Motor Oil 101

[CATERHAM]

Originally Posted By: sawaddi
Originally Posted By: dbrowne1
GC 0w30 or Mobil 1 0W-40 would be excellent choices for your VW CC. Both are VW 502.00 and ACEA A3 oils that provide the necessary protection while giving you the cold start and pumpability of a 0W oil.

I'm not as familiar with Hondas, but I'm guessing that it calls for an energy conserving 5W-20 or something similar. The GC would be acceptable to use and certainly wouldn't do any harm, but it would be beneficial as far as fuel economy to use Mobil 1 0W-20 or 0W-30.


Is GC 0w30 readily available and where does one find it?

If you're running Mobil 1 0W-40 already in the VW I would stick with that. GC 0w30 because of it's lowish viscosity index of 167 vs 185 for Mobil 1 0W-40 is actually thicker at all temp's below 25C.
IMO Mobil 1 0W-40 is an all round superior lubricant to GC.

 

[UNC017]

Originally Posted By: CATERHAM
Originally Posted By: sawaddi
Originally Posted By: dbrowne1
GC 0w30 or Mobil 1 0W-40 would be excellent choices for your VW CC. Both are VW 502.00 and ACEA A3 oils that provide the necessary protection while giving you the cold start and pumpability of a 0W oil.

I'm not as familiar with Hondas, but I'm guessing that it calls for an energy conserving 5W-20 or something similar. The GC would be acceptable to use and certainly wouldn't do any harm, but it would be beneficial as far as fuel economy to use Mobil 1 0W-20 or 0W-30.


Is GC 0w30 readily available and where does one find it?

If you're running Mobil 1 0W-40 already in the VW I would stick with that. GC 0w30 because of it's lowish viscosity index of 167 vs 185 for Mobil 1 0W-40 is actually thicker at all temp's below 25C.
IMO Mobil 1 0W-40 is an all round superior lubricant to GC.


I'll be blunt. GC has been passed by. It was ahead of its time, but its time is past.

I'd go with Mobil 1 0w40 in the VW and 0w30AFE in the Honda, by the way.

 

[FL_Rob]

As you can see ..we Bitog members overthink things...Take a break.A 0w 40 would do more than adequate for your engine esp M 0w40.

 

[sawaddi]

Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Originally Posted By: sawaddi
No, the sticker on the engine calls for 5w30

What does your owner's manual say? The 2008 CRV manual that I found on line says to use 5w-20.


I must have been smoking something strange. i just looked under the hood and it does say 5w20 as does the manual. I've been using 5w30 PP and M1 since it was new but will change to 5w20 or 0w20 next change. Thanks for the nudge!

 

[steve20]

I went the other way with the Accord-first 101 K miles on 5-20 then switched over to 5-30 after looking at the wear pattern of the cam lobes. The wear pattern has not gotten any worse in the last 50K miles, so I'm not going back to 5-20

 

[Steve S]

Oil 101 is just plain silly. People believe most anything they read on the web. No discernment.

 

[demarpaint]

Originally Posted By: sawaddi
Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Originally Posted By: sawaddi
No, the sticker on the engine calls for 5w30

What does your owner's manual say? The 2008 CRV manual that I found on line says to use 5w-20.


I must have been smoking something strange. i just looked under the hood and it does say 5w20 as does the manual. I've been using 5w30 PP and M1 since it was new but will change to 5w20 or 0w20 next change. Thanks for the nudge!


I thought so that's why I asked.

 

[dparm]

The CR-V would be fine with 0w20 or 0w30. Honda's 0w20 is cheap and easy to get.

For the CC I'd stick with a heavier 0w30 or light 0w40, such as Castrol Syntec 0w30 or Mobil 1 0w40 (both VW/Audi approved).