Noticed a big MPG improvement going to Syntec 0w20

[Rand]

Originally Posted By: L_Sludger
My fuel economy continues to plummet. Now I'm down to 68mpg for the tank. Must have been placebo effect.


Perhaps you should change your sig,
Originally Posted By: L_Sludger

Sincerely,
Louisville Sludger
The gadfly of BITOG



"Fail Troll of Bitog" would be more appropriate.

Sincerely,

Rand.

 

[L_Sludger]

Originally Posted By: Rand
Originally Posted By: L_Sludger
My fuel economy continues to plummet. Now I'm down to 68mpg for the tank. Must have been placebo effect.


Perhaps you should change your sig,
Originally Posted By: L_Sludger

Sincerely,
Louisville Sludger
The gadfly of BITOG



"Fail Troll of Bitog" would be more appropriate.

Sincerely,

Rand.

I resent this post. It angers me greatly.

 

[L_Sludger]

I am seriously enraged by your post, Rand.

 

[crazyoildude]

68 mpg ??

 

[901Memphis]

Pfffft! I topped 16 mpg with my Buick last fill up!

 

[gathermewool]

Originally Posted By: L_Sludger

Once more I have to remind our dear audience that it's unreasonable for them to expect a significant MPG gain in their normal, non-hybrid motor vehicle when changing from 5w30 to 0w20. Even a 1MPG gain would be tough to quantify in a statistically significant manner. I am just sharing that changing from an incorrect viscosity, to the correct viscosity, in my application, which is known to be very sensitive to every little operating variable, has within a limited sample set so far indicated a large - 5-7mpg's worth - overall improvement in MPG.


Man, so sorry for doubting you. Please accept my apology...

Originally Posted By: L_Sludger
My fuel economy continues to plummet. Now I'm down to 68mpg for the tank. Must have been placebo effect.


...and/or my sarcastic, "I knew it!"

Just kidding, bud. In all honesty, I appreciate your honesty.

Even outside of your lean burn-viscosity hypothesis, people have discussed viscosity effect on variable valve timing, as if a few centistoke here or there would prohibit engagement.

 

[Clevy]

Firstly I can certainly believe that the very small engine in that car would be affected by oil viscosity.
No doubt in my mind at all. Even a bit more resistance from pumping thicker oil would affect power output by increasing drag.



I'm not sure how Shannow got dragged into this as a crusader,can't say as I've figured out what he's crusading about either however if the hat gets passed my way I'll pitch in a few bucks for it.

 

[gathermewool]

Originally Posted By: Clevy
Firstly I can certainly believe that the very small engine in that car would be affected by oil viscosity.
No doubt in my mind at all. Even a bit more resistance from pumping thicker oil would affect power output by increasing drag.



I'm not sure how Shannow got dragged into this as a crusader,can't say as I've figured out what he's crusading about either however if the hat gets passed my way I'll pitch in a few bucks for it.


A little, maybe, but not significantly, IMO. Not unless it had a much lower coefficient of aerodynamic drag and near-frictionless bearings. In other words, not even close to a double-digit MPG change. Low single digits, MAYBE. I'd love for someone to prove me wrong, though!

 

[gathermewool]

Originally Posted By: Clevy
Firstly I can certainly believe that the very small engine in that car would be affected by oil viscosity.
No doubt in my mind at all. Even a bit more resistance from pumping thicker oil would affect power output by increasing drag.



I'm not sure how Shannow got dragged into this as a crusader,can't say as I've figured out what he's crusading about either however if the hat gets passed my way I'll pitch in a few bucks for it.


A little, maybe, but not significantly, IMO. Not unless it had a much lower coefficient of aerodynamic drag and near-frictionless bearings. In other words, not even close to a double-digit MPG change. Low single digits, MAYBE. I'd love for someone to prove me wrong, though!

 

[Ram01]

The castrol Syntec 0w20 was designed for fuel Economy and engine protection in mind

 

[gathermewool]

Originally Posted By: Ram01
The castrol Syntec 0w20 was designed for fuel Economy and engine protection in mind


Which engine oils are not?

 

[HappyLittlePony]

Originally Posted By: gathermewool

Which engine oils are not?


Should I use up my stash of City Star "motor oil" or try out this new batch of Everclear?

http://www.pqiamerica.com/citystar.htm

 

[Doug Hillary]

Hi,
gathermewool - For Fuel Economy - in the US and generally, those without a ILSAC GF rating

 

[gathermewool]

Originally Posted By: HappyLittlePony
Originally Posted By: gathermewool

Which engine oils are not?


Should I use up my stash of City Star "motor oil" or try out this new batch of Everclear?

http://www.pqiamerica.com/citystar.htm


Ouch, that was a low blow.

Originally Posted By: Doug Hillary
Hi,
gathermewool - For Fuel Economy - in the US and generally, those without a ILSAC GF rating


Hi, Mr. Hillary - No doi.

My response was to the 'and,' specifically. There are surely compromises with regard to fuel economy, protection, and even emission control concerns.

 

[bobbydavro]

The Honda Insight seems to be on the tipping point of lean burn as OEM setup.

My brother has one and he changed to normal tyres rather than low RR. He found it much harder to maintain lean burn on cruise and this would have a massive impact on MPG. I can believe the OPs findings.

 

[L_Sludger]

Long-term update, my gas mileage has deteriorated to the point of no return. Last tank was 52mpg.

 

[Nickdfresh]

Originally Posted By: Rand
Its fall, we are in the middle of switching out the epa summer gas, and reduced Air Conditioner use. All that combined with changing the oil from the worlds thickest 5w30 to thinnest 0w20.. its possible.

L_fudger has another FUD post but at least its not a total unbelievable/backfire this time


I think (moderately) cooler air may also be a factor, as in "cold-air induction". Don't cars tend to run the best at certain temp ranges around the 50's to 70F?

 

[Gokhan]

Originally Posted By: L_Sludger
The car is a 2000 Honda Insight. The transmission is failing, the battery is failing, I bought it cheaply, but it keeps carrying on.
I had it running a pretty long oil fill of 5w30 conventional oil. Factory spec is 0w20. The car always got between 50-60mpg on a tank. After changing the oil with Syntec 0w20, my mileage has mysteriously improved.
I don't know if this is due to other factors such as changing to winter blend fuel, or the milder weather letting me go without A/C, but I haven't seen 70mpg on the FCD before, and my mileage right now is around 71.9mpg in mixed driving. Big difference!

There isn't much point to this thread other than to say that in a Honda Insight, you need to run the factory specified weight of oil to get the best fuel economy.

44% improvement in fuel economy using Castrol? Is that oil fortified with cold-fusion fuel?

You wouldn't even see anywhere remotely close to such a difference in fuel economy going from 20W-50 or 15w40 conventional to 0W-20 synthetic, let alone switching between different 0W-20 brands. Different brands in the same viscosity grade wouldn't result in more than about 1% difference, which is something you wouldn't be able to measure within your uncertainty of estimating the fuel economy anyway. It's your experimental error -- period.