker oil lubes the hotter upper valvetrain area. When OW 1O oils come out I will put a quart of this between the other layers for low drag splash to the cylinder walls.


Funny, but you probably should have added a smilie.

 

[mechtech2]

Take it easy on adding oil now.
Why?
Because we should trust the amount you put in more than the dipstick.
So if that engine takes 5 qts, and you put in 5.5 already, adding another 1/2 would not be the best thing.


On small engines, going to or from 5-20 to 5-30 is noticeable. NOT huge, but a definite increase in pep and gas mileage. In the right direction.

 

[45ACP]

Originally Posted By: mechtech2

Because we should trust the amount you put in more than the dipstick.


mechtech may i ask why this is so? I have installed a larger oil filter than is OEM on this engine, my memory serves that this is the best thing to do to provide more oil being filtered at any given time. Yes?

Or shall i use the smaller filter next time?

My focus in my new oil choice is now on the substance called "Moly." There appear to be different kinds. The oil i chose may not have all that much, i chose it for its high mileage properties, i chose Pennzoil High Mileage in its amber bottle. Shall i go chasing down some Molybdenium additive cans and put some in? And how much of that stuff is too much? My dipstick now reads full on the crosshairs, i am confident my larger oil filter is now full and the engine is at capacity. Why would i not go by the dipstick when engine has been sitting for a while, or overnight, when it is now to the full mark, not the middle of the crosshatch as it was at the half a quart i originally added to make full?

 

[RacerE7773]

Like has been said it should be okay. I want to put synthetic 5w20 in the Taurus at the next change. Impala has a LIM gasket that's bad, so I stay with regular 5w30 in that car.

 

[TFB1]

Originally Posted By: 45ACP
Originally Posted By: mechtech2

Because we should trust the amount you put in more than the dipstick.


mechtech may i ask why this is so? I have installed a larger oil filter than is OEM on this engine, my memory serves that this is the best thing to do to provide more oil being filtered at any given time. Yes?

Or shall i use the smaller filter next time?


The owners manual generally all say use the dipstick as the guide, with a larger filter then yes you need to make up the difference... In filters bigger is always better(I'm waiting for someone to give an exception)...

When I changed my Grand Marquis last fall it still read about a 1/3 qt low, did I worry about it, no... At 4.5Kmi it's now getting close to add, so I'm gonna change it soon with M1 0W-40 in preparedness to go to yearly changes...

 

[mechtech2]

It would be a heck of an oil filter upgrade to get 1/2 qt more, much more so one full qt!
A dipstick may seat differently, have it's tube seated shorter/longer, or be incorrectly marked.
But the design of the engine internally won't change, concerning volume.
So putting in what the mfr recommends is always best. Then modify your stick to make it read right.
Generally, they are pretty close.
Also, a good oil level check means it has sat and settled for a long time. And cold/hot makes a substantial difference.