Switch from 5w-20 to 5w-30

[Sachry]

Recently went from 5w-20 to 5w-30 oil in our 2006 3.3L 6 cylinder Sonata with 55,000 miles on it. Prior to this change, my girlfriend was just taking it to Jiffy Lube, so i'm not even sure what type of 5w-20 oil they were putting in there, i just know it wasn't synthetic.

Now that we have our own place and garage, I can change the oil in our vehicles with convenience.

This oil change I used cheveron supreme 5w-30 oil. The manual says either 5w20 or 5w30 is fine. We live in Alaska, so the better part of the year is fairly cold.


My question is the 5w-30 fine to switch to and is switching back to 5w-20 after using 5w-30 for one oil change a big deal if we find the mpg change is somewhat significant.

Thanks for your help.

 

[LeakySeals]

Before the recommendations for thin start, yes, your fine. Changing back and forth between the two you mention will have little noticeable difference.

 

[CATERHAM]

Welcome to BITOG!

First you didn't mention why you switch to the heavier
5W-30?
But yes you can switch back to the preferred 5W-20 at any time.
The fuel economy disadvantage won't be significant, perhaps 2% which you can't accurately measure.

BTW, the lightest 5W-20 oil on start-up is Pennzoil Platnium or since you're in Alaska I'd suggest just going with the superior 0W-20 grade, of course that's not an issue until fall.

 

[spasm3]

if its cold i would run the 5w 20 or 0w 20. If you are dead set on a 30wt how about m1 0w 30?

 

[Sachry]

No real reason for the switch to the 5w-30 over the 5w-20 besides I get my cases of oil from Costco. I get the 5w-30 mobil 1 synthetic for my truck, and this was my first time changing the oil on my girlfriends car. I dont believe there was any 5w-20 cases at the time at Costco, so I went with 5w-30 since the manual says it is fine.

I may switch back to 5w-20 for the fall through winter when that time comes.

I appreciate everybody's input and help.

Thanks Again

 

[LeakySeals]

Buy your bulk costco supplies, and a couple of thin quarts recommended above for top off. Blending/mixing is fine, do it all the time.

 

[RedCorvette]

No need to buy from costco when there are so many oil deals out there. Especially in Alaska you might be better off getting 0w20 or 5w20.

 

[Bluestream]

Originally Posted By: Sachry


My question is the 5w-30 fine to switch to and is switching back to 5w-20 after using 5w-30 for one oil change a big deal if we find the mpg change is somewhat significant.

Thanks for your help.


Ford research shows a .6% MPG gain with the 5W20 over a 5W30. So I would say that is not significant...

 

[JackB1]

Since this thread involves 5/20 vs 5/30w, AGAIN, I am still confused of whether to use the reccomended 5/20 in my Jeep 3.7 or 5/30 which several studies have shown to give better engine life. Supposedly, and the opinions vary, the 5/20w suggested by many manufacturers was to help with fuel mileage for the CAFE standards. They run it in the test to get the higher mileage [a little may mean a lot to manufacturers] and consequently are required to reccomend it to the purchaser. Could anyone clear this up. 5/20 is a little more difficult to find when shopping oil in some places like warehouse clubs.

 

[1999nick]

Originally Posted By: JackB1
Since this thread involves 5/20 vs 5/30w, AGAIN, I am still confused of whether to use the reccomended 5/20 in my Jeep 3.7 or 5/30 which several studies have shown to give better engine life. Supposedly, and the opinions vary, the 5/20w suggested by many manufacturers was to help with fuel mileage for the CAFE standards. They run it in the test to get the higher mileage [a little may mean a lot to manufacturers] and consequently are required to reccomend it to the purchaser. Could anyone clear this up. 5/20 is a little more difficult to find when shopping oil in some places like warehouse clubs.



Can you tell us what these tests were, or give us an idea of who performed them? It is well known that XW20 oils give 300,000 to 400,000 miles regularly in Ford 4.6 engines in taxis and police cars. What engines showed more wear with XW20 oil?

