Oil additive benefits for 5W-20?

[Cmobile]

Originally Posted By: HerrStig
The question is... why was 5-20 specified for this vehicle? Was it just for fuel economy?


Not sure. I know some Fords need to have the thinner oil for mechanical reasons,(can't remember why) not just fuel economy. It is an Atkinson cycle engine, as opposed to the ever popular Otto cycle.

 

[Cmobile]

Originally Posted By: Solarent
Because no one else has said it.... WELCOME to BITOG

Now on to your questions:

This article is from 2003, and while it makes some good points, IMO it fails to point out the reason that oil trends have gone to lighter viscosity. In addition to the fuel economy benefit, engine design has changed significantly and oil has had to change to match.

It used to be (20 years ago) that viscosity played a large role in preventing wear; however today it is more related to the additive chemistry which contains not only ZDDP and Moly compounds but other antiwear additive combinations that may or may not show up on a typical UOA. These combinations are a delicate science that additive companies (like Afton, Lubrizol etc) who make the additive packages used by most of the major oil brands discourage the use of 3rd party additives and aftermarket products.

In your case, STP and LUCAS are basically additional VII (I don't know the formula but what I've seen on chemical analysis I am fairly confident this is the case) and probably would not be of any benefit vs using a thicker oil. There are some other antiwear additives on the market that are sometimes hard to find and are designed to work with existing oil formulations. I would however caution to not fall to marketing hype about aftermarket zddp, boron on liquid titanium products. These products may provide some marginal benefits, but are mostly companies trying to capitalize on existing market trends.

So the short answer is - do a UOA. If it shows that your additive package is depleting or you have unusually high wear metals than that would mean there could be benefits found in using properly designed additives. Or by following the trends you could find an oil other than the SynPower that maybe works better for your specific circumstances.

If you don't want to do the work, continue to use the 5w20, as the SynPower is a great oil and avoid extremely long oil drains.


Thank You. Your post was very helpful to me.

Blessings,
C

 

[MVAgusta]

Originally Posted By: TFB1
Originally Posted By: Quest

You prolly read too much about those "5W20 is like water...your engine will grind itself into a pulp, etc. postings back in the early 00s....and started to worry about it?!

At a sustained 5000-6000RPM, there will be significant heat build up in the cylinders and bearings, likely 5W-20 would be about like water...

As others mentioned, this application should have a oil temp gauge, if it's over 210* I'd switch to 5w-30 in the summer...


A modern 1000cc I4 motorcycle engines has a redline of 13,000rpm. The motor is happy at 10,000rpm or higher constantly on a track or until the fuel runs out.

An older Honda CBR250cc motor has a redline of 20,000rpm and its happy to sit on 15,000rpm all day.

 

[TFB1]

Originally Posted By: MVAgusta
Originally Posted By: TFB1
Originally Posted By: Quest

You prolly read too much about those "5W20 is like water...your engine will grind itself into a pulp, etc. postings back in the early 00s....and started to worry about it?!

At a sustained 5000-6000RPM, there will be significant heat build up in the cylinders and bearings, likely 5W-20 would be about like water...

As others mentioned, this application should have a oil temp gauge, if it's over 210* I'd switch to 5w-30 in the summer...


A modern 1000cc I4 motorcycle engines has a redline of 13,000rpm. The motor is happy at 10,000rpm or higher constantly on a track or until the fuel runs out.

An older Honda CBR250cc motor has a redline of 20,000rpm and its happy to sit on 15,000rpm all day.


Thanks, I didn't realize the hybrids had motorcycle spec engines...

 

[Cmobile]

I still get free oil changes from the dealer, though I usually just do it myself.

So I figured I would have them change the oil after my trip. They use Motorcraft oil/filter.

The first thing the dealer did was try and sell me an oil additive. "Highly recommended"... "needed for engine protection" they told me. I showed them the manual where Ford says no, no. (now that I have been edified)

The response???
"Well,,, we don't always follow Ford recommendations"

Thus the reason I usually change my own oil

It was MOC I believe at $25.

 

[dave1251]

Originally Posted By: Cmobile
"Well,,, we don't always follow Ford recommendations"


Well I own two Fords and I don't always follow Ford recommendations either. But I am not a Ford dealer and I do not recommend adding some products to for the sake of adding to make a witches brew. For a profit I might add.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

I don't think I'd be worried so much about the oil (as you'd have good oil pressure) but the aluminum connecting rods might get a bit stressed at sustained 5000RPM