Thin vs Thick Discussion Chapter 1

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Oil being "thick" at lower temperature is not a problem at all. Internal combustion motors create heat, modern turbos create a TON of heat. I want an oil to maintain viscosity at over 300f. Gokhan even has a chart showing full shear of oil to show how oil holds up inside a motor in places with tight tolerances and extreme pressure.
If start up wear was so bad then manufacturers would spec 0w16 oil.
This isn't the case, we have vehicles with turbos making well over 200hp per litre.
If you ran a 0w16 in a car designed for 5w30 it would have 10x the wear during operation vs start up.
 
"If you ran a 0w16 in a car designed for 5w30 it would have 10x the wear during operation vs start up."

You may want to read this thread:

Dropping from a 60 Grade to a 20 Grade Oil Revisited​


 
It absolutely does stand for Winter, and has forever ... go do some searching for the right answer and you'll see.
Besides … think I just ran completely out of sports I care about … so less W’s to worry about 😷
 
In fact the relationship between pressure and flow is in opposition. If you change your oil to a thicker formula the pressure will go up. It goes up because the resistance to flow is greater and in fact the flow must go down in order for the pressure to go up. They are inversely related. Conversely if you choose a thinner oil then the pressure will go down. This can only occur if the flow has increased.
How can the pressure go up if the flow decreases, and how can the the pressure go down if the flow increases when a PD oil pump is moving the oil?
 
Most of us were past the 10 when cold and 30 when hot concept 30 years ago when 10w30 was considered a thin oil.
When I go out to start an old beater, I'll pour gasoline down the carburator. That's why I have no hair and fuel dilution issues.

Besides the recommended 15w40 in Duramax (s), I tried and UOA'd 10w40 pcmo, SAE 30 & 40.
The 10w40 sheared from 15.4 to 11.8 in 9,000 miles. The SAE 30 gained from 11.2 to 11.6.
The SAE 40 lost a little from the published spec, but showed single digit Fe after 10,000 miles.
All Petro-Canada, but I doubt if other brands would be much different.
I have an unopened pail of Duron 10w40 I'll have to try out before it's stale dated.
I would imagine it's much more shear stable than their 10w40 car oil.
 
a good refresher for sure, thanks to all for the info links included. will be reading 2 + 3 as well as any that follow
 
I enjoyed reading this so far, quite enlightening for me, a neophyte, on all the nuances of lubricants and their classifications. One thing I take away from this is the quibbling over the "W" as in 5W/20. For many years I believed it stood for weight and I see others here believe it stands for "winter". Winter is a subjective term that is interjected into all these tables of objective data and is useless in choosing an oil when I look at winter here in south Louisiana where we rarely drop below 32 degrees Fahrenheit and compared to someone who lives in Nome, Alaska who may see that temp in late spring. The only definitive answer for what "W" stands for in an objective measurement for the number the it follows is this quote posted by an earlier poster. So there it is, "W" means that the number preceding it is the viscosity measurement at -18 degrees C, (0 degrees F), a temperature I hope never to experience here in South Louisiana. :)
Now is it time for me to continue on to Chapter -2-.
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But what is winter??? I know it starts December 21 but we can have 80 degrees...is that winter? I think the W is just a way of separating the the two numbers, any letter, asterisk, or a dash could be used to separate the two. W is just a letter that was at one time used to denote that was the viscosity rating for the winter time and has just remained over time. Today the measurements are at done at specified temperatures and denotes that the oil labeled such pass the test in the within the allowable parameters.
 
I would guess W is just nomenclature, and they figured winter being cold is easy to understand, so make it a W. I used to use this grade in a car.


I used to use this grade in a KO Lee crystal dicing saw hydraulic drive system for the table feed.


So I have some memory left which is what a happy about.

Thick and thin could be debated too, how can two words describe two completely different things? I guess it’s English. Thick and thin to me really mean a length measurement. Low viscosity oil isn’t thinner than high viscosity as far as how wide they are. 😄
 
If people can't understand what the "W" in 5W-30 means, just think of the confusion if it was:

5R-30 or 5K-30 or
5°-30 or 5- -30.

"Winter" basically means "cold weather" or "cold temperatures", so it makes sense to use "W".

I guess Valvoline, who's been making oil for over 100 years, is wrong saying "W" stands for winter, lol.
 
Thick and thin could be debated too, how can two words describe two completely different things? I guess it’s English. Thick and thin to me really mean a length measurement. Low viscosity oil isn’t thinner than high viscosity as far as how wide they are. 😄
Look it up in a dictionary, English words have many meanings.

Definition 2c:
 
Look it up in a dictionary, English words have many meanings.

Definition 2c:
Continuing on this program are we? Same old same old. You look it up for yourself. I already mentioned that it's English. Same word more than one meaning. Maybe your reading is too thin.
There are different ways to approach discussion, one is not make it a pattern to put other people down. Of course I know thin and thick have many meanings, as well or better than you, let's just set that straight.
The thrust of what I was saying is how we apply thick and thin in different ways that have no relation to one another. Saying a wire is thin, then saying water is thin is a bit interesting, yes or no? Get it? It's not about me, there is a topic.
 
Then don't make a statement like: "Thick and thin could be debated too, how can two words describe two completely different things?" if you already know it can mean many different things and is a defined appropriate use of the word. I know what definition I'd pick for this one.
 
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But what is winter??? I know it starts December 21 but we can have 80 degrees...is that winter? I think the W is just a way of separating the the two numbers, any letter, asterisk, or a dash could be used to separate the two. W is just a letter that was at one time used to denote that was the viscosity rating for the winter time and has just remained over time. Today the measurements are at done at specified temperatures and denotes that the oil labeled such pass the test in the within the allowable parameters.


Maybe you need to get out of Louisiana and see the world some? Most of the planet has a winter.

🎣
 
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