I've tried as much as possible to never say what oil brand, type, viscosity, oil filter, intervals, ATF, etc that I use in our cars. Some troll will always want to give their opinion on why it's "wrong", no matter what is used !
Why Do Knowledgeable Folks on Here use 20 wt Oil
- Thread starter Al
- Start date
- Status
There are still newer people coming to the website that don't know that.
And I'm not saying your wrong or trying to argue with you. I think it's just how it is.
For the same reason the same folks might use a 40wt in a different application that "call" for 30wt.
Critical thinking is a kind of thinking in which you question, analyze, interpret, evaluate and make a judgement about what you read, hear, say, or write. The term critical comes from the Greek word kritikos meaning āable to judge or discernā.
Always look forward to Overkill's input...learn something every time!
Patman
Staff member
Honda has been recommending 0w20 for a long time now. The oil cap on my 2016 Civic says 0w20 on it actually.
Having run 210K miles on a 2010 Prius with 0w-20 at 10 K OCIs I see no reason to be concerned. Another Prius in our stable has over 50K on 0w-20 with 10K OCIs. The latest Prius in the stable calls for 0w-16. I find myself wanting to go thinner on the latter two vehicles based upon what they run in Japan.
My cars get Supertech or Costco Kirkland 0W20 oil every 10, 000 miles.
If there were no CAFE 30 wt. would be recommended. I have no doubt that you will get satisfactory engine life out of 20 wt. But I also know 30 wt will provide better lubrication and the engine will statistically run longer. That it is not in dispute. So for me...the purist in me. will be changing out out the 20wt that came with my brand new Mazda CX-30 with 60 miles on the clock. I will take the efficiency penalty. I will go with the Valvoline 5W-30 EP.
Hermann
Site Donor 2023
Cough cough. CAFE brainwash runs deeper.
https://owners-manual.mazda.com/gen/en/cx-30/cx-30_8jr4eo20f/contents/07030400.html
"Brainwash" LMAO.
A little knowledge goes a long way. Just prefer the 30wt instead of using oil that is there bc of CAF. To each his own.
What else would you call this.
At some point I would just never run whats in the book in U.S purely out of spite.
https://www.mazdausa.com/static/manuals/2024/cx-30/contents/69040200.html
Last edited:
Looks to me like the Aus and NZ manual say 0W-20 is perfectly fine.
Based on the wording in the (I assume) Mexico manual, it may be more difficult to find a quality oil, so they recommend (at a minimum) SM 5W-30.
Because:
1) Manufacturer did testing and I would be doing gut feeling. If something doesn't work it would be my word against theirs.
2) They have lasted long enough to not have major problems, so I know probably at least it would work for 120k miles.
3) 20wt have been around for 15 years? longer? If it cause knocking and some sort of pinging issue it would have been known by now, or bearing issue, etc.
4) Something else in the car likely would break first, like head gasket? transmission? accident? rust? I don't know but the oil weight isn't the weakest link to me. I might use 30 or 40wt if I race my car but not daily driving.
I once put 5w20 Motorcraft syn blend in my 1997 Grand Am 2.4L. Why? Just to feel something haha. It was an old car and I was curious. It had about 170k miles on it at the time, and had horrendous wrist pin slap. I had it in the sump for most of an OCI, then sold the car with that oil in it. The people who bought it wereā¦ letās just say that I donāt know if that car ever got another oil change. I saw that same car over a year later, still running.
I know this is anecdotal at best and thatās fine. But 20 grade oils have been ārecommendedā for a very long time now, even in high-performance applications. In reality, itās actually on the thick side of some new car recommendations, with increasingly more moving to 16 or 8 grade oil. The āthick oil is always betterā mentality is becoming the new 3,000 mile OCI. In other words, old habits die hard.
That being said, Iāll still use a thick oil at times. I have a 2016 Explorer 2.3L turbo that is out of warranty, and Iām currently running an A3/B4 5w40 in it. The vehicle is worked hard and carries a load at all times, and I donāt have a warranty to worry about. Andā¦ I got the oil super cheap. But Iāve also ran a relatively thin 5w30 in it without hesitation. 5w30 is the recommendation in the manual. When my stash is used up Iāll probably end up using 0 or 5w30.
I know this is anecdotal at best and thatās fine. But 20 grade oils have been ārecommendedā for a very long time now, even in high-performance applications. In reality, itās actually on the thick side of some new car recommendations, with increasingly more moving to 16 or 8 grade oil. The āthick oil is always betterā mentality is becoming the new 3,000 mile OCI. In other words, old habits die hard.
That being said, Iāll still use a thick oil at times. I have a 2016 Explorer 2.3L turbo that is out of warranty, and Iām currently running an A3/B4 5w40 in it. The vehicle is worked hard and carries a load at all times, and I donāt have a warranty to worry about. Andā¦ I got the oil super cheap. But Iāve also ran a relatively thin 5w30 in it without hesitation. 5w30 is the recommendation in the manual. When my stash is used up Iāll probably end up using 0 or 5w30.
Last edited:
- Status
