Especial86

iTrader: (1)

I'm sure the question about oil has been beaten to death and this post may be redundant somewhere on this site, but searching has left me frustrated and with little information other than religious loyalty to 5w-20.

From what I have gathered, the recommended oil that is 5w-20 is geared more toward appeasing CAFE standards set by the government. These standards have almost no bearing on the engineering side of vehicle production and are only in place thanks to ideological opinions that want to leave their mark on society and of course, collect their paycheck. In order for a manufacturer to sell a vehicle in this society/economy, they HAVE to adhere to these standards created mostly out of "popular" consensus ideas. These ideas deriving from a biased education that "means well" but has only 1 side of a 3 sided story. Where they got there education or "conditioning" is a whole different story. These adults have one goal before the work gets done, that goal is to keep themselves RELEVANT even if society no longer has a use for them. It is just how our society and economy tends to work. Under these conditions I find that the 3rd side of the story almost always gets "lost"....the 3rd side of which is the TRUTH.

Corporate Average Fuel Economy or CAFE is the reason why 5w-20 is the new north american choice. Other economies and country's are using 5w-30 in the same engines that reside over here, demanding 5w-20. Of course temperature and location reflect some of those differences but certainly not on the broad scale you see over here in the USA.

My argument and question is this

I like the slightly better wear characteristics of 5w-30 vs 5w-20, the two are the same at cold and one is slightly more viscous at operating temp. I personally want my engine to last as long as possible and will sacrifice the undetectable mpg loss for better wear characteristics.

Who is using 5w-30 oil in their 5.4 3v?
Why are you using 5w-30?
What results or differences have you noticed while running 5w-30? Like less VCT ticking or dieseling sounds?

Who is actually running 10w-40 as recommended by Oasis special service bulletin #21217??? http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums...Number=1897871
Why so thick? 10w-40 is a way thicker then 5w-20, shouldn't that cause more problems due to the wait time on the initial cold flow? and then the viscosity after warm up?

I'm very curious and also trying to come to a final conclusion here.

THANKS!

picaflor

interesting... suscribed.

Especial86

iTrader: (1)

I found this in an article
http://www.machinerylubrication.com/Read/518/motor-oils

"At a given reference point, there is approximately a 20°F. difference between viscosity grades SAE 30, 40 and 50. SAE 20 is somewhat closer to 30 than the other jumps, because SAE 30 must be 30°F higher than SAE 20 to be roughly the equivalent viscosity.

In other words, an SAE 20 at 190°F is about the same kinematic viscosity as an SAE 30 at 220°F, which is about the same viscosity as an SAE 40 at 240°F. This approximation works well in the 190°F to 260°F temperature range. One might be surprised at the slight amount of difference between straight viscosity vs. multiviscosity oils with the same back number (for example, SAE 30, SAE 5W-30, and SAE 10W-30).

If an SAE 50 oil at 260°F is as thin as an SAE 20 oil at 190°F, imagine how thin the oil film becomes when you are using an SAE 5W-20 and your engine overheats. When an engine overheats, the oil film becomes dangerously thin and can rupture."




"To determine if SAE 5W-20 oils provide the same level of protection as SAE 5W-30 oils, Dagenham Motors in England, one of the largest Ford dealers in Europe, was consulted. SAE 5W-30 is required for warranty purposes in England, and SAE 5W-20 is not even available. If SAE 5W-20 were better for both fuel economy and wear, why would Ford not recommend it for its same engines in Europe?"

"Ford is bumping up against its CAFE requirements and recommends SAE 5W-20 oil for most of its engines in the United States. It claims SAE 5W-20 is optimal for fuel efficiency and wear."

A3Middie

I personally run 10w-30 in my 3v and have for years. I work for the Ohio D.O.T. and we probably have about 40 3v engines in our district alone, just nine counties. They ALL get 10w-40 and have since the first oil change. We have trucks with well over 100,000 and the funny thing is, not a single one makes any noise from the phasers. I know people argue about this all the time, but none of them tick at all.

MADPIRAHNA

I had my oil changed by ford last week and they put 5w_30 in it. I have been wondering about this.

97SHOgt

I run Castrol GTX 5W-30 in pretty much every vehicle I've owned and my family owns. Never had issues.

allinon72

I'll probably be switching to 10w-40 on my next change. People will lead you to believe your engine will self-destruct if you use anything but 5w-20...it just isn't true. How many trucks have run 5w-20 since new and now have phaser problems? Countless.

Especial86

iTrader: (1)

I too have noticed that most people with the "VCT phaser tick" all seem to be running 5w-20 as the most common denominator. I will be swapping to 5w-30 this weekend and will also record a before and after video of any sort of change in "ticking" or anything out of the ordinary...

Keep the non 5w-20 reply's coming! I'm still waiting on hearing from the guy who actually DID grenade his motor from doing this swap. If he even exists...

Bennyv83

I'd put 0w-30 in mine if it was available due to the cold temps here in the winter.
-30* C regularily

CozyEvergreen

I've used 5-20, 5-30, and 10-30 all with lucas oil additive. So far the 10-30 has worked the best. Barely any clanking at start up compared to 5-20. And the dieseling is much quieter and actually blocked out by the sound of leaking manifolds lol. I've put 20,000 on the truck since I bought it 2 years ago(04 fx4) with 67,000 on it. I've ran 10-30 for half the miles and had fewer problems than with the 5-20. But I fully intend to drive my truck until the thing falls apart or the motor blows lol. I'm sure most on here wouldn't agree with that thinking but the truck is paid for and I'm doing my part to get you guys the best info possible through my redneck research.