Thin oil in tropical climate

[darkmagician]

Hi all,

For places with ambient tempreature in in the 30s and humidity in the 90s, is it safe to use thin oil such as 5w20 or 0w20?

 

[oilyriser]

yes if the engine was designed for it, and you have good quality gasoline with proper octane rating so there's no detonation

 

[Eddie]

30 degrees C or 86 F is no problem for a 20 weight. Your owners manual should have an preferred oil vs temperature guide. 86 degrees is not even sub tropical. Here in FL people run 20 weight in 95 F temp without any issues whatsoever IF a 20 weight is the recomended oil.

 

[EricZoom]

I run 0w20 in my Mazda with no problems at all. Car loves this thin oil.

 

[SrDriver]

We live just north of the Florida line and often see temperatures in the upper 90s and even lower 100 degree range during the summer months and use Mobil 1 5W20 in both vehicles.

Both call for 5W20 oil.

 

[Gary Allan]

I've found that ambient temps may index your peak oil temp a minor amount compared to the broad difference in my range of ambient operations. That is, a difference of 75F ambient "may" mean 6-10F in peak (sustained output) oil temp. It doesn't seem to alter the curve either. YMMV

 

[qwertydude]

It's funny that even on a motorcycle forum this question comes up in one way or another. Just because it feels hot and uncomfortable doesn't mean your engine or for that matter oil feels it. Tropical is not what you want to worry about now desert heat is a killer 115 degrees 46 for you metric guys is hot yet bearable cause it's a dry heat. Yet not as bad as 90 degrees with 100% humidity. Yet the engine hates the temperature period humidity doesn't factor in.

 

[darkmagician]

I guess I will just continue to use 0w20 oil since the manual recommends it and there are no reasons not to use it after reading what you guys have posted. Thanks

 

[Eddie]

WOW. someone you actually reads our comments.

 

[whitesands]

Your engine doesn't have to "feel it" to be affected by it...

Your engine is cooled using similar concepts as the human body......In a wet or steam sauna your body will heat up alot faster and be prone to over heating easer using much lower temperatures than a dry sauna....

Even an object that generates no heat on its own will heat up much faster submerged in warm water than if it's left out in an environment of dry heat with much greater temps...

 

[oilyriser]

Ambient pressure steam only heats up to 100C or 212F, which is about the same as normal cooling system temperatures.

 

[Bryanccfshr]

The engines cooling ability is only effected by outside temperature and the volume of passing air(cooling fans or vehicle speed effect this). If the temperature is higher the cooling air has less effect through the radiator. This is only an issue if the colling capacity of the vehicle (radiator capacity) is not large enough to properly cool the coolant in the given environment. Theoretically you can run a vehicle all the way up to just below the boiling point and as long as the radiator capacity was large enough the engine would not overheat.

Whitesands:
I have to correct you. The human body cools via evaporation through sweating and respiration. The cooling effect is effected by relative humidity. The higher the humidity the less quickly moisture evaporates the less efficient our colling system is.
A vehicles cooling system is via a dry heat exchange. Evaporation is not part of the radiator and cooler designs just a heat exchange between the passing air and the radiator. The temperature will effect this but not humidity has no effect on this heat exchange. Just the amount of air and the temperature differential.

With today's efficient cooling systems and the relatively small temperature variation we see on the planet earth compared to the operating temp of an ICE I don't see the need to put an thicker oil into a vehicle that is operated in the tropics. If the engine is designed for 5w20 or 0w20 then I would not hesitate to run it. I run 5w20 in Texas Heat and humidity with absolutely zero issues.

 

[Vesta]

I live in Australia and the temp here is anywhere from 5c to 40c during the year. I have a 2007 Toyota Corolla and the specs range from 20w -50 down to 0w -20. I intend on using Amsoil SSO 0w -30, do you think this is a wise choice based on the temp range here?

 

[Triple_Se7en]

For a temperature range of 40F-100F, I would use 10W-30 and/or 5W-40 all the time.

 

[Gary Allan]

Originally Posted By: Vesta
I live in Australia and the temp here is anywhere from 5c to 40c during the year. I have a 2007 Toyota Corolla and the specs range from 20w -50 down to 0w -20. I intend on using Amsoil SSO 0w -30, do you think this is a wise choice based on the temp range here?


I'd say that it's a fine choice for a mixed bag of usage. If you do mostly shorter trips, you can go lighter. If you're doing mostly sustained high(er) speed bouts (of longer duration) ..there's not much reason for NOT going to a 40 grade (if convenient) ...but the 0w-30 will work fine.

(how can I say this in 25 words or less?): I see no disadvantage to 0w-30 SSO. There may be further advantages to a lighter oil if you're someone whose primary usage is of 20 minutes or less per event. The shorter the events ..the more the difference. This is where viscosity differences may show themselves in fuel economy. From a (the nebulous definition of "protection") viscosity standpoint, oils appear more alike when hot.