Since Jan 2005 How Many Have Gone Thinner or Thicker

[toocrazy2yoo]

WOW! Cam failure with 5W20?

BECAUSE of the 5W20, or, just coincidence?

Careful now, we need some verification that the evil 5W20 did the deed on those cams..

I HATE when my 5W20 fails my cams!!!

 

[AEHaas]

I was discussing the BMW cam situation with the tech guru at Ferrari North America the other day. The lack of hardening was supposed to be cured by the 60 wt. oil they then changed to.

Instead the cams failed sooner and the whole engine suffered greater wear because of lubrication starvation.

aehaas

 

[G-MAN]

I hadn't heard the M3 had cam problems. It was the main bearings and the Castrol 10w60 was part of the fix.

 

[gtoracer]

Here's a story for ya Doc, I have a my03 Honda S2000,2.0,240 Horse,9000 rpm redline.went from GC to Redline 5w-20 last thanksgiving, kept a close eye on the level for 2800 miles of around town driving with only the occasional trip to 9k,no usage, level never moved one iota, last weekend our car club went on a 400 mile round trip,200 out on Sat and 200 back on Sun. You know 10 guys out for some spirited driving thru the Ozark hills,checked the oil Sun.am before leaving,2QTS low,one of the guys had a Qt of 10w-40 Redline,put that in, another had a Qt of Redline 10w-30, put that in, brought the level right to the full mark,left for the same 200 mile trip home, driven in the same spirited manner(gotta keep up with the others,right), checked the level when I got home, full, did not move one drop,not sure I like 5w-20.
The viscosity going out was 9.1,I figured with the two additions the vis went to 10.8, I think I an going back thick...Pete

 

[gtoracer]

Need to clarify,car burned 2qt in 200 miles on Sat,with the 2qt addition on Sun it burned no oil in 200 miles,sorry...Pete

 

[mcrn]

I have a 96 ford ranger with the 2.3 and i just changed my oil this last Sunday from motorcraft 5W20 to castrol GTX 5W30 engine is smoother now especially at higher RPM's but at the same time I put a thermostat into my engine. I did not have a thermo in there at all. So that might have something to do with it as well since the engine is up to temp.

 

[blupupher]

I guess I am going thinner, only because it's what my owners manual says to do (5w-20 in a '05 Grand Caravan 3.8) but I may still use 5w-30 once my next 3 changes of free/cheap 5w-20 oil's are used up.
In my car, I am staying the same (*w-30).

 

[hominid7]

quote:

---

Originally posted by blupupher:
I guess I am going thinner, only because it's what my owners manual says to do (5w-20 in a '05 Grand Caravan 3.8) but I may still use 5w-30 once my next 3 changes of free/cheap 5w-20 oil's are used up.
In my car, I am staying the same (*w-30).

---

Dad took Mom's 2002 Chrysler Town and Country with the 3.8 ltr V6 to the dealer for an oil change this past weekend. They used Mopar 10w30 which surprised both of us.

 

[moribundman]

I've gone from an oil with HTHS=3.9 to an oil with HTHS=3.8, so yes, I have gone thinner!

 

[oilyriser]

5w20, Subaru, after UOA 5w30 was 9.2 cSt, went 10% thinner to see if gas mileage up

So far, more engine noise, but no connecting rods sticking out.

 

[LouDawg]

quote:

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Originally posted by moribundman:
I've gone from an oil with HTHS=3.9 to an oil with HTHS=3.8, so yes, I have gone thinner!

---

^^^^^

^^^^^

 

[LouDawg]

5W-20 in '05 Dodge Caravan 3.3L, just as manual says.

5W-30 in '02 Nissan Frontier 2.4L, just as manual says.

Generally, I like thinner, but if manual says something, I use the thinnest recommended and monitor it. Unless there is a problem, I stick with it (pardon the pun). Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside!

The Nissan "seems" to run smoother and quieter since I switched from (whatever the dealer used before I bought it) to TropArtic.

