Is there any truth to this? 5w-20 related.

[TomYoung]

Originally Posted By: jwright

You get about 1% better fuel economy, but you get 30% shorter engine life!!!

Any thoughts? My Accord V6 is due for its first oil change and I keep going back and forth.


There is some truth to this -- the part about you getting 1% better fuel economy.

 

[jazeo]

Not that longevity really applies to me, (I'm bored long before any of my cars/trucks reach 40 or 50K)but is there anything written in that article/link that really doesn't make sense. I'm not talking about their product (I know nothing about it), forget that for a minute and maybe comment on anything that is 100% false, or least anything that can be proven as false??

I really don't have an opinion about what's written, I don't really want to play devil's advocate, but I don't seem to learn much when 1 person make's a derogatory remark and everyone else just follows suit with +1,+2 and so on...

 

[river_rat]

It's bull-pucky. Not much else to learn in this case really.

The SAE white papers tested a lot of oils in the HTHS range of 20 weights and, under extreme conditions, they measured only slightly more bearing wear. And they were trying to spin those bearings. They got a few, too, but only with extremely thin oil...not you're store bought 20 weights at all.

And like ekpolk said, there was no sky falling in ten years of use and testing.
That's about the jist of it.

 

[demarpaint]

Originally Posted By: Gene K
Originally Posted By: Stuart Hughes
Gee- all those poor Ford 4.6 L V8 engines, that only go 300-400-500,000 miles plus- just think how long they could run if it weren't for that 30% reduction in engine life from that terrible 5w20 oil!

The story is that many Taxis make it to 700,000 miles plus with a few topping 1 million. The story is they seldom make it to 700,000 though if not switched to 30 weight around 400,000 miles. Again thats only anecdotal.

Ive seen Hondas used in medical courier service with 400,000 miles on 10,000 mile changes of 5W20 Conventional/Blend. Ive not heard that 5W20 causes any issues in Hondas.

PS You notice I still run 5W20 in my car. I figure if I still own it at 400,000 miles I will make up my mind then.



In all probability those cars if run on 5W30 from day one might have to step up a grade to a 10W40, or 15W50 as the engine wears to hit 700,000-1,000,000 miles.

 

[tdpark]

have 178k on my honda v-6 using 5w-20 and the thing does not burn a drop of oil and feels as strong as the day i bought it. That article is full of bull.

 

[znode]

Originally Posted By: TomYoung
There is some truth to this -- the part about you getting 1% better fuel economy.


It's actually about a 2% improvement from 5w30 -> 5W-20.
Remarkably, you get a 1%-2% improvement from 10w30 -> 5w30 alone, more if you're in a cold climate - tells you how important that cold start is, in terms of both wear and fuel economy.

http://www.fueleconomy.gov/Feg/pdfs/OwnerRelatedFuelEconomyImprovements.pdf

 

[demarpaint]

I have a Ford approaching 190K miles running 5W30 dino just about its entire life. I recently ran a few OCI's with 5W20, and was pleased. In fact oil use dropped off a bit. I'm now mixing dino and synthetic orphan qts to use them up. I will probably swing it back to the 5W20 for the winter.

 

[river_rat]

Originally Posted By: Gene K
PS You notice I still run 5W20 in my car. I figure if I still own it at 400,000 miles I will make up my mind then.


I'd say then you can put in some STP or whatever, too. And what you said about the rings, I agree, that's why I stay out of the aftermarket ads on a tight engine.

 

[shpankey]

Complete fabrication is my guess. Pulled right out of someone's butt.

 

[Eddie]

I think the jury is still out on this statement as there arn't enought data points from average drivers. I'm sure laboratory tests suggests it is OK but, feel at the present WE are doing customer engineering here.

 

[jazeo]

Originally Posted By: Eddie
I think the jury is still out on this statement as there arn't enought data points from average drivers. I'm sure laboratory tests suggests it is OK but, feel at the present WE are doing customer engineering here.


That's pretty much how I feel also, unless we ran lets say two new taxi's from day one, one with 5w-20 and one with 5w30 and ran them the same amount of hours, distances, etc! how would we really know. Even then it would be difficult, different drivers and habits would also come into play. Probably would have to do six and six to see which would break down and need a rebuild first. I would be curious to see if there was any truth!

 

[Scott_Tucker]

There are a lot of papers published by the Society of Automotive Engineers that disprove the notion that 5w20 is going to wear out your engine faster. Written by people with proper engineering backgrounds not peddlers of snake oil. Lubrication is not a new subject so it's not like the manufacturers are making this stuff as they go along.

 

[Eddie]

Taxi's and service vehicle results DO NOT reflect the typical daily drivers usage. Frequent everyday cold starts and boundary lubrication plays a big part in cold start wear of valve train and similar lube needs.

 

[Gary Allan]

All right, let's assume that the statement is absolutely TRUE.

I say it's the difference between 500k and 650k and that mechanical failure of non-lubed hard parts is a more likely event due to the manufacturing process variable.

I don't think it's an issue with what anyone would call a practical mileage ceiling. It's like having 30% more Fe when you use M1 5w30. 130% of background noise is still background noise.