 

[Spector]

Alaska, 0w20 OR 0w30.

 

[KCJeep]

Originally Posted By: JackB1
Since this thread involves 5/20 vs 5/30w, AGAIN, I am still confused of whether to use the reccomended 5/20 in my Jeep 3.7 or 5/30 which several studies have shown to give better engine life. Supposedly, and the opinions vary, the 5/20w suggested by many manufacturers was to help with fuel mileage for the CAFE standards. They run it in the test to get the higher mileage [a little may mean a lot to manufacturers] and consequently are required to reccomend it to the purchaser. Could anyone clear this up. 5/20 is a little more difficult to find when shopping oil in some places like warehouse clubs.


That Jeep 3.7 is basically the 4.7 V-8 with two cylinders hacked off. Neither the 3.7 or 4.7 were spec'd for 5w20 until fairly recently...in fact the 4.7 HO is spec'd for 10w30 ONLY as they were afraid of shear down to 20 weight. I'm not thinking they made any major changes to either of those engines to go to 5w20. So, entirely IMO, if it was my Jeep it'd have a 5w30 in it, unless it was under warranty of course.

That said I am also quite certain if you ran 5w20 in it the Jeep will still be just fine when you're ready for something else.

JMO...

My Jeep is the 4.0 I-6 totally different animal but my parents have a Libby 3.7, it is spec'd for 5w30 but the stubborn old man puts 10w30 in it instead...and guess what it runs great!

 

[Bandito440]

How about some 0w30? M1 or GC?

 

[Ken2]

Coastal or inland Alaska? If inland, I'd use 0W-20, and stick with that year-round. Unless you're putting on a lot of miles and will run an oil change mileage in warm summer weather, there is no need to change viscosities. Run the synthetic for the max interval in your owner's manual.

 

[Zako2]

Originally Posted By: JackB1
Since this thread involves 5/20 vs 5/30w, AGAIN, I am still confused of whether to use the reccomended 5/20 in my Jeep 3.7 or 5/30 which several studies have shown to give better engine life. Supposedly, and the opinions vary, the 5/20w suggested by many manufacturers was to help with fuel mileage for the CAFE standards. They run it in the test to get the higher mileage [a little may mean a lot to manufacturers] and consequently are required to reccomend it to the purchaser. Could anyone clear this up. 5/20 is a little more difficult to find when shopping oil in some places like warehouse clubs.



I never buy such arguments from internet "experts", unless it's indeed a well studied case where the car manufacturer appears to be wrong. You can't imagine how little people know about motor oil on average. You may have a point here, but I have heard so many times people argue for many other vehicles, including those relatively easy on oil, to choose 5W30 over 5W20, even though 5W20 is the recommendation of car company. One argument I heard is that this is because "5W30 pours better". Another (misguided) argument that I frequently hear on forums is that 10W30 is a good summer oil for a 5W30 engine. (why??? beats me) There are a lot of people on the internet who seem hostile to 5W20 oils because they think that 5W30 was the one and true oil, and 5W20 was recommended ONLY for fuel economy reasons. Well, you may want to read the "Motor Oil University" articles on this web site to see that many of those are wrong. Once engine is running at it's normal temperature, the oil temperature is around 100C. At this temperature, 5W20 is only slightly thinner than 5W30. However, when the engine is cold or not warm enough, 5W20 flows much better than 5W30, and 5W30 flows better than 10W30, usually, reaching parts of engine much faster. This is important because a lot of wear happens during the first few minutes of use, specially if you drive hard. So, there 5W20 certainly has its advantages, SPECIALLY in colder climates. When the car manufacturer recommends an oil grade for their engine, 99% of the time, they're right. THEY NOT stupid. They know their engines.

And then, you live in a colder climate. Hands down, go with the thinner oil. Choose 5W20 over 5W30, and during months with freezing temperature starts, choose a 0W grade oil over 5W.

 

[tig1]

Zako2,
Old timers here know, but the newer members may not, but in the late 70s I started using M1 5-20 in engines calling for 10-40 and never had any problems except a little more oil use. By the way, I did notice having much easier starting engines in the winter as I lived in Maine at thay time.

