My experience with Redline 5W20 vs Amsoil 0W20

[lonestar]

Not to start a debate on which is better or anything like that but I wanted to post my experience with Redline 5W20. I have a lightly driven 05 Thunderbird with the 3.9L V8. Currently the vehicle has just under 8000 miles. When Amsoil came out with their 0W20 I started using it and at that time the car had approx 2000 miles. With Amsoil 0W20 the car has consistently achieves shy of 25 MPG overall when on trips where a bunch of us old farts with the 02-05 Thunderbirds get together. The majority of the mileage on these trips are highway miles running 77 to 80 MPH and for short spurts faster.

Recently, just prior to a Thunderbird gathering, I changed to Redline 5W20 to see how the car would like it on the trip. There was no noticeable change in engine sound / noise but the car seemed to labor just a bit getting to speeds over 65 MPH. Due to the weather the A/C was not running much on this trip where on other trips the A/C has run virtually all the time for the trips have been during warmer months. Upon my return home I figured my mileage and the car got slightly north of 22 MPG, actually 22.31. That change in mileage is fairly significant considering all things were equal to other trips (car loading, tires, tire pressure, air filter condition, oil filter brand).

One morning with an outside temp in the upper 40s I experience valve train clatter for about 2 seconds when the car was started. I have never heard this before from the engine and I do not think it was an issue with the filter since it is mounted horizontally but there is no way to know that for sure. I always use MC filters on this car.

So what does this mean? There is no question that Redline is a superior oil but in this application it appears Amsoil lets the 3.9L engine in my car work easier.

 

[fxrider]

Thats because of the wt, try both 5W20,, Redline will win out every time.

 

[Miata04]

Actually I think you would be just as well served by the excellent Motorcraft Semi-Synthetic 5W-20 or at the best the Motorcraft Full Synthetic. As far as the mileage difference goes, a 0W-20 oil should (theoretically)create less pumping friction than a 5W-20 hence a reason for the roughly 2.5 mpg difference. I personally use M1 in all my cars and have been considering switching from the recommended 5W-20 in my new Honda to M1 0W-20 (which according to Honda meets warranty requirements) As factory filters sometimes change manufacturers based on who gives them the lowest cost and that can cause quality to vary, I use only M1 or Wix (NAPA Gold is also a Wix) filters, mostly because they have good anti-drainback valves and quality construction. I have used Amsoil 10W-40AMO in my Corvair because of the published levels of zinc & phosphorous and had good results, but in modern engines like yours (& mine), I think the "boutique" oils are, perhaps, either overkill or overrated. I know I'm kicking some sacred cows here, but.......

Cheers,
Phil
'04 Miata LS 1.8
'02 Honda Accord SE 2.2
'10 Honda Civic EX 1.8

 

[buster]

Could be a lot of reasons why, but you are comparing an oil with a HT/HS of 3.3 vs 2.7. If you wanted to compare, try their 0w-20.

I'm using their 0w20 now and like it. Amsoil 0w20 is really good also. For long drains, it's the best.

 

[brandini]

Cold weather means two other things for mpg:
1) air is more dense and car adds more fuel to compensate
2) air is more dense which means more drag

My best mpg is always in spring/fall due to non-winter gas, warm temps, no ac use, and windows up long drives since windows down is too noisy and a tad too chilly.

 

[JohnBrowning]

First the temp of upper 40°F I am assuming you mean °F is not significant at all to a 5W20 or 0W20. Second the difference in Winter rating the 5W v.s. the 0W only make's a difference in fuel economy about the first 20 minutes of HWY driving maybe less. Once the oils come up to operating temp's they are both 20W's. So your difference in fuel economy is in this case not related to the meager change in winter rating. On top of that nothing in Redline or any other 5W would account for any discriminable difference in how fast the car was able to get up to speed. So if you car is running rough it is not the oil not in this instance now if you went from a 0W20 to a 15W50 or something drastic like that then you would be able to perceive a difference even after the oil came up to operating temp!!!

