When did 0W-30 and 5W-30 Appear in the Market?
- Thread starter Shel_B
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Here is a snap from my 93 Suburban owners manual. Not saying this the earliest but it was at a time when 5w30 and 10w30 were recommended.
For my 1981 Burb, 5W30 was just a 1 in 6 option for motor oils.
My 2005 Burb owners manual called for 5w30, had dropped 10w30 and made a mention of 0w30 for really cold winter conditions.
I remember 0w20 and 0w30 first appearing in around 2008. I remember an article in Import Tuner or Super Street recommending 0w20 vs 5w20 in daily drivers taking 5w20 and it was a fairly new oil back then.
I could be wrong and I can't pull anything from archive.org/owners manuals, etc, etc about this. But this is just my personal memory. I put Mobil 1 0w20 in my mom's Taurus based on said articles back around 2008-2010 and it felt faster.
I could be wrong and I can't pull anything from archive.org/owners manuals, etc, etc about this. But this is just my personal memory. I put Mobil 1 0w20 in my mom's Taurus based on said articles back around 2008-2010 and it felt faster.
Esso (Canada) had a 0W-30 Protec oil available for sale in the early 1980s. An old thread here mentions it.
Shel_B
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I read somewhere that ILSAC GF-4 was introduced in 2004 and the standard applied to SAE 0W-20, 5W-20, 0W-30, 5W-30, and 10W-30 viscosity grade oils. I've not checked the info for accuracy yet, but that puts it a little earlier than your experience.
Just reviewed thread titles, and discussion of 0W-30 goes back to the beginnings of BITOG nearly 20 years ago. Mobil 1, Amsoil, and German Castrol all had it. So by about 2000 it was widely available, and not just an oddity. I remember Red Line made a 0W-20 available in about 2002–2003, after some of the others, and this was about the time some automakers began specifying that viscosity in some models.
Not sure about 5W-30, but I'd bet 10W-30 does exist since the 1960s at least.
0W-30? No idea, however Volkswagen used 0W-30/VW 506 01 ("Longlife 2")
as factory fill around 2000 for European market cars.
0W-30? No idea, however Volkswagen used 0W-30/VW 506 01 ("Longlife 2")
as factory fill around 2000 for European market cars.
My 1973 Camaro service manual specs 5w30 as the preferred weight. It also warns against using 5w20 for high speed driving.
Yep, and 5w20 went mainstream with Ford in 2001.
That could be so, but even back then all the oil we bought was at Wal-Mart and I do remember 0w20 being a fairly new grade there when the article came out. Could be wrong, as I started changing oil in late 07-early 08 at 16-17 for my parents' cars.
1980s...
When did 5W30 first come out?
10W-30 came out in about 1953, 20W-50 in about 1958, 10W-40 in the mid-1960's(?), so when did the 5W-30 grade of oil come out - 1970's? Just curious........
bobistheoilguy.com
I know Mobil1 0W30 was around in 97-98 for sure. There was a TSB for my Isuzu Rodeo at the time regarding the HLA's and the 0W30 was the fix.
Right. Late 90's.
Jackson_Slugger
$50 Site Donor 2022
Mobil 1 0W-30 has been around since the mid-1990's, Motorcraft also had one. And 5W-30 has been around since the early 1960's and 5W-20 is listed in GM manuals as a winter oil as early as 1966...
Here is a 1976 Chevy truck Service manual listing both 5w30 and 5w20 as cold weather options.
My 1986 camaro had 5w30 printed on the oil cap and as the only option in the owners manual. My 1985 camaro has 5w30 listed aswell as a few other viscosity options like 10w30 and 15w40.