 

[AEHaas]

It is hard to explain. The viscosity of the oil is not the main reason there is a loss of level but rather the lowered volatility. Red Line 20 wt. oils are like most others 30 or 40 wt. oils when it comes to volatility.

I lost a qt. using the original 5W-40 Shell Helix Ultra oil in my Maranello over 500 miles. After going to 0W-20 Mobil 1 with a higher flash point there was no other oil lost over the next 7,000 miles.

aehaas

 

[oilyriser]

It might also be a surface tension phenomenon. An oil that forms smaller droplets more easily will become aerosolized as it is flung off the crankshaft. Smaller droplets will be more easily sucked into the PCV system and burned.

 

[AEHaas]

"It might also be a surface tension phenomenon."

This is what makes oil so difficult, interesting. You have to look at surface tension, polarity, flash point, volatility, fluidity, just so many variables. You cannot just look at the viscosity at 100 C, or at 150 C. You really have to look deeper.

aehaas

 

[Alcibiades]

I am considering changing from Redline 10W-30 to RL 5W-30 or perhaps even RL 5W-20 in my Corolla.

For reasons unknown to me, the RL 5W-20 gives, or at least is consistently coincident with, a 2-3 mpg improvement in my CR-V, over both GTX and Syntec, even though it is a "thicker" 5W-20 than either of those. It consistently does better than the EPA estimate with RL 5W-20.

But in my Corolla ('93), I might actually be losing some mpg with the RL 10W-30, although I need to run through a few more tanks of gas to get a reliable average. Right now it's getting around 33 mpg, all in city stop/go traffic, which is still quite good, especially considering its age and the relative EPA estimate. But it got 35-36 in city driving with GTX 10W-30 towards the end of an Auto-Rx rinse phase when the weather warmed up, which pleased me to no end since that is almost what it should be getting in freeway traffic.

I may change to RL 5W-30 earlier than I need to, just to see if it improves my mpg while the weather is still hot, and also for better start up protection. I certainly will make that change by winter time, even though it never gets cold enough here to warrant that, according to the manual.

 

[Captain Howdy]

I've got PP 5w-20 in my 2.5L Sentra for the summer.

I plan on getting a UOA this fall.

 

[stang5]

went from 5w30 amsoil to 5w20 M1 on the 02 mustang. 5w30 chevron to 5w20 MC on the 99 mustang. Theirs no way in **** I would have used 5w20 if it wasn't for this site and terry.

 

[pzev]

quote:

---

Originally posted by toocrazy2yoo:
WOW! Cam failure with 5W20?

BECAUSE of the 5W20, or, just coincidence?

Careful now, we need some verification that the evil 5W20 did the deed on those cams..

I HATE when my 5W20 fails my cams!!!

---

Ok, I should clarify...

The car that experienced cam failure was being tracked, and was using SM rated Motorcraft 5w-20. The car had extensive engine modifications, and to my knowledge was not using an oil cooler (I could be wrong). The problem was cured by swiching oil (Amsoil synth...5w-40 I believe).

While the oil was the cause of the failure, I believe it was the owners fault. From what I have been able to gather, on the track it is not uncommon for these engines (2.3l Duratec) to approach upwards of 280* when no oil cooler is used on a hot day. That is definately way to hot for a 20wt without a serious add pack. A differant 20wt, such as Redline might have worked.

I should clear up some final details...

The owner is an experienced engine builder who has exclusive knowledge of this engine, the car was running aftermarket cams, and the replacement cams were of a differant mfg. The diff cams used as a replacment are another potential variable in this problem.

P.S. He also reported issues with Mobil 1 0w-20 while tracking

P.S.S. By tracking I mean racing on a road course such as Willow springs.

 

[sprintman]

AEHaas I have gone gone thicker and thinner. Havoline Energy 5W30 in the Sube Outback 2.5 instead of BP Visco 5000 5W40 and a mix of 15W450, 5W30, 10W40 in the Mazda 626 GT (Turbo) clean phase (turbo seals leaking like a porous dam). Americans worry way to much about viscosity, it really does not matter that much.