Now transmissions can be very different even at modest temp.'s like 40°F. Depending on their programing they will delay shifts and hold various gear's longer and limimit lock up and over drive until the fluid is up to operating temp. This would account for your milage difference more then the oils used. I have no idea what temp a Ford transmission does things at. My Dodge would do that sort of thing right around 32°F.

in fact in all of the post's about Redline inthe past even when going to the nest weight up from what they where useing people always report better fuel economy and easier and faster reving and more power. This is because of the mother load of Molly and ZDDP and Boron and Calcium in Redline it has more friction modifer's then any other oil on the planet that I am aware of for sale for use in car's! the friction modifer's enhance fuel eccconomy and the Energy COnserving Symbol on the back of most oils means that an oil has friction modifers in it.

Now the Redline 5W20 does have an HTHS of 3.3 but I am going to guess Amsoil is right in the 2.6-2.9 area so not that significant when you toss in all the other factors from your right foot to wind resistance to airfilter cleanliness etc.....

 

[Pablo]

Originally Posted By: lonestar
There is no question that Redline is a superior oil...


I'm not so sure about that. Superior at what? It's like that word "better". Better at what?

That's such a huge difference in MPG. I think it must be something else or run each oil a few OCI's and average MPG out over many runs, then compare means and standard deviations to see IF there is a statistical difference.

 

[tig1]

Oil isn't the difference.

 

[BuickGN]

With mostly freeway driving you would have a hard time seeing that kind of difference between a 0w-20 and a 20w-50.

 

[buster]

Pablo is right.

 

[cos]

Maybe there was a headwind?

 

[FZ1]

Well,Tex,run the Amsoil. Any paper advantage the Redline has over the Amsoil is not going to translate into an economically longer engine life.

 

[SteveSRT8]

A stocker?

I'm sorry, but I agree it would be nearly impossible to feel an oil difference!

I vote the Amsoil, it has boosted economy in many a vehicle around here. Cheaper than RL, too.

 

[kbuzbee]

Originally Posted By: Pablo
Originally Posted By: lonestar
There is no question that Redline is a superior oil...


I'm not so sure about that. Superior at what? It's like that word "better". Better at what?


I read it that way too but MAYBE he didn't mean superior to Amsoil? Just superior... as is Amsoil? Maybe? Dunno, but I read it differently the second time...

Ken

 

[Steve S]

There is no way those oils can cause a 2.5 mpg difference.

 

[hpichris]

Um yeah. It's not the oil.

 

[SteveSRT8]

you know what's real?

If you really believe it, then it's true!

 

[sangyup81]

I would be shocked if changing back to the Amsoil 0w-20 recovers 100% of that MPG. There's gotta be something else going on.

Also, switching from a PAO basestock oil to an Ester basestock oil is going to cause some transitioning to be required. You'd probably need to use Redline for another OCI or two before your car gets used to it.

 

[buster]

HT/HS correlates very well to MPG.

You are comparing one oil that is a 30 grade, vs one that is a 20 grade.

HT/HS of RL 5w20 is 3.2 vs 2.8 for the ASM. That is a significant difference and would explain why the ASM produced better mpg, assuming you accurately measured it.

To compare to ASM, you would have to use Redline 0w-20 which has a HT/HS of 2.7.

 

[G-MAN]

Originally Posted By: JohnBrowning
First the temp of upper 40°F I am assuming you mean °F is not significant at all to a 5W20 or 0W20. Second the difference in Winter rating the 5W v.s. the 0W only make's a difference in fuel economy about the first 20 minutes of HWY driving maybe less. Once the oils come up to operating temp's they are both 20W's.


Uh...I would disagree. A 20 is not a 20 is not a 20. The real deciding factor in fuel economy is HTHS, not whether or not an oil fits within the J300 range for a particular SAE viscosity rating. Both the oils he used were Xw20s, but one had the HTHS of a robust 30 wt, hence the lower gas mileage.