Is Mobil 1 "thinner" than dino?

[martyi]

Okay, another question applicable to my new Honda Ridgeline truck. The manual calls for oil to be 5W20 (and it does say synthetic can be used). However, I understand that in other places than America, they recommend 5W30 so I am sure CAFE has something to do with this and using 5W30 won't hurt the motor at all (although warranty issues may be involved, I'll have to check into that).

I do mostly short duration trips on hot, Texas country roads and I've learned here that that is not good for most oils. So, I am looking for all the protection I can get and it appears like Mobil 1 is a favorite of many posters here.

My question is that, although I have read some pretty good UOA Honda reports with 5W20, would it be safer to go with the Mobil 1 in 5W30 considering my driving conditions? I am assuming synth is thinner than dino but this is what I do not know for sure. If it is indeed a little "thinner" than dino, I may get the best of both worlds with added protection and still be close to what honda recommends.

I will probably use the oil life monitor on-board as a guide for OCI and I would assume that would put me between the 5000-7500 mile/six-ten month periods if I continue to drive as I have been.

 

[Ugly3]

Honda is a pretty smart company and they know it gets hot in the southern states and they still recommend 5w20. Honda would not put their reputation for durability at risk by recommending and oil that is not up to the task. Keep in mind that back in the 50's and 60's thousands of "old loose engines" were run on a poor 20w oil the year around, they did not blow up.

Just run Mobil 1 5w20 with an excellent filter (Mobil 1 or Purolator Pure One) and enjoy many 100's of thousands of miles in your new ride.

 

[Blue99]

Ford is a pretty smart company and recommends 5W-20 for the 4.6 modular V8's.

And we're all aware of the Sequence VIB fuel economy test required for GF-4 certification & the API starburst label, that is run on the Ford 4.6 V8.

This test is 96 hours in length and the test engines see a steady stream of 5w-20, 5W-30, and 10W-30.

Just to state the obvious, the Ford 4.6 engines are not "grenading" on the 30 weight viscosities.

Either a 5W-20 or a 5W-30 will prove to be a good lubricant choice in the Honda Ridgeline.

Keep in mind that the majority of 5W-30's have better volatility ratings and are a good choice for hot weather use.

 

[haley10]

Per Mobil 1's wesite 5W-30 EP is 10.25 cst and the dino (Clean 7500) is 10.6 cst, so not a huge difference starting out. The viscosity varies between different products and is not solely related to whether syn or dino. You can assume, though that the syn will be more shear stable and no be as likely to thin out of grade.

If you're driving in very dusty conditions on those country roads, watch your air filtration. The oil life monitor may not account for extremely dusty conditions.

 

[Bill in Utah]

Hi,

My Dad has the same engine in his Vue as your Ridgeline (V6 3.5lt) and is retired as you are.

We have decided to just use a good Dino or Blend in either 5w-20 or 5w-30 and change it out every 6 months or OLM. But we have decided not to go over 5k miles. Oil is cheap!

He just got back from a long trip and 3k miles driving across the states at 75-80 mph for hours on end and the rig used no oil and it looks like new! I took a sample on a blotter and the new oil still in the bottle side by side no differance.

He is using 5w-20 Pennzoil right now. He has 2 cases of Castrol GTX 5w-20 which he got for .89 cents a quart which he will be using.

Also we are using Supertech filters.

Nice rig and engine. I really like the 5speed auto transmisson too.

Take care, Bill

 

[Bryanccfshr]

You will be good to go with the M1 5w20. Or the 5w30. Synthetic are not Thinner.. they have better cold flow properties and higher resistance to oxidation at high temperatures.

Runnthe lowest viscosity your engine can tolerate. I thing the 5w20 is ideal for your short trip use in an engine that has proven it can maintain good lubrication with that viscosity. Although it's hot inside... the oil is subject to much higher temperatures inside the engine even on a cold day, once warmed up.

 

[Cujet]

While I have no way to know about the Honda engine in the Ridgeline and how it might do with different oils. I do know about the Ford 4.6L.

First, the 4.6L is known for early engine failure, mostly due to ring wear. Take a good look at older crown vics, town cars and Mercury marquis while they are at the stoplight at the next big city you visit. They often smoke like crazy. The engines in those cars are often wearing out quite quickly. 5W-20 is the oil used.

Contrast that with the 4.6L truck engine, which does not seem to show the same problems. This is due to full floating pistons and better quality ring packs. Along with a host of other changes.

I can say without any doubt that my 4.6L gives FAR FAR better UOA's with Mobil 1 10W-30 than it does with 5W-20. It even does better if I add a quart of 15W-50 to the mix (I discovered this by accident, as I only had 5 qts 10-30 on hand).

I also tried M1 0W-20 in my Mazda Miata (Temporarily without turbo) with disasterous UOA results. Lead was 250+ppm. Iron was way up and so was Aluminum. The switch back to 15W-50 (Turbo installed) in the Miata brought the numbers back to below norms.

I use my vehicles hard, so I tend to discover problems before others do.

Chris

 

[jsharp]

quote:

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Originally posted by Cujet:
While I have no way to know about the Honda engine in the Ridgeline and how it might do with different oils. I do know about the Ford 4.6L.

First, the 4.6L is known for early engine failure, mostly due to ring wear. Take a good look at older crown vics, town cars and Mercury marquis while they are at the stoplight at the next big city you visit. They often smoke like crazy. The engines in those cars are often wearing out quite quickly. 5W-20 is the oil used.

Contrast that with the 4.6L truck engine, which does not seem to show the same problems. This is due to full floating pistons and better quality ring packs. Along with a host of other changes.

I can say without any doubt that my 4.6L gives FAR FAR better UOA's with Mobil 1 10W-30 than it does with 5W-20. It even does better if I add a quart of 15W-50 to the mix (I discovered this by accident, as I only had 5 qts 10-30 on hand).

I use my vehicles hard, so I tend to discover problems before others do.

Chris

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A lot of the farmers around here have Ford trucks with the modular engines, both the 4.6L and 5.4L models. These trucks get *really* hard use and the guys I've talked to claim the engines are "tired" at about the 100K or 125K mile mark using conventional 5W-30 or 10W-30 oils. "Tired" meaning high oil consumption. No one seems to run synthetics.

I can believe a good 30 weight synthetic would probably work better than a 5W-20 blend oil in their application, but from talking to these guys, 10W-30 dino sure didn't seem like a good choice. Probably not much better than the 5W-20.

I also notice the 5.4L Cobra R Mustangs came factory filled with M1 15W-50.

 

[adreed24]

I don't know if this will help, but we have a 2003 Honda Element and Honda called for 5W-20 when it was new. However, the Honda dealership that I go to is using 5W-30 and Honda now approves of both 5W-20 & 5W-30 for the car. We are using Castrol GTX (dino) and in 3 years, I have had to "top off" the engine between oil changes, only 1 time with 1 quart.

The 5W-30 seems to be working fine. It doesn't get too dusty here, but it gets pretty hot and humid.