 

[KrisZ]

Originally Posted By: Zako2
Originally Posted By: JackB1
Since this thread involves 5/20 vs 5/30w, AGAIN, I am still confused of whether to use the reccomended 5/20 in my Jeep 3.7 or 5/30 which several studies have shown to give better engine life. Supposedly, and the opinions vary, the 5/20w suggested by many manufacturers was to help with fuel mileage for the CAFE standards. They run it in the test to get the higher mileage [a little may mean a lot to manufacturers] and consequently are required to reccomend it to the purchaser. Could anyone clear this up. 5/20 is a little more difficult to find when shopping oil in some places like warehouse clubs.



I never buy such arguments from internet "experts", unless it's indeed a well studied case where the car manufacturer appears to be wrong. You can't imagine how little people know about motor oil on average. You may have a point here, but I have heard so many times people argue for many other vehicles, including those relatively easy on oil, to choose 5W30 over 5W20, even though 5W20 is the recommendation of car company. One argument I heard is that this is because "5W30 pours better". Another (misguided) argument that I frequently hear on forums is that 10W30 is a good summer oil for a 5W30 engine. (why??? beats me) There are a lot of people on the internet who seem hostile to 5W20 oils because they think that 5W30 was the one and true oil, and 5W20 was recommended ONLY for fuel economy reasons. Well, you may want to read the "Motor Oil University" articles on this web site to see that many of those are wrong. Once engine is running at it's normal temperature, the oil temperature is around 100C. At this temperature, 5W20 is only slightly thinner than 5W30. However, when the engine is cold or not warm enough, 5W20 flows much better than 5W30, and 5W30 flows better than 10W30, usually, reaching parts of engine much faster. This is important because a lot of wear happens during the first few minutes of use, specially if you drive hard. So, there 5W20 certainly has its advantages, SPECIALLY in colder climates. When the car manufacturer recommends an oil grade for their engine, 99% of the time, they're right. THEY NOT stupid. They know their engines.

And then, you live in a colder climate. Hands down, go with the thinner oil. Choose 5W20 over 5W30, and during months with freezing temperature starts, choose a 0W grade oil over 5W.


Just to play devil’s advocate.

I was with you all the way until the last sentence. You do realize that most manufacturers do not recommend 0w oils right? Then how can you keep saying that manufacturers know their engines best, on one side of the argument, and then recommend an oil weight that is NOT recommended by a lot of manufacturers, on the other side of your argument?

You either stick blindly to what manufacturers recommend, or you accept that people will use whatever they think is right or suits their needs. In most cases either choice will not doom the engine or shorten its service life.

 

[lexus114]

Funny,I just made the switch to 5W-20 from 5W-30. Lexus loves it!

 

[1999nick]

Originally Posted By: tig1
Zako2,
Old timers here know, but the newer members may not, but in the late 70s I started using M1 5-20 in engines calling for 10-40 and never had any problems except a little more oil use. By the way, I did notice having much easier starting engines in the winter as I lived in Maine at thay time.


Absolutely correct. I began to use Mobil 1 at that time. If my memory is correct, they said that M1 5W20 was the same as regular oil 10W40. They also said that M1 was good for 25,000 miles, or one year. They dropped that claim after a few years, because people were not checking their oil levels, running their engines too low on oil, and ruining them.

I used M1 as it was first advertised: One year or 25,000 miles. My OCI was usually 19,000 to 20,000 miles. Most of my cars would require 2 or maybe 3 quarts of make-up oil in 20,000 miles.

 

[dave1251]

Really back to the 5W-20 vs 5W-30 again? There really is not that much of a difference you and your engine would not know the difference until 100000000001345, cold starts later. Back to the OP use whatever 5W-20;5W-30 you can find on sale. If you are in the middle part of the state I recommend you use a quality syn in the winter. If you are along the coastal area you will be fine with a conventional during the colder months but you may want to use a syn anyways to give you that "extra" comfort.