Q..wrong weight oil in engine

[piopio]

I change the oil for my girlfriends 96 Camry V6 engine w/ 10W30 all the time. We get the Chevron dino oil since it's cheap at Costco and has good oil analysis results.

Last time she was at Costco I wasn't there and she bought a straight 30 weight oil which I put into her car w/o thinking.

Now on the next oil change I noticed!! So a straight 30 weight has been running in her engine for 3000 miles (she has about 105,000 miles now)

Is this OK to for the engine?

 

[Swift]

And what if it wasn't, whatcha ya gonna do?
Change it and don't worry too much.

[ April 17, 2004, 02:29 AM: Message edited by: Swift ]

 

[piopio]

Yeah I can';t do anythign now, but I would like to knwo if I did any damage at all

 

[DavoNF]

You are in CA, what damage could it do? Nuttin.

It probably had a nice holiday

Dave

[ April 17, 2004, 03:36 AM: Message edited by: DavoNF ]

 

[piopio]

Judging by the replied I take it then that it is harmless

 

[Buzzsaw]

I wouldn't worry about it. The Police Department which I work for fills our Crown Vic's, which specifies a 5w20, with a HD 30 wt. oil. We usually keep them for 100k and get rid of them.

Edited to add that they also use a 20w50 oil sometimes.

[ April 17, 2004, 03:59 AM: Message edited by: Buzzsaw ]

 

[KW]

HD30 is not bad oil at all. Cold weather started might be affected if you live in a cold area. I would not worry about it at all.

 

[Ed]

Absolutely not a problem

 

[TallPaul]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Buzzsaw:
I wouldn't worry about it. The Police Department which I work for fills our Crown Vic's, which specifies a 5w20, with a HD 30 wt. oil. We usually keep them for 100k and get rid of them.

Edited to add that they also use a 20w50 oil sometimes.

---

Well that blows to pieces the often-used argument that these engines were designed for thinner oils and the thick oils will hurt them. It's a heap o baloney. It's all about CAFE and we are being brainwashed

to accept that the engine MUST use 5w20. And the fact that they are back-specifying 5w20 into the mid to early 90s on many Ford engines is further proof that it ain't needed. Most of those engines specified 5w30 (another, earlier CAFE push) and allow for 10w30 (the right choice

).

 

[TC]

"The Police Department which I work for fills our Crown Vic's..." "Well that blows to pieces the often-used argument that these engines were designed for thinner oils and the thick oils will hurt them. It's a heap o baloney."
______________________________________
Perhaps the entire automotive industry should completely revamp its engine lubrication philosophies due to what a mechanic at some police garage in Georgia prefers. I'm sure that mechanic has advanced degrees and experience in powerplant design, mechanical engineering and/or petrochemistry. I'm awaiting in hushed excitement that mechanic's future pronouncements...

I agree with KW that you shouldn't be using this oil in colder weather. Luckily for you, Summer is right around the bend.

 

[XS650]

quote:

---

Originally posted by TC:

______________________________________
Perhaps the entire automotive industry should completely revamp its engine lubrication philosophies due to what a mechanic at some police garage in Georgia prefers. I'm sure that mechanic has advanced degrees and experience in powerplant design, mechanical engineering and/or petrochemistry. I'm awaiting in hushed excitement that mechanic's future pronouncements...

---

I would be more interested in what the engine design engineers at the car companies actually use in their own cars and what they would recommend for the general population if CAFE requirements weren't an issue.

One of the problems with blindly taking the advice of experts is that you often don't know who is twisting the experts arm.

 

[Buzzsaw]

Whoa there guys. I wasn't trying to stir up anything by my last post. I was just letting the original poster know that he didn't have anything to worry about. I certainly am not in the "thicker is better" crowd, but passed on information that I had on the matter.

On the flip side of the coin, the Sheriff's Department only used 5w20 in their Crown Vics and they usually keep them until the wheels fall off of them.

