proper way to determine thinnest oil in cold

[bxd20]

If all I want to do is find out which oil would be thinnest on the coldest day of the year, is my only option to use the Pour Point and assume that the oil with the lowest Pour Point will be thinnest at winter temps (say around 0*F) ?

I want to compare readily-available (non boutique) 0W-x oils to find the thinnest. I may not actually run it, more of a quest for knowledge at this point....

Thanks!

 

[bepperb]

Pour point and cold viscosity don't have as strong a correlation as people expect. I think you'd be better off using oil's viscosity index and 40 degree viscosity.

The Widman viscosity/temp calculator will use these values and give a decent graph of up to four oils. It's not perfect and interpolated, but it's better than basing it on pour point.

 

[OceanDoctor]

I use the good ol' freezer

 

[dparm]

Pour point is only part of the picture. The MRV/CCS values and the VI are more telling of how thin something is in cold temps.

 

[chubbs1]

Just use pour point and VI and you will get everything you need to make an informed decision. I am not saying you can get even more info but those will be easy to understand and effective...BTW every major 5w20 and 5w30 does an adequate job..."syns" do better.

Look at the M1 PDS sheets. M1 5w30 (dexos1) is basically a wash compared to M1 AFE 0w30. Mobil oils (They are both great)

 

[Steve S]

Usually with similar base stocks , a 5w-20 will be lighter cold than a 5w-40. What are you exactly looking for and why would the thinnest be important?