Warming up to 5W20 for winter But 5w30 for summer

[Fallguy]

My vehicle states 5w20 is the recommended oil but 5w30 is also acceptable. Will run 0W20 for the winter, love the low MRV (9200 at -40C) and can get down to -15F where I live. In summer thinking I will run 5W30. Know 5w20 (0w20's) are stout oils, just cringe at running it on 100F days when summer rolls back around. (using synthetic, M1 EP 0w20 currently). Anyone else doing similar and swinging back an forth between viscosities. Maybe by summer I will just stay 0w20 (flip a coin I guess). Splitting hairs here but that is what we do here correct? 2017 pentastar 3.6L

 

[irv]

Originally Posted By: Fallguy

My vehicle states 5w20 is the recommended oil but 5w30 is also acceptable. Will run 0W20 for the winter, love the low MRV (9200 at -40C) and can get down to -15F where I live. In summer thinking I will run 5W30. Know 5w20 (0w20's) are stout oils, just cringe at running it on 100F days when summer rolls back around. (using synthetic, M1 EP 0w20 currently). Anyone else doing similar and swinging back an forth between viscosities. Maybe by summer I will just stay 0w20 (flip a coin I guess). Splitting hairs here but that is what we do here correct? 2017 pentastar 3.6L

I run 5W-20 in my 13 Ram Hemi as that's what it calls for but I have considered 5W-30 in the summer also. My buddy, who's a mechanic says it's not a good idea. I am around an oil change a year as I only average 7-9,000 kms annually so I will just stick with the 5W-20 as it doesn't make much sense, money wise to do it. Curious what others have to say however.

 

[tig1]

I use 0-20 year round in Fords. Performs great in extreme cold and very high temps of summer. +100F.

 

[RooflessVW]

I never bought off on switching viscosity for summer/winter. There's a fair bit of overlap between grades. Pick one and stick with it year round. If it's good enough at operating temp in winter, it'll be fine in summer.

 

[Merkava_4]

I'm old enough to remember when 5W-30 was the winter oil.

 

[Rolla07]

Originally Posted By: tig1

I use 0-20 year round in Fords. Performs great in extreme cold and very high temps of summer. +100F.

Agree +1

 

[fdcg27]

If your oil changes break neatly between the cold months and the warm ones, then this might be a solid plan. Certainly there's be no harm in it, but a 5W qualified oil is more than adequate for -15F.

 

[xxch4osxx]

I use Amsoil XL 5w20 in my Ram 5.7 year round.

 

[CKN]

Think about how many owners are running "the manual specs" all year around and their trucks are not blowing up......

 

[StevieC]

My Dodge Journey runs 5w20 year round with oil temperatures of 250F. Beautiful UOA's and that is in a hard working 4 cylinder that does high rev's on the highway. No engine blown yet.

 

[MONKEYMAN]

I am considering that myself. I have lots of oil from my oil hoarding days. I changed from 5w-20 Valvoline Premium Conventional at dealership to some DYI 5w-30 Pennzoil Plantinum this summer when it was 102 degrees. I know the Pennzoil will be better with heat. It is interesting what my Hyundai manual says:

Quote:

Lower viscosity engine oils can provide better fuel economy and cold weather performance, however, higher viscosity engine oils are required for satisfactory lubrication in hot weather.

So 5w-20 for cold weather performance (not noticing a change in economy) and 5w-30 or 10w-30 in the summer is required if I want my car to have satisfactory lubrication in hot weather. That works for me. I mostly have conventional 5w-30 or 10w-30 oil in my stash once I use up the Pennzoil Plantinum. I have about 3 changes of 5w-20.

 

[HangFire]

Nothing wrong with 0w20 in the Winter and 5w30 in the Summer... I've ended up doing just that to use up some stocks of oil that otherwise wouldn't get used, put 0w20 in the 5w20 spec car in Winter, 5w30 in either the 0w20 spec or 5w20 spec car in Summer. It probably doesn't make a bit of difference. Maybe it makes me BITOG-correct. Or, BITOG-incorrect. Maybe it puts me in touch with my ancestors who used straight 10W in the Winter (and only in the Winter). Maybe I'm getting .00001% better performance out of some vague parameter I can't measure. Maybe an oil weight within a range of correct weights is just plain good enough.

 

[BJD78]

All 3 of our vehicles run 5w20 conventional year round with no issues. We make 1-2 trips every summer to LA in 95 to 110 degree heat running with the Sonata running AC full blast via 70 and i 15 no issues running 5w20. 5w20 seems more than adequate for extreme heat and putting on about 3k round trip. By the same token never any issues cranking in cold weather, though the last couple of winters in Lincoln have not been really severe... maybe a half dozen days below in the -5 to -10 range. Our owner manual says 5w20 so I go with that and no issues so far. Perhaps if i lived in the southern desert LA or palm springs I would benefit from running 5w30, but for an occasional trip to the desert once or twice a year I just stick with the manufacturers recommendation, they should know of what they speak as they test these engines in all weather conditions.

 

[SilverFusion2010]

It depends on the oil temp. 5w-20 is very stable oil. The 0w-20 have also proven themselves to be excellent lubricants. I would run each for an oci and see what the car likes. Pick that one and stay with it

 

[StevieC]

Quote:

Lower viscosity engine oils can provide better fuel economy and cold weather performance, however, higher viscosity engine oils are required for satisfactory lubrication in hot weather.

I think this assumes conventional oil in use with the bare minimum MOFT that might be encountered not high quality synthetics.

 

[Tkonrr]

In my girlfriend's 2015 Jeep Wrangler with the same 3.6 Pentastar engine, I switched to 5w-30 last Summer (spec is 5w-20). A few weeks into the oil change, she told me her Jeep has been getting better mpg's and asked me what it could be. Jeep is used for ~96 miles a day for work as a rural mail delivery vehicle with many stops, steep hills and repeated hard acceleration to merge back onto rural roads from mailboxes.

 

[CarbonSteel]

Originally Posted By: Rolla07

Originally Posted By: tig1

I use 0-20 year round in Fords. Performs great in extreme cold and very high temps of summer. +100F.

Agree +1

Another vote for this. I ran 0W-20 in my 2010 FX4 while towing in temps of 116F+ with zero issues. I would run it year round and only have 1 oil to stock/manage.

 

[zeng]

Originally Posted By: StevieC

Quote:

Lower viscosity engine oils can provide better fuel economy and cold weather performance, however, higher viscosity engine oils are required for satisfactory lubrication in hot weather.

I think this assumes conventional oil in use with the bare minimum MOFT that might be encountered not high quality synthetics.

I'm afraid this assumption is not valid.

 

[StevieC]

Do elaborate and consider that the vehicles are sold around the world where oil quality my not be as good as it is in certain countries.

 

[webfors]

Originally Posted By: StevieC

My Dodge Journey runs 5w20 year round with oil temperatures of 250F. Beautiful UOA's and that is in a hard working 4 cylinder that does high rev's on the highway. No engine blown yet.

Have you calculated what your effective viscosity is at 250F? Probably low enough to make us cringe :P