 

[TC]

No need to apologize, Buzzsaw! You were just stating the facts about what that garage does, and thanks for the interesting observations, especially about the 20w-50.
There is a "thin oil is bad" group on this board that is quite vocal on this topic. On one such thread I posted about a dozen links to individual 5w-20 UOAs in the UOA section, with each UOA showing iron and lead levels below 10ppm (in other words, negligible). So it's been proven time-and-again that such oil weights can get the job done very well, but the skeptics loudly continue their "world is flat" chant. I imagine this cycle will likely repeat itself over and over on this board...but that's what makes it fun!

[ April 17, 2004, 11:34 PM: Message edited by: TC ]

 

[Ed]

Yeah! most of you guys don't remember the similar battles concerning detergent oil vs non-detergent. Some folks wouldn't touch detergent oil with a ten foot pole. Nowdays your hard pressed to even find non-detergent oil.

 

[darkdan]

Yes, people fear change.

What are we going to do when 0w10 is recommended?

 

[Chris142]

How about gettin us a UOA on the SAE30?

 

[Hajoca]

Your operating environment may be different but that was only 3% of the milage, so if any, the harm would be minimal.

Getting back to the APPLICATION of the oil, you must see that the oil makers have a 'target industry' or

target user

for the product.

To make you feel better Look at a HD 30wt. oil and what is it made for...hard use machinery (including automotive engines) that do things such as Long operating HOURS (not just mileage

) frequent load cycling, fuel (diesel) ash, etc.
So it is good for construction and mining, and taxis too.

Better?

 

[Eddie]

I trust manufactures data and UOAs far more than I trust anyones opinion based on 30 year old experience. Todays better engines are held to much better machining tolerances and shafts/bearing etc are now micro-polished where as even ten years ago these things could only be performed in a clean-room type special shop. Ed Hayes

 

[ekpolk]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Eddie:
I trust manufactures data and UOAs far more than I trust anyones opinion based on 30 year old experience. Todays better engines are held to much better machining tolerances and shafts/bearing etc are now micro-polished where as even ten years ago these things could only be performed in a clean-room type special shop. Ed Hayes

---

A couple of things in response. First, which mfr info should I trust? That from just two or three years ago when 5w/10w-30 was the very best stuff or this year when, for the same engines, 5w-20 is gospel??? If the present recommendation is "right", then the prior must in retrospect be wrong? Or is it the other way around? Flip-flops like this, without a corresponding mechanical change justifying them, erode my confidence.

Second, I'm not asking you to trust opinions based on the past, and you shouldn't project into the future based upon data that doesn't exist yet. I'm right with you on the UOAs, as long as their meaning is not over-extended. Again, show me a decade of UOAs that demonstrate long-term hot summer survival, and I'll be right with you in accepting 5w-20. In the meantime, I'm not condemning this grade, I'm just waiting to see if engines using it make it for the long haul.

 

[ekpolk]

quote:

---

Originally posted by TC:
There is a "thin oil is bad" group on this board that is quite vocal on this topic. On one such thread I posted about a dozen links to individual 5w-20 UOAs in the UOA section, with each UOA showing iron and lead levels below 10ppm (in other words, negligible). So it's been proven time-and-again that such oil weights can get the job done very well, but the skeptics loudly continue their "world is flat" chant. I imagine this cycle will likely repeat itself over and over on this board...but that's what makes it fun!

---

Continuing with the fun: I think you're painting with too broad a brush. Yes, I'm skeptical, but I don't think that "thin oil is bad." Nor do I think that the world is flat, by the way. A better way to describe this divide might be that some of us aren't yet fully convinced. Some questions I still have: if 5w-20 really is the "best" lubricating option for Fords and Hondas, why weren't they recommending it all along? Cospicuously absent from Ford and Honda has been any plain statement that 5w-20 provides the best lubrication for the owner. Clearly present are plenty of indicators that the switch is motivated by corporate self-interest vs. the actual lubrication merits.

Also, even a dozen or so decent UOAs really don't prove anything except that 5w-20 won't itself cause rapid engine damage. I never thought it did. Before I'd consider using it, I want to see data proving long-term hot weather durability.

It certainly appears that early indicators are good. For me, though, "getting the job done very well" means I have a like-new engine even at 150,000 miles. Since I own a 5w-30/10w-30 Toyota, it's an academic point for me. I'm content to let the Ford and Honda owners be the long-term guinea pigs for this and see how